This article forms part of a series on Scientology
Bibliography · Filmography
Dianetics
Engram · Dianetics: MSMH · Clear
Doctrine
Thetan · Supernatural abilities Space opera · Xenu · Human evolution Past lives · Medical claims · Altered texts
Practices
Holidays · Weddings · Silent birth Study Tech · Auditing · Disconnection Rundowns · Comm Evs · E-meter · Assists
Concepts
MEST · ARC · Tone scale · Reactive mind
People
L. Ron Hubbard · Mary Sue Hubbard Heber Jentzsch · David Miscavige· Tom Cruise
Public groups and recruitment
Personality Tests · Volunteer Ministers Celebrities · Human Rights · ABLE · CBAA WISE · Narconon · Downtown Medical Criminon · The Way to Happiness
Organization
The Church · Sea Org · RPF Celebrity Centre · Trementina Base Church of Spiritual Technology Office of Special Affairs · Gold Base · Int'l Association of Scientologists Religious Technology Center
Controversy
Suppressive Person · Fair Game Operation Snow White Operation Freakout · The Internet Legal cases · Free Zone · Patter drill The Fishman Affidavit · Xenu.net South Park · Scientology as a business Lisa McPherson · Lawrence Wollersheim This box: view • talk • edit

Scientology versus the Internet is a colloquial term for a long-running online dispute between the Church of Scientology and a number of the Church's online critics. Beginning in the early 1990s, the debate centers largely around the publication of internal, unpublished (to the public) documents written by its founder L. Ron Hubbard. The name is meant to suggest a legal case (i.e. "Scientology v. Internet"), and the assertion of the controversial organization fighting against "the Internet" in its entirety has humorous connotations. Scientology is a system of beliefs and practices created by American pulp fiction[1][2] and science fiction [3] author L. Ron Hubbard in 1952 as a self-help philosophy. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1536x1152, 199 KB) A blue e-meter, a ritual device used by the Church of Scientology. ... This is an incomplete bibliography of Scientology and Scientology-related books produced within the Church of Scientology and its related organizations. ... This is an incomplete filmography of Scientology and Scientology-related films, videos, and audiovisual materials produced within the Church of Scientology and its related organizations. ... Dianetics is a set of ideas and practices regarding the relationship between mind and body that were developed by science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard. ... In Dianetics and Scientology, an engram is defined as an unconscious, painful memory. ... In Dianetics and Scientology, Clear is defined as a state in which a person is free of unwanted influences of past memories, unwanted emotions, and mental and physical pain not existing in present time. ... This article examines the beliefs and practices of Scientology as taught by the Church of Scientology. ... In Scientology, the concept of thetan is similar to the concept of spirit or soul found in other belief systems. ... In Church of Scientology doctrine, the subjects of supernatural or superhuman powers and abilities are ones that recur often. ... In Scientology, space opera is a coined usage of the pre-existing term related to science fiction and was used by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard to describe extraterrestrial civilizations and alien interventions in past lives. ... In Scientology doctrine, Xenu (also Xemu) is an alien ruler of the Galactic Confederacy who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of aliens to Earth in DC-8-like spacecraft, stacked them around volcanoes and blew them up with hydrogen bombs. ... Reincarnation, literally to be made flesh again, as a doctrine or mystical belief, holds the notion that some essential part of a living being (or in some variations, only human beings) can survive death in some form, with its integrity partly or wholly retained, to be reborn in a new... In Church of Scientology doctrine, there have been a number of controversial medical claims made, usually centered around their auditing process, which uses a device called an E-meter to analyze and treat a persons so-called Reactive mind and Body Thetans. These claims range from the 1950 publication... In the Church of Scientology, It has long been considered essential that the word of founder L. Ron Hubbard is incontrovertible, and that his works, or Tech, must be preserved unaltered. ... This article examines the beliefs and practices of Scientology as taught by the Church of Scientology. ... There are many holidays, commemorations and observances in the Church of Scientology, including but not limited to: January 25: Criminon Day This commemorates the 1970 founding of Criminon, a program which seeks to rehabilitate prisoners by disseminating free copies of Scientology-related materials such as The Way to Happiness. ... Scientology weddings, as conducted within the Church of Scientology, are described in their book The Background, Ministry, Ceremonies & Sermons of the Scientology Religion. ... Silent birth, sometimes known as quiet birth, refers to a birthing procedure advised by L. Ron Hubbard and advocated by Scientologists in which the baby is delivered into an environment where no pain or anguish is verbally expressed by the mother while experiencing labour pains or the birth itself and... Study tech, or study technology, is a method of study, devised and spelled out by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Disconnection is a practice in Scientology, in which a Scientologist severs all ties between themselves and friends, colleagues, or family members who criticize Scientology practices. ... In Scientology, a rundown is a procedure set out as a series of steps to produce a particular end result, or phenomena. ... The Scientology Justice system is a means for a Scientology organization to take action against a member whose conduct or actions are viewed as highly desctructive or offensive by an executive within the organization. ... An E-Meter is a battery-powered electronic instrument manufactured by the Church of Scientologys Gold Base. ... In Scientology, the Assist is described as a process which is done to alleviate a present time discomfort. [1] Despite the use of assists to treat pain and injuries, the Scientology Handbook (1994 edition) states: An assist in no way intrudes upon the role of medicine. ... In the Scientology religion, MEST is an acronym for Matter, Energy, Space and Time, considered by Scientologists to be the four component parts of the physical universe. ... ARC is a fundamental concept in Scientology doctrine. ... In Scientology, the tone scale or emotional tone scale is a characterization of human behavior and bodily appearance. ... In Dianetics and Scientology, the reactive mind is a concept created by L. Ron Hubbard, referring to a hypothetical portion of the human mind which Hubbard blamed for most mental and physical ailments. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the lead section of this article may need to be expanded. ... Mary Sue Hubbard (born Mary Sue Whipp) (17 June 1931–25 November 2002 [1]) was the third wife of science fiction writer and Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and often regarded as the first lady of Scientology. ... Heber Jentzsch is a former actor and president of Church of Scientology International since 1982. ... David Miscavige (born April 30, 1960) is Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center (RTC)[1], a corporation that owns the trademarked names and symbols of Dianetics and Scientology. ... Tom Cruise (born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV on July 3, 1962) is an Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe Award-winning American actor and film producer. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Volunteer Minister program is a worldwide effort founded by the Church of Scientology International. ... Recruitment and endorsements by Scientologist celebrities have always been very important to the Church of Scientology. ... The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR; also sometimes known as the Citizens Committee on Human Rights) is an advocacy group established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and Thomas Szasz. ... The Association for Better Living and Education (A.B.L.E.) is a secular branch of the Church of Scientology. ... Founded in 1983, the Concerned Businessmens Association of America (CBAA) is an element of the Scientology movement directed at promoting moral education and enhanced well-being through the use of Hubbards The Way to Happiness booklet in their Set A Good Example (SAGE) program, which holds childrens... World Institute of Scientology Enterprises (WISE) is an organization that educates and assists businesses in the use of Scientology management techniques. ... Narconon is not associated with Narcotics Anonymous, which is sometimes abbreviated Narcanon. Scientologys Narconon is an in-patient rehabilitation program for drug abusers in several dozen treatment centers worldwide, chiefly in the United States and western Europe. ... Downtown Medical is a controversial Scientology clinic on 139 Fulton Street in New York City, founded in 2003 with the purpose of treating people for toxins inhaled from the smoke of the 9/11 attacks. ... Criminon is a secular non proft 501 C3 working with government departments and inmates to reduce recidivism and restore self respect to the inmate. ... The Way to Happiness Foundation International is a Scientology-related non-profit corporation founded in 1984. ... This is a list of Scientology organizations operated by the Church of Scientology (CoS), including Church offices, missions, Celebrity Centres and publicized Scientology and Dianetics groups. ... The Church of Scientology is the largest organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. ... It has been suggested that Rehabilitation Project Force be merged into this article or section. ... The Rehabilitation Project Force, or RPF, is a system of work camps[1] set up by the Church of Scientology Sea Organization, intended to rehabilitate members who have not lived up to the Church expectations or have violated certain policies. ... Celebrity Centres are Church of Scientology centers that are open to the public but serve mostly artists and celebrities and other professionals, leaders and promising new-comers in the fields of the arts, sports, management and government, and for those are the people who are sculpting the present into the... The Church of Scientology (CST) maintains a large base on the outskirts of Trementina, New Mexico. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The Office of Special Affairs (OSA) is a department of the Church of Scientology responsible for directing legal affairs, publicizing the Churchs social betterment works, and oversee[ing its] social reform programs. Observers outside the Church have characterized the department as an intelligence agency, comparing it variously to the... The Gold Base is a 500 acre parcel and the headquarters of Golden Era Productions, the media division of the Church of Scientology, located at 19625 Highway 79, Gilman Hot Springs, California 92583, near Hemet. ... The International Association of Scientologists (IAS) was formed in October 1984 by a group of selected Scientologists, who assembled at Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead, Sussex, England. ... The Religious Technology Center (RTC) is a non-profit corporation established in 1982 by the Church of Scientology to control and oversee the uses of all of the trademarks, symbols and texts of Scientology and Dianetics, including the copyrighted works of the religions founder, L. Ron Hubbard. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... In Scientology, a formally condemned and shunned heretic or wrongdoer is labelled a Suppressive Person, often abbreviated SP. L. Ron Hubbard coined the term to refer to enemies of the Church of Scientology, whose suppressive acts are said to impede the progress of Scientology. ... Fair Game is a status assigned to those whom the Church of Scientology has officially declared to be Suppressive Persons or Suppressive Persons are those whose actions are deemed to suppress or damage Scientology or a Scientologist. ... Operation Snow-White was the name given internally by the Church of Scientology to a program which included the largest incident of private domestic espionage in the history of the United States. ... Operation PC Freakout was the name given by the Church of Scientology to a covert plan undertaken by the Church in 1976, with the goal of harassing Paulette Cooper, author of a book critical of Scientology titled The Scandal of Scientology. The plan came to light when the FBI seized... The Church of Scientology has been involved in a number of court disputes throughout the world. ... The Free Zone comprises a variety of groups and individuals who practice Scientology beliefs and techniques free from the control of the official Church of Scientology (CoS). ... Patter drills are a drilling method used in courses in the Church of Scientology which were added to many Church courses in mid-1995, by David Miscavige. ... The Fishman Affidavit is a set of court documents submitted by ex-Scientologist Steven Fishman in 1994 containing criticisms of the Church of Scientology and, controversially, substantial portions of the Operating Thetan course materials. ... Operation Clambake Operation Clambake (xenu. ... Trapped in the Closet is episode 912 (#137) of the Comedy Central series South Park. ... Scientology pays members commissions on new recruits they bring in, so Scientology members routinely try to sell Scientology to others. ... Lisa McPherson (born Lisa Skonetski, February 10, 1959–December 5, 1995) was a Scientologist who died while in the care of the Church of Scientology (CoS). ... Lawrence A. Wollersheim is an ex-Scientologist. ... A colloquialism is an expression not used in formal speech or writing. ... The Church of Scientology is the largest organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. ... Online means being connected to the Internet or another similar electronic network, like a bulletin board system. ... Germans dancing on the Berlin Wall in late 1989, the symbol of the cold war divide falls down as the world unites in the 1990s. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the lead section of this article may need to be expanded. ...

In late 1994, the Church of Scientology began using various legal tactics to cease distribution of unpublished documents written by L. Ron Hubbard. The Church of Scientology is often accused of barratry (or malicious litigation and intimidation). The official church response is that its litigious nature is solely to protect its copyrighted works and the unpublished status of certain documents. 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the lead section of this article may need to be expanded. ... Two legal concepts go by the name barratry: one in criminal and civil law, the other in admiralty law. ... Copyright symbol Copyright is a set of exclusive rights regulating the use of a particular expression of an idea or information. ... A trade secret is a formula, practice, process, design, instrument, pattern, or compilation of information used by a business to obtain an advantage over competitors within the same industry or profession. ...

Some critics of the Church of Scientology claim that the church is a scam and that these "secret" writings are proof. The critics claim the documents contain evidence that the Church of Scientology's medical practices are illegal and fraudulent,^{[1] [2]} though this has yet to be proven in a United States court of law. Some now believe that the Church of Scientology is abusing copyright law by launching lawsuits against outspoken critics of the organization.^{[3] [4]} A confidence trick, confidence game, also known as a con, scam, grift or flim flam, is an attempt to intentionally mislead a person or persons (known as the mark) usually with the goal of financial or other gain. ... In Church of Scientology doctrine, there have been a number of controversial medical claims made, usually centered around their auditing process, which uses a device called an E-meter to analyze and treat a persons so-called Reactive mind and Body Thetans. These claims range from the 1950 publication... Equality and the balancing of our interests under law is symbolised by a blindfold and weighing scales For other senses of this word, see Law (disambiguation). ... In the broadest sense a fraud is any crime (or civil wrong) for gain that utilises some deception practiced on the victim as its principal method. ... Copyright misuse is an equitable defense against copyright infringement in the United States based on the unreasonable conduct of the copyright owner. ...

alt.religion.scientology

The newsgroup alt.religion.scientology was created in 1991 for the purpose of giving non-Scientologists a place to see the discussions and beliefs of Scientologists in their own words without having to join Scientology. Debate over the pros and cons of Scientology waxed and waned on the newsgroup through the first three years of its existence, and flame wars were common, as they were on most other newsgroups. A newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users at different locations. ... The newsgroup alt. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Flaming is the act of posting messages that are deliberately hostile and insulting, usually in the social context of a discussion board (usually on the Internet). ...

The online battle is generally seen to have begun with the arrival of Dennis Erlich to alt.religion.scientology in mid-1994. A former high-ranking official in the organization who had been personally affiliated with L. Ron Hubbard, Erlich's presence on the newsgroup caused a number of regular participants there to sit up and take notice. 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ...

In January 1995, Church lawyer Helena Kobrin attempted to shut down the Usenet discussion group alt.religion.scientology by sending a control message instructing Usenet servers to delete the group on the grounds that 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Helena Kobrin is an American Scientologist and lawyer, working for the Religious Technology Center, which controls the trademarks of Scientology and the copyright of the works of L. Ron Hubbard. ... Usenet (USEr NETwork) is a global, distributed bulletin board system (BBS). ... A newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users at different locations. ...

(1) It was started with a forged message; (2) not discussed on alt.config; (3) it has the name "scientology" in its title which is a trademark and is misleading, as a.r.s. is mainly used for flamers to attack the Scientology religion; (4) it has been and continues to be heavily abused with copyright and trade secret violations and serves no purpose other than condoning these illegal practices.^[5] [1]

In practice, this rmgroup message had little effect, since most Usenet servers are configured to disregard such messages when applied to groups that receive substantial traffic, and newgroup messages were quickly issued for those servers that did not do so. However, the issuance of the message led to a great deal of public criticism of Scientology by free-speech advocates, including hacker group Cult of the Dead Cow, who issued a declaration of war against the Church.^[6] alt. ... A rmgroup message is a form of control message which is issued to remove a Usenet newsgroup. ... A newgroup message is a form of control message which is issued to create a new Usenet newsgroup. ... Freedom of speech is the right to freely say what one pleases, as well as the related right to hear what others have stated. ... CULT OF THE DEAD COW, also known as cDc, is a computer hacker and DIY media organization founded in 1984 in Lubbock, Texas. ...

After failing to remove the newsgroup, Scientology adopted its current strategy of newsgroup spam and intimidation.^[7] Scientologists and hired third parties regularly flood the newsgroup with pro-scientology messages, vague anti-scientology messages, irrelevant comments, and accusations that other posters are secret Scientologists intent on tracking and punishing posters. This makes the newsgroup virtually unreadable via Google Groups, although more specialized newsreading software that can filter out all messages by specific "high noise" posters make the newsgroup more usable.

The Xenu revelation

On December 24, 1994, the first of a large number of anonymous messages was posted to alt.religion.scientology, containing the text of the "secret" writings of Scientology known as the OT Levels (OT stands for "Operating Thetan"). This action brought on the actions of lawyers representing Scientology, who contacted various newsgroup participants and posted warnings demanding that the unauthorized distribution of the OT writings cease. The lawyers described the documents as "copyrighted, trademarked, unpublished trade secrets", and the distribution of the materials as a violation of copyright law and trademark law. December 24 is the 358th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (359th in leap years). ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... The newsgroup alt. ... This article examines the beliefs and practices of Scientology as taught by the Church of Scientology. ... In Scientology, the state of Operating Thetan is a spiritual state above Clear. ... English barrister 16th century painting of a civil law notary, by Flemish painter Quentin Massys. ... A trademark, trade mark, ™ or ®[1] is a distinctive sign of some kind which is used by an organization to uniquely identify itself and its products and services to consumers, and to distinguish the organization and its products or services from those of other organizations. ... The copyright symbol is used to give notice that a work is covered by copyright. ... The Bass Red Triangle, was the first trademark registered in Britain in 1876. ...

Shortly after the initial legal announcements, representatives of Scientology followed through with a series of lawsuits against various participants on the newsgroup, including Dennis Erlich. Accompanied by Scientology lawyers, federal marshals made several raids on the homes of individuals who were accused of posting Scientology's copyrighted materials to the newsgroup. Raids took place in Virginia (against Arnaldo Lerma), Colorado (against Lawrence Wollersheim and Robert Penny), California (against Dennis Erlich), and even in The Netherlands (against Karin Spaink) and Sweden (against Zenon Panoussis). In addition to filing lawsuits against individuals, Scientology also sued The Washington Post for reprinting one paragraph of the OT writings in a newspaper article, as well as several Internet service providers, including Netcom and XS4ALL. It also regularly demanded the deletion of material from the Deja News archive. It has been suggested that civil trial be merged into this article or section. ... Official language(s) English Capital Richmond Largest city Virginia Beach Area  Ranked 35th  - Total 42,793 sq mi (110,862 km²)  - Width 200 miles (320 km)  - Length 430 miles (690 km)  - % water 7. ... The American writer Arnaldo (Arnie) Pagliarini Lerma (b. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles. ... Lawrence A. Wollersheim is an ex-Scientologist. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... Motto: Je Maintiendrai (Dutch: Ik zal handhaven, English: I Shall Uphold) Anthem: Wilhelmus van Nassouwe Capital Amsterdam1 Largest city Amsterdam Official language(s) Dutch2 Government Parliamentary democracy Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Beatrix  - Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende Independence Eighty Years War   - Declared July 26, 1581   - Recognised January 30, 1648 (by Spain... Karin Spaink (born December 20, 1957 in Amsterdam) is a journalist, writer and feminist. ... Zenon Panoussis (born 1956) was a naturalized citizen of Sweden who gained notoriety in large part because of his dispute with the Church of Scientology, as well as his novel legal tactics. ... The Washington Post is the largest newspaper in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. ... An Internet service provider (abbr. ... NETCOM On-line Communication Services was an Internet Service Provider established in 1988 by Bob Rieger, an information systems engineer for Lockheed. ... XS4ALL (pronounced access for all) is the second-oldest ISP in the Netherlands, after NLnet (But xs4all was the first company offering internet for individuals). ... The Deja News logo as it appeared in 1997. ...

The initial strikes against Scientology's critics settled down into a series of legal battles that raged through the courts. The Electronic Frontier Foundation provided legal assistance to several of the defendants, and daily reports of the latest happenings were posted to alt.religion.scientology. The newsgroup's popularity exploded, rocketing it to the ranks of the newsgroups with the heaviest message traffic and the highest number of readers. As the months and years wore on and the lawsuits continued without end, however, a number of participants in the newsgroup grew silent and moved on. EFF Logo The EFF uses the blue ribbon as symbolism for their Free Speech defense. ...

In the wake of the Scientology actions, the Penet remailer, which had been the most popular anonymous remailer in the world until the Scientology "war" took place, was shut down. Johan Helsingius, operator of the remailer, stated that the legal protections afforded him in his country (Finland) were too thin to protect him and he was forced to close down the remailer as a result. The Penet remailer (anon. ... An anonymous remailer is a server computer which receives messages with embedded instructions on where to send them next, and which forwards them without revealing where they originally came from. ... Johan Julf Helsingius, born in Finland, started and ran the Anon. ...

Scientology's online campaign

While legal battles were being fought in the courts, an equally intense and aggressive campaign was waged online. The newsgroup alt.religion.scientology found itself at the center of an electronic maelstrom of information and disinformation, as the newsgroup itself was attacked both literally and figuratively. Tens of thousands of junk messages were spammed onto the newsgroup, rendering it nearly unreadable at times when the message "floods" were at their peaks. Over one million (1,000,000+) sporgery articles were injected into the newsgroup, apparently by Scientology management and staff. Hacking methods were used to wipe out messages from news servers carrying the newsgroup. Lawyers representing Scientology made public appeals to Internet service providers to remove the newsgroup completely from their news servers. When these requests were repeatedly rejected, one of their lawyers unilaterally issued a rmgroup command to the Usenet server network to cause the group to be removed, an action which was quickly undone by the news server administrators. Furthermore, anonymous participants in the newsgroup kept up a steady stream of flame wars and off-topic arguments. Participants on the newsgroup accused Scientology of orchestrating these electronic attacks, though the organization consistently denied any wrongdoing. A KMail folder full of spam emails collected over a few days. ... Sporgery is the disruptive act of posting a flood of articles to a Usenet newsgroup, with the article headers falsified so that they appear to have been posted by others. ... A hack in progress in Lobby 7 at MIT. Hack is a term in the slang of the technology culture which has come into existence over the past few decades. ... This article is about the Internet meaning of the word flaming. For other meanings, and meanings of the word flame, see Flame. ...

In the early days of the World Wide Web, Scientology attempted a similar strategy to make finding websites critical of the organization more difficult. Scientology employed Web designers to write thousands of Web pages for their site, thus flooding early search engines. This problem was solved by the innovation of clustering responses from the same Web server, showing no more than the top two results from any one site (e.g. Google). WWWs historical logo designed by Robert Cailliau The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is a system of interlinked, hypertext documents that runs over the Internet. ... Google search is the worlds most popular search engine. ... Wikimedia servers architecture The term Web server can mean one of two things: A computer that is responsible for accepting HTTP requests from clients, which are known as Web browsers, and serving them HTTP responses along with optional data contents, which usually are Web pages such as HTML documents and... Google, Inc. ...

Since the inception of the Internet, Scientology has made a policy of using copyright infringement laws to prosecute various Scientology critics posting exposing information on the Web. The Church uses legal pressure combined with blackmail and character assassination to attempt to win many court cases in which it involves itself.^[8] Character assassination is the process of harming a persons reputation enough to cause rejection of that person from their community. ...

On the other side of the battle, many Web-page developers have felt ethically obligated to link the words "Dianetics" and "Scientology" to Operation Clambake. This resulted in the anti-Scientology site having the highest Google index on the term for a while, which in turn resulted in Scientology persuading Google to remove links to the site^[9] until international outcry led to the links being restored. This might be considered an early example of a Google bomb, and certainly has led to interesting questions about the power and obligations of Internet search providers. Operation Clambake Operation Clambake (xenu. ... A Google bomb is Internet slang for a certain kind of attempt to influence the ranking of a given page in results returned by the Google search engine, often with humorous or political intentions. ...

Scientology has introduced a special software package for its members to protect them from "unapproved" material about the church. The software is designed to completely block out the newsgroup a.r.s, various anti-Scientology Web sites, and all references to various critics of Scientology. This software package was derided by critics, who accused the organization of censorship and called the program "Scieno Sitter", after the censorware net-filter program Cyber Sitter. Since no updates have been reported since 1998 (and the original filter program only worked with Windows 95^[10]) the package is unlikely to be in use with recent operating systems and browsers due to software rot. DansGuardian blocking whitehouse. ... Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. ... Software Rot, also known as Software Decay comes in two forms; Dormant Rot. ...

In June 2006, Scientology lawyers sent cease-and-desist letters to Max Goldberg, founder of the website YTMND, asking him to take down all sites that either talked about or mocked Scientology, which had recently become a fad on the site following a popular South Park episode. Goldberg responded by saying that the "claims are completely groundless and I'm not removing anything," adding to the members of the site, "it should only be a matter of time before we're sued out of existence." In response, YTMNDers created yet more sites about Scientology, and these were highlighted on the main page. They also campaigned to Google bomb "The Unfunny Truth About Scientology" site. As of December 2006, no legal action has been taken against YTMND or Goldberg. Max Goldberg is a programmer from New York City, NY. He is the creator of the popular website, YTMND, as well as many smaller projects. ... YTMND, an initialism for Youre The Man Now Dog, is an online community centered around the creation of hosted web pages (known within the community as YTMNDs) featuring a juxtaposition of a single image or a simple slideshow, which may be animated and/or tiled along with optional large... Trapped in the Closet is episode 912 (#137) of the Comedy Central series South Park. ... A Google bomb is Internet slang for a certain kind of attempt to influence the ranking of a given page in results returned by the Google search engine, often with humorous or political intentions. ...

Notable legal cases

A few of the court cases were decided in favor of Scientology, while most of the cases were settled out of court. Noteworthy incidents in the later years of the online war included:

• Scientology's lawsuit against ex-member Arnaldo Lerma, his provider Digital Gateway, and The Washington Post. Lerma posted the Fishman Affidavit that contained 61 pages of the allegedly trade-secret and copyrighted story of Xenu.

• In 1995 Scientology caused a raid on the servers of Dutch Internet provider XS4ALL and sued it and Karin Spaink for copyright violations because of citing out of some confidential materials of Scientology. There followed a summary judgment in 1995, full proceedings in 1999, an appeal in 2001 which has been upheld by the Supreme Court of Netherlands in December 2005,^[11] all in favor of the provider and Karin Spaink, putting freedom of speech above copyright in some cases.

• Activist Keith Henson was sued for posting a portion of Scientology's writings to the Internet. Henson defended himself in court without a lawyer, while at the same time he carried out protests and pickets against Scientology. The court found that Henson had committed copyright infringement, and the damage award against Henson was immense: $150,000, an amount claimed by Scientology to be the largest damages ever awarded against an individual for copyright infringement. Henson's case became increasingly more complex, however, with charges of "terrorism" being added. In his Internet writings, Henson claims that he was forced to flee the United States and seek asylum in Canada due to ongoing threats against him.

• Zenon Panoussis, a resident of Sweden, was also sued for posting Scientology's copyrighted materials to the Internet. In his defense, he used a provision of the Constitution of Sweden that guarantees access to public documents. Panoussis turned over a copy of the NOTs documents to the office of the Swedish Parliament and, by law, copies of all documents (with few exceptions) received by authorities are available for anyone from the public to see, at any time he or she wishes. This, known as the Principle of Public Access (Offentlighetsprincipen), is considered a basic civil right in Sweden. The case, however, was decided against Panoussis. The results of his case sparked a legal firestorm in Sweden that debated the necessity of re-writing part of the Constitution.

• Dennis Erlich and Scientology settled their lawsuits. Erlich withdrew from the online battle entirely, and all mention of him was removed from Church of Scientology material.^[8][12]

• Scientology also sued Grady Ward, a known free speech activist and cypherpunk, claiming that Ward was the person behind an anonymous figure known only as "SCAMIZDAT". This individual had posted a large number of copyrighted Scientology materials to the newsgroup. Ward denied the accusations, and the lawsuit was settled out of court. A sizable portion of the lawsuit involved the legalities of the use of encryption software. As part of the lawsuit, Scientology hired computer experts to try to decode the famous Pretty Good Privacy encryption — but all attempts to "crack" the encryption failed.

• Philanthropist Bob Minton funded a number of court cases affecting the online battle, and he also became involved in the legal battle over Scientology's role in the death of one of its members, Lisa McPherson. Minton founded a short-lived organization called the Lisa McPherson Trust to support his cause and make a considerable amount of information about Scientology legally available online. After becoming involved in personal issues that resulted in the loss of his marriage and many of his business contacts (which many Scientology critics ardently believe were intentionally caused by Scientology), Minton capitulated and began working for Scientology in a strange about-face.

• Scientology is one of the first organizations to make use of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). In June of 1999, Scientology used the controversial law to force AT&T Worldnet to reveal the identity of a person who had been posting anonymously to alt.religion.scientology with the pseudonym of "Safe".

• The organization also used the DMCA to force the Google search engine to erase its entries on the popular anti-Scientology Web site Operation Clambake in March 2002, though the entry was reinstated after Google received a large number of complaints from Internet users. The publicity stemming from this incident was the impetus for Google's founding of the Chilling Effects archive, which archives legal threats of all sorts made against Internet users and Internet sites. [2]

• In September 2002, lawyers for Scientology contacted the administrators of the Wayback Machine (archive.org) and asserted ownership of certain materials archived as historical contents of the Operation Clambake site. In response, the Wayback Machine administration removed the archive of the entire Clambake site, initially posting a false claim that the site's author had requested its removal. This claim has been removed but (as of July 2006) the site remains absent from the Wayback archive.

Although the legal precedents set by the Scientology court battles would initially have a profound effect on the way the Internet was seen by the legal system (the ruling of Religious Technology Center vs. Netcom was used as a precedent for a number of Internet copyright cases), the Scientology court cases were eventually superseded as large corporations and federal governments began to write their own rules and set additional standards for the regulation of copyrighted materials online. The American writer Arnaldo (Arnie) Pagliarini Lerma (b. ... The Fishman Affidavit is a set of court documents submitted by ex-Scientologist Steven Fishman in 1994 containing criticisms of the Church of Scientology and, controversially, substantial portions of the Operating Thetan course materials. ... In Scientology doctrine, Xenu (also Xemu) is an alien ruler of the Galactic Confederacy who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of aliens to Earth in DC-8-like spacecraft, stacked them around volcanoes and blew them up with hydrogen bombs. ... XS4ALL (pronounced access for all) is the second-oldest ISP in the Netherlands, after NLnet (But xs4all was the first company offering internet for individuals). ... Karin Spaink (born December 20, 1957 in Amsterdam) is a journalist, writer and feminist. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Keith Henson in Clearwater, Florida Howard Keith Henson (b. ... Terrorist redirects here. ... Power lines leading to a trash dump hover just overhead in El Carpio, a Nicaraguan refugee camp in Costa Rica Under international law, a refugee is a person who is outside his/her country of nationality or habitual residence; has a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her... Zenon Panoussis (born 1956) was a naturalized citizen of Sweden who gained notoriety in large part because of his dispute with the Church of Scientology, as well as his novel legal tactics. ... The Swedish Constitution consists of four fundamental laws (Swedish: grundlagar): The Instrument of Government (Regeringsformen, 1974) The Act of Succession (Successionsordningen 1810) The Freedom of the Press Act (Tryckfrihetsförordningen 1766) The Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression (Yttrandefrihetsgrundlagen 1991) There is also a law on the working order of... Grady Ward was a man who featured prominently in the Scientology versus the Internet controversy. ... Freedom of speech is the right to freely say what one pleases, as well as the related right to hear what others have stated. ... The cypherpunks (from cipher and punk) comprise an informal group of people interested in privacy and cryptography who originally communicated through the cypherpunks mailing list. ... // In cryptography, encryption is the process of obscuring information to make it unreadable without special knowledge. ... PGP Encryption (Pretty Good Privacy) is a computer program that provides cryptographic privacy and authentication. ... Lisa McPherson (born Lisa Skonetski, February 10, 1959–December 5, 1995) was a Scientologist who died while in the care of the Church of Scientology (CoS). ... The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a United States copyright law which criminalizes production and dissemination of technology that can circumvent measures taken to protect copyright, not merely infringement of copyright itself, and heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... AT&T WorldNet is an internet service launched in 1996 by AT&T Corp. ... Google, Inc. ... Operation Clambake Operation Clambake (xenu. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Chilling Effects is a collaboration between several law school clinics and the Electronic Frontier Foundation to protect lawful online activity from legal threats. ... Internet Archive headquarters. ... Operation Clambake Operation Clambake (xenu. ... Corporate redirects here. ...

See also

• Andreas Heldal-Lund
• Barbara Schwarz
• Grady Ward
• Keith Henson
• Ron Newman
• Operation Clambake
• Zenon Panoussis
• Karin Spaink
• Sporgery
• David S. Touretzky
• List of trademarks owned by the Church of Scientology and its affiliates
• ScienTOMogy

Andreas Heldal-Lund. ... Barbara Schwarz, née Bretschneider, is a German expatriate now living in Salt Lake City, Utah. ... Grady Ward was a man who featured prominently in the Scientology versus the Internet controversy. ... Keith Henson in Clearwater, Florida Howard Keith Henson (b. ... Ron Newman is a computer programmer. ... Operation Clambake Operation Clambake (xenu. ... Zenon Panoussis (born 1956) was a naturalized citizen of Sweden who gained notoriety in large part because of his dispute with the Church of Scientology, as well as his novel legal tactics. ... Karin Spaink (born December 20, 1957 in Amsterdam) is a journalist, writer and feminist. ... Sporgery is the disruptive act of posting a flood of articles to a Usenet newsgroup, with the article headers falsified so that they appear to have been posted by others. ... Dr. David S. Touretzky is a research professor in the Computer Science Department and the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition at Carnegie Mellon University. ... The following are trademarks, service marks, and/or collective membership marks that the Church of Scientology and affiliated organizations claim to own, some of which are registered in some nations. ... ScienTOMogy is a parody site lampooning Tom Cruises involvement with Scientology. ...

Footnotes

1. ^ Jacobsen, Jeff. "Medical claims within Scientology's secret teachings", 1996
2. ^ O'Connor, Mike. "How Scientology claims to cure physical illness", 2003
3. ^ Hausherr, Tilman. "NOTS34: criminality successfully protected by copyright law", 1998
4. ^ Wachter, Kristi. "'Handling a physical condition' with the NOTs"
5. ^ Grossman, Wendy [October 1997]. “Copyright Terrorists”, Net.Wars. New York: New York University Press, 77-78. ISBN 0-8147-3103-1. Retrieved on 2006-06-11. 
6. ^ Swamp Ratte. "Statement Concerning the 'Church' of Scientology." CULT OF THE DEAD COW Press Release, June 4, 1995. Retrieved June 14, 2006.
7. ^ Jones, Colman. "Freedom Flames Out on the 'Net - Who launched the largest-ever sabotage of the Internet?", NOW Magazine, 1996-07-04. Retrieved on 2006-12-03.
8. ^ ^{a b} Freedom Magazine, Vol 27, Issue 4: A Crime By Any Other Name. See "Dennis Erlich: Copyright Terrorist". (Archived January 16th, 1999.)
9. ^ Matt Loney, Evan Hansen. "Google pulls anti-Scientology links", CNet, 2002-03-21. Retrieved on 2006-12-12.
10. ^ Brown, Janelle. "A Web of their own", Salon, Salon.com, 1998-07-15. Retrieved on 2006-06-21.
11. ^ Final Victory! XS4ALL and Karin Spaink Win Scientology Battle, Press Release, December 16, 2005
12. ^ Freedom Magazine, Vol 27, Issue 4: A Crime By Any Other Name. Redacted version.

2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... June 11 is the 162nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (163rd in leap years), with 203 days remaining. ... June 4 is the 155th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (156th in leap years), with 210 days remaining. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... June 14 is the 165th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (166th in leap years), with 200 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For the British publication, see NOW magazine (UK). ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... For the United States holiday, the Fourth of July, see Independence Day (United States). ... 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 3 is the 337th (in leap years the 338th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... {{Infobox_Company | company_name = CNET Networks| company_logo = | company_type = [[Publicly traded NASDAQ: CNET foundation = 1993| location = San Francisco, California, USA| key_people = Shelby W. Bonnie, Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO| num_employees = 2,080 (2006)| industry = Internet Information Provider| homepage = [1] ==CNET Networks, Inc. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... March 21 is the 80th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (81st in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 12 is the 346th day (347th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 19 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 193 days remaining. ...

External links and references

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Religious Technology Center vs. Netcom

The online war has seen a large number of persons participating fervently on both sides of the conflict. Neutral, unbiased commentaries are difficult to locate, and parties in both the pro- and anti-Scientology camp are known to use rhetoric and emotional appeals. Image File history File links Wikisource-logo. ... The original Wikisource logo. ...

Church of Scientology

• Scientology in the News: Press Office. Questions and Answers about the Church’s actions to uphold religious freedom, copyright law and trade secret protections on the Internet. Church of Scientology.
• Scientology in the News: Press Office. The Church of Scientology and the Internet. Church of Scientology.
• Statement Re: The Church of Scientology and the Internet. Made available on the web by New religious movements. Church of Scientology (2000-06-30).
• Freedom of Speech at Risk in Cyberspace. A special issue about the increasing crimes on the internet in the name of free speech. Church of Scientology.
• The Internet: The Promise and the Perils. Article about the dangerous evolution of the Internet as viewed by a scientologist. Church of Scientology.
• Al Buttnor, Director of Special Affairs, Church of Scientology Toronto (2006-08-26). Internet/copyright conflicts of the church of Scientology. Copyright conflicts on the Internet and international court cases. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance.

The Church of Scientology is the largest organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. ... The Church of Scientology is the largest organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. ... A new religious movement or NRM appears as a religious, ethical or spiritual grouping that has not (yet) become recognised as a standard denomination, church, or body, especially when it has a novel belief system and when it is not a sect. ... The Church of Scientology is the largest organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... June 30 is the 181st day of the year (182nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 184 days remaining. ... The Church of Scientology is the largest organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. ... The Church of Scientology is the largest organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. ... 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... August 26 is the 238th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (239th in leap years). ... Front page of Religious Tolerance. ...

Critical and other sites

• alt.scientology.war, Wired magazine 3.12, Dec 1995.
• Scientology-church wages war against the Internet, Koert van der Velde, Trouw, Wednesday, September 13, 1995.
• Question and Answer about the Church's actions to uphold religious freedom, copyright law and trade secret protections on the Internet. (Netherlands Church of Scientology)
• EFF Electronic Frontier Foundation "Legal Cases - Church of Scientology" Archive
• Paper: New Dimensions of Social Movement/Countermovement Interaction: The Case of Scientology and its Internet Critics
• How Scientology tries to influence Google results
• Spaink defeats Scientology
• OSA 101 The OSA 101 Series, written by Tory (Bezazian) Christman, who was in Scientology for 30 years and helped open up some of the phony accounts Scientology used to Spam the Internet. She left in July of 2000, once she realized they were actually trying to stop free speech with these accounts.
• Legal Threat and Reply Cease and Desist Letter from Scientology Attorney, with Reply
• Church of Scientology censors Internet access for members: Description of the "Scieno Sitter" filter program distributed to Scientologists
• The Church of Scientology vs. the Net, Ron Newman, events in 1994-1996.
• Scientology v. the Internet: Free Speech & Copyright Infringement on the Information Super-Highway, Skeptic vol. 3, no. 3, 1995, pp. 35-41, Jim Lippard and Jeff Jacobsen.
• Scientology vs. the Internet: An Update and Response to Leisa Goodman, Jim Lippard, 1996.
• Church of Scientology Battles the Net, Toronto eye Weekly, K.K. Campbell, February 23 1995.
• Video of the Dennis Erlich raid (Realvideo format)
• Scientology forces comment off Slashdot