Internet War
January 25th, 2008 by tom
This whole thing about a distributed group called “Anonymous” targeting the Church of Scientology is fascinating to me. I think when this is all over, people are going to study this in preparation for modern cyberwarfare.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the declaration of war and subsequent strikes against Scientology, here’s a synopsis:
A NOTORIOUS group of internet users known as “Anonymous” have taken down a Scientology website after declaring war on the church.
Anonymous, whose membership included hackers, has begun a “third wave” of attacks in the week-old operation dubbed “Project Chanologyâ€.
The group has already flooded Scientology servers, preventing access to at least one of the church’s websites.
Chief executive of the 7safe.com security firm Alan Phillips told Sky News in the UK that the group may have used a denial of service attack to take the Scientology website out of service.
…
The group also claimed to have downloaded many of the church’s “secret documents†– which can now be downloaded from popular file-sharing sites.
We might be witnessing the opening salvos of the first widely popular “crowdwar.”
Make no mistake, what the group that calls itself Anonymous is doing is terrorism. They’re using a blend of legal and illegal tactics to bring Scientology down. Obviously, the DOS attacks are illegal. Posting copyrighted, private material is illegal, too. Funny thing is, I find myself rooting for Anonymous even though their tactics are deplorable.
And I’m not alone. A simple visit to Digg, Fark, reddit, or pretty much any of the social bookmarking/social news sites will demonstrate that the word is spreading quickly and that many Internet users are behind Anonymous all the way.
I’ll not defend Scientology, because their tactics are just as scummy and I look at this as Xenu getting his comeuppance, but if you think about this situation in the context of political systems, it’s obvious that we’re heading toward a world where tyranny of the majority is reality. In other words, organizational or individual rights won’t matter as much as pleasing the masses such that they don’t openly attack your assets in illegal ways. Call it hacker rule if you will.
So far, we’ve seen denial of service attacks to take Scientology websites offline, leaked internal materials, plenty of war declarations and “rah-rah” support videos on YouTube, widespread popularizing of anti-Scientology stories through social news sites, and a lot this bubbling up to the mainstream media. Near as I can tell, there’s no unifying strategy, just a lot of people participating in whatever way they’re comfortable, whether it’s Digging a story, posting to blogs and online forums, or working with the hackers.
Mark my words, this is a significant social event and people are going to be studying it for years to come.
Thank you.
lulz
So true, tom.
Epic lulz is on the way.
The lulz are already epic, CNN coverage is good.
Soon they will be legendary.
Tom, I am also concerned by the denial of rights that this means, but I feel that the church of Scientology has overstepped its bounds on this one. They manipulated our system of government to obtain tax exempt status, look up operation Snow White. 5000+ Scientology operatives were involved in that, infiltrating the IRS, stealing files from numerous government offices. If Scientology did not run a town (Clearwater Florida) and get away with manipulating the federal government, it might not be an issue. Our war is not on Scientologists, it is on the Church of Scientology. Most of us don’t really care what anyone believes as far as religion goes, we just don’t see the Church of Scientology as anything more than a money scheme.
Our grievances are many, especially murders and child abuse related to Scientology. Anonymous is composed of many people, each speaks on behalf of Anonymous, but we are all different, and do what we do for different reasons.
The crowdwar is an interesting concept, but the only other religious organization I foresee being in the crosshairs of Anonymous would be the Westboro Baptist Church. This is merely speculation on my part however.
Interesting read, Tom, Keep up the blogging
I’m well aware of the Church of Scientology’s sins. I’ve been following the whole controversy.
I can agree with fighting against their censorship tactics, and I love seeing people Digg the hell out of stories about how they’re suppressing information and brainwashing folks. I’m all for people creating YouTube videos to expose them.
I can’t condone DOS attacks, though. I don’t think the answer is taking them offline.
I’m on the fence about posting the leaked stuff, primarily because I believe the copyright system in the U.S. needs a serious overhaul. OTOH, information wants to be free, and if the COS wanted to keep this crap secret, they probably should have been more careful.
And, like I said, I’m rooting for the anti-COS movement. I think they’re dangerous people, I think they’re cheating the system, and I think we’re all stupider from merely being exposed to the ideas behind L. Ron’s fake religion.
And don’t even get me started on Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church.
What I’m worried about, though, is that we’ll become accustomed to stepping over the line whenever someone is out there disseminating ideas that we don’t like. That’s the scary part.
I guess I don’t like the idea of a majority imposing its will on a minority, mainly because I don’t believe a lot of things that a lot of other people believe, and I’d like to live out my life unmolested by majority rule. To me, it’s ironic that the types of people who might participate in a crowdwar against the Church of Scientology are the first people to complain about fundamentalist Christian influence on how we all lead our lives. One can’t have it both ways. If you don’t want your ideas suppressed, you can’t suppress the ideas of others.
[...] de disidentes, etc. por el bien de sus seguidores y de la humanidad”. AsÃ, hay una declaración de guerra hacia la Iglesia de CienciologÃa que ya [...]
[...] Hall over at AdRants picked up on my post about Anonymous and the anti-Scientology movement online, and this got picked up by Ian Schafer [...]
[...] Hespos.com is calling it the first widely popular crowdwar and with all the attention they are getting on Fark and Digg, they might be right. [...]
A local radio station here (L.A. area) had an interview this morning with someone who claimed to be a member of Anonymous. He/she (voice altered) stated that they were no longer going to do the DOS attacks, and instead wanted to keep their “war” legal, including mass protests at CoS centers on February 10th (I believe.)
They also justified the posting of copyrighted material by saying that these leaked videos/documents are not for sale anywhere; it’s not as if CoS is losing money. They said they just wanted the public to know the truth behind the “church’s” beliefs. Take it for what it’s worth.
Joe – That’s cool. Do you have the call letters of the LA station? I’d like to find the interview if possible.
Anonymous is legion. Anonymous does not forgive. Anonymous does not forget.
Anonymous is devoid of humanity, morality, pity and mercy.
Anonymous works as one, because no member of Anonymous is as cruel as all of Anonymous.
Anonymous cannot be harmed, no matter how many Anonymous may fall in battle.
Anonymous takes all attempts to harm Anonymous seriously.
Anonymous is an enemy of those who are not Anonymous.
Anonymous is not subject to law.
Anonymous only undertakes Serious Business.
Anonymous is everywhere.
Anonymous cannot be out-numbered.
Anonymous reinforces its ranks exponentially at need.
Anonymous has no weakness or flaw.
Anonymous exploits all weaknesses and flaws.
Anonymous holds nothing sacred.
Anonymous is not your friend.
Anonymous is not your personal army.
Anonymous is in control at all times.
Anonymous does not accept failure, Anonymous delivers.
Anonymous has no identity.
Anonymous cannot be betrayed.
Anonymous are created as equals.
Anonymous is a choice.
Anonymous obeys the Code.
Anonymous cannot be appeased.
Anonymous, like life, can be a bitch.
I agree Tom,
This is history. It is impossible to decipher the deluge of information as we stand in the middle.
But it is terrifying and exciting at the same time.
I also agree with you about the mix of morals. Just by posting this I am in some way supporting the it. And I think this all comes down to the might of Anonymous. Anonymous is the name given to the undeniable might of a trillion fold doubts. This is grass roots war. We will all play a part in the systematic deconstruction of the future and present SOC just by talking about it.
Sort of a tsunami. A natural force created by the global doubt we all have about an organisation that sells salvation.
Hey Tom, yes, sorry, should’ve posted that… it was KROQ (www.kroq.com). Go to the Kevin & Bean page and you can download the podcast from the 28th.
Should have also mentioned, the interview was between the 7 and 8 o’clock hours… it’s a 5 hour morning show, so I didn’t want you to have to listen to the whole thing
I really don’t think that the DDoS attacks are terrorism. They’re more like a digital sit-in. Seriously, that’s exactly what they are.
The whole DDoS thing has been done with for over a weeks now. Now we’re taking to the streets in preparation for a long drawn-out war.
The copyrighted material shouldn’t be copyrighted anyway…so releasing it may be legally wrong, but it’s morally right.
Terrorism?
Are you kidding?
Do you honestly feel that hacking a website and copyright infringement qualify as terror?
No, I’m not kidding. Additionally, I wouldn’t frame it the way you did. Copyright infringement wouldn’t in and of itself constitute terrorism, but I believe a prolonged, distributed attempt to ruin an organization constitutes terrorism, if not the individual tactics.
This thread is well over a year old and some of my opinions have changed, but I think a lot of the assertions I made in the OP have held up.
The post two post above this one may hold water with respect to it being morally right to release the copyrighted material (at least I believe it’s morally justified). Looking at the bigger picture of the OP, I think I was pretty dead-on. People are still talking about Anonymous vs. Scientology as a significant development and significant event.
To put it in perspective..it is not a war between anonymous and Scientology.
It is a war between the vested interests Ie. psychiatry, big pharma, and several other sources of income…mostly our tax dollars– to put down an upstart church that just happens to have the 21 st century answer to mental health.
Psychiatry in 100 years has never come up with a solution to insanity, in less than 10 years L Ron Hubbard was curing it. He understood the concept that the hardware (body) is working fine, adding drugs or harming it does not give a cure. The thing he did was understand the (software) or mind if you will and provided the key to understanding it. It is all history now, millions have been helped.
But along the way there were malcontents (you cannot enforce a cure on anyone) they left and were picked up by the vested interests. They were paid and continue to be paid to help attack Scientology.
The only result of this will be more enslavement of the public and loss of rights. Scientology has stood by other religions, individuals and organizations trying to make a difference in this world. Attacking them will remove the pillar that is holding all that up. Then where will we be..they have been helping for 60 years unbeknownst to the average guy.
I feel that the edge of sanity has been reached and no good will come of this.
Scientology vs. The Man? Nah, that re-framing isn’t going to work, Larry.
L. Ron never cured insanity. Anonymous isn’t funded by big pharma. Scientology isn’t compatible with other religions, and it certainly isn’t part of the pillar holding up society. Nice try, though.
Peaceful protest isn’t terrorism.