Anonymous on the March Against Church of Scientology

Following a declaration of war issued via YouTube, the hacker group Anonymous entered into open warfare against the Church of Scientology. The group has already employed distributed denial of service attacks against multiple Church of Scientology websites including their homepage starting on January 23rd, 2008. Members of the internet group have also secured and released scanned copies of training manuals used by Church of Scientology training staff and a DVD rip of a high-profile 2007 Scientology summit.

In the groups declaration of war posted on January 21st, 2008, Anonymous stated that the Church of Scientology's alleged "... campaigns of misinformation; suppression of dissent; your litigious nature, ..." attracted the attention of the internet hacker group. The call to arms came after the leaked ten minute internal Scientology video featuring actor Tom Cruise hit YouTube and was subsequently pulled within days following a Digital Millennium Copyright Act claim by the Church of Scientology.

Anonymous isn't drawing the line at the Church of Scientology's internet presence. Through the Insurgent Wiki, the "Project Chanology / Target IRL" page outlines the possible use of targeted vandalism, network infiltration and various other pranks against prominent Scientologists such as Tom Cruise as well as high ranking Church of Scientology officials and facilities. The plan as outlined does not call for violence against people or malicious destruction of property.

Anonymous has so far sent a total of three messages, all of which were uploaded to YouTube using newly created accounts. In the group's second video message which was posted in the early hours of January 25th, 2008, the group chastised the media for failing to report matters related to the Church of Scientology including allegations of human rights violations, the stifling of dissent and the totalitarian nature of the organization. These acts were also cited by the online group as justification for expelling "... you from the Internet and systematically dismantle the Church of Scientology in its present form." The group's third message posted later that afternoon declares that common Scientologists need not fear the group as they are not being targeted by their efforts, only the structure and organization that Anonymous claims imprisons them.

Anonymous does not appear to be alone in its opinion of the Church of Scientology. Numerous users of the popular social news website Digg.com appear to support the effort by the group and numerous stories highlighting early attacks have been repeatedly dugg by the site's users as well as negative stories from former Scientology members.

This isn't the first incident of conflict surrounding the Church of Scientology though this might be the first time the organization didn't initiate the conflict themselves. The organization has been involved in criminal cases in the United States over attempts by church leaders to carry out a series of document thefts from and initiate wiretaps in numerous government agencies and foreign embassies. The church is also responsible for initiating numerous civil lawsuits against former adherents and critics. Several countries including Belgium, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Israel and Mexico do not recognize the Scientology as a religion. Germany has officially stated they regard the Church of Scientology as a commercial venture and has considered formally expelling the organization from the country.

Anonymous, YouTube - Message to Scientology, YouTube
Anonymous, YouTube - Second Address to Scientology, YouTube
Anonymous, YouTube - Anonymous: Response to the Media, YouTube
Anonymous, Anon delivers scans of scientology staff training manual, Digg.com
Anonymous, Scientology OT Summit 2007 DVD Leaked on The Pirate Bay, Digg.com
Insurgent Wiki, Project Chanology/Target IRL
BBC News, Cruise Scientology video leaked
German Embassy, Washington D.C., Scientology and Germany