Mary Freeman, Managing Editor
Mary_Freeman@csumb.edu
Feb.28, 2008
Any doubts that the Internet has completely changed our society have been put to rest on Feb. 10, when an Internet “group” known as Anonymous held a worldwide protest against Scientology. What makes this event so momentous is the so-called “group,” regardless of what major media outlets report, is not really a group at all. According to one member of Anonymous, the phenomenon of Anonymous is more accurately described as a culture than a group, and the culture exists entirely on the Internet. Anonymous is the name adopted by many people who post on various image boards and forums on the Internet, and talk through Internet Relay Chat, IRC. There is little to no communication between Anonymous outside of the Internet, no hierarchy system, and no infrastructure.
Many members of Anonymous often cite the Church of Scientology’s special copyrights on materials, which are privileges other churches do not receive, as well as various alleged human rights violations, including Scientology’s “fair game policy,” stating members of the church are sanctioned to take any action they feel necessary against people they feel are a threat to the church. A deeper look into the recent activities on the related image boards shows the feud between Anonymous and Scientology began when a Scientology orientation video featuring Tom Cruise was leaked to Youtube. com. Scientology put pressure on Youtube. com to ban the video, which they eventually did, and Anonymous members felt this was a misuse of copyright law. According to encylopediadramatica.com, a wiki-style website devoted to cataloguing everything associated with Anonymous culture, on Jan. 16, 2008, Project Chanology, the self-given name for Anonymous’ attack on Scientology, began with various videos being uploaded and circulated on the Internet warning Scientologists that Anonymous would be aiming for the Church’s demise. Soon after, members of Anonymous began initiating “denial of service” attacks, a method of crashing a website by overburdening its server with information requests, on some of Scientology’s websites. The project shifted gears and became more centered around dissemination of information about the Church when many confidential, instructional documents, that Scientologists must pay for to see, were leaked onto the Internet. The first attacks, in real life, were protests held in Orlando, FL on Jan. 26 and Feb. 2, as well as the world wide protest Feb. 10, in front of various Churches of Scientology. On Mar. 15 another worldwide protest is being planned. This is not the first time members of Anonymous have attacked others. They have been associated with the downfall of Hal Turner, an Internet radio host popular among racist and fascist groups, and Chris Forcand, a Canadian pedophile. However, someone visiting websites frequented by members of Anonymous will not find discussion of social justice, but rather threads regarding “memes,” images and sayings popular within the Anonymous community. The images and topics of discussion are often obscene, yet still diverse, ranging from child pornography, murders and suicide to kittens and cartoons. Most of the threads found on Anonymousrelated websites regarding Scientology, Turner and Forcand, comment more on the hilarity of the situations rather than any social ills they feel the three stand for. It is hard to ascertain whether Anonymous does what it does for humor or justice. Photos by Greg Tomaschesk i Worldwide protest against Scientology held Feb. 10 The multiplicity of the culture may contribute to the sometimes contradictory and often false depictions of the group in the media. In an attempt at humor or in an effort to keep the culture virtually unknown, many of Anonymous have given out false information to media outlets. The information often has something to do with a “meme.” For instance, the LA Times reported in an article titled “Scientology feud with its critics takes to the Internet” the, “group is a loose confederation of about 9,000 people.” This figure is more than likely taken from a Dragon Ball Z “meme,” in which a main character yells, “It’s over 9,000!” In the past, Fox News has referred to the group as “hackers on steroids,” in a very intense, investigative series, which became a “meme” of its own. The series painted the community as a group of hackers terrorizing innocents on the Internet for fun. What the series failed to realize, is that there is no organization to Anonymous, and there is no singular motivation for the group. To some Anonymous members the serious media coverage is comical. One who considers himself a part of Anonymous, and thus chose to remain anonymous stated, “I don’t think it should be represented in any way in the media. All their efforts to stereotype us as ‘cyber bullies’ or vigilantes for justice are really funny, it makes me laugh.”
