Slog - Comments on Re: Unconfirmed Reports http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1 Dan asks... Anybody nearby? Anybody got pictures? Yup! Lots of 'em. There is always the danger that these kinds of shenanigans only create sympathy for the "church," and inevitably people will go too far and do just that or worse. That will be bad for everybody. Still, every time I tell someone the long, twisted, rambling (hilarious!) story of my confrontation with Scientology (On bookshelves one day maybe! Watch this space!), they are shocked and horrified. Scientology's quest for legitimacy has been far, far too successful, and they need some serious exposing.... Copyright 2008 Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:51:04 -0800 Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:57:05 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Chief Wiggum Sgt. Lou Eagle (Seattle Police) has been called and confirmed the right to protest without permit as long as we (a) stay on the sidewalks and (b) don't block traffic. Masks are LEGAL.

Good work, Lou.

]]> Chief Wiggum http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1#c933591 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1#c933591 City Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:19:34 -0800 Comment by bma How exactly could one ever elicit sympathy for this "church"? They are pure evil.

]]> bma http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1#c933595 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1#c933595 City Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:22:55 -0800 Comment by Anthony Hecht @2: Easy. Harass them, act like idiots, get on the news, but have no way to get real information to regular people. Regular people assume YOU'RE the nut, and sympathize with the Scientologists, who they still have no particular reason to think ill of.

]]> Anthony Hecht http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1#c933599 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1#c933599 City Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:33:30 -0800 Comment by CondimentGrrl Just an interesting FYI -- I'm over in the Netherlands right now and yesterday, February 10th, we rode by a massive protest against Scientology as well. There were people in death costumes and carrying on about Xenu. Is this a worldwide, coordinated protest?

]]> CondimentGrrl http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1#c933617 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1#c933617 City Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:49:43 -0800 Comment by Chris in Tampa So, I don't understand. Was this a reaction to something that happened, or did everybody all of a sudden get fed up with Scientology and decide to picket?

]]> Chris in Tampa http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1#c933618 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1#c933618 City Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:58:53 -0800 Comment by Kristen I'd heard that something was planned for a while--even a friend from Australia told me about it. But it didn't get much publicity, obviously. Too bad. Meanwhile, I'd love to hear Anthony's hilarious story!

]]> Kristen http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1#c933623 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1#c933623 City Mon, 11 Feb 2008 02:47:13 -0800 Comment by brandon h Little of both #5. The nerds have hated Scientology for a while now because of it's litigiousness against internet media, especially it's overuse of the DMCA and copyright claims. A lot of people remember when they tried to shutdown Usenet forums when the net was just coming into being. It kind of came to a head when they tried to censor that YouTube clip of Tom Cruise going batshit using a copyright claim a couple of weeks ago. So a bunch of nerds banded together and started a group coordinated and planed on the internet (which explains how they could launch successfully protests worldwide on the same day) called Anonymous with the intention of resisting scientiology, starting out by doing a DDOS attack on the church's web servers in an attempt to take them offline (semi-successfully). They are now in their next phase of public protesting on the birthday of Lisa McPhearson, a woman who died under the churches care. I hear another protest is scheduled for March 15th (not sure the specifics).

There are other reason of course for protesting, but this was the catalyst.

]]> brandon h http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1#c933625 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1#c933625 City Mon, 11 Feb 2008 03:37:00 -0800 Comment by The CHZA This is not really a "group" with the official name of "Anonymous," rather a collection of image board users from sites like 4chan, 7chan, etc where the default user name is Anonymous. There's this whole little half-serious mythology about "Anonymous" there. (Some "newfags" take it completely seriously)

]]> The CHZA http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1#c933631 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1#c933631 City Mon, 11 Feb 2008 05:30:45 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle High schoolers were talking about this all last week, apparently.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1#c934089 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1#c934089 City Mon, 11 Feb 2008 12:32:38 -0800 Comment by Chris in Tampa Oh, I had already forgotten about those Anonymous videos.

]]> Chris in Tampa http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1#c934916 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/re_unconfirmed_reports_1#c934916 City Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:57:05 -0800