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"Project Chanology" is the name given to a digital assault on the controversial Church of Scientology by "Anonymous," a loosely affiliated group of hackers and online community members. The term also refers to a website of the same name, used by the group to chronicle ongoing and planned actions by "Anonymous". Consisting of a series of semi-coordinated attacks known as raids, Project Chanology was formed in response to the Church of Scientology's attempts to remove material from an exclusive Scientology interview with Tom Cruise from the internet. Coinciding with the publication of Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography, the interview was leaked onto YouTube on January 16, 2008. The Church of Scientology stated that the video was produced to be shown to members of Scientology, and that the leaked version was a "pirated and edited" version taken from a three-hour event.
Project Chanology views Scientology's actions as a form of internet censorship and has retaliated with distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS attacks); while calling for black faxes, prank calls and other measures intended to disrupt the Church of Scientology's operations. Other detractors of Scientology have criticized the actions of Project Chanology, asserting that they merely provide the Church of Scientology with the opportunity to "play the religious persecution card". Other critics of Project Chanology's actions question the legality of the group's actions.
Reactions from Church of Scientology spokespeople regarding the group's actions have been varied. One spokesperson stated that members of the group "have got some wrong information" about Scientology. Another referred to the group as a "pathetic" group of "computer geeks".
Tom Cruise video
A video produced by the Church of Scientology featuring an interview with Tom Cruise was leaked to the Internet and uploaded to YouTube in January 2008. In the video, music from Cruise's Mission Impossible films plays in the background, and Cruise makes claims including saying that Scientologists are the only people who can help at the scene of a car accident, and that Scientologists are the authority on getting addicts off drugs. The Church of Scientology asserted that the video material that had been leaked to YouTube and other websites was "pirated and edited" and taken from a three-hour video produced for members of Scientology. YouTube removed the Cruise video from their site under threat of litigation. As of January 25, 2008, the web site Gawker.com was still hosting a copy of the Tom Cruise video, and other sites have posted the entire video. Lawyers for the Church of Scientology sent a letter to Gawker.com demanding that they remove the video, but Nick Denton of Gawker.com stated: "It's newsworthy, and we will not be removing it."
Formation
Users of the English speaking imageboards 711chan.org and 4chan (collectively known as Anonymous) formulated "Project Chanology" on January 16, 2008, after the Church of Scientology issued a copyright violation claim against YouTube for hosting material from the Cruise video. The effort has also been referred to by group members as "Operation Chanology". The group had early success rendering major Scientology websites inaccessible and leaking documents stolen from Scientology computers which resulted in a large amount of coverage on Social bookmarking websites.
Calling the action by the Church of Scientology a form of Internet censorship, members of Project Chanology organized a series of denial-of-service attacks against Scientology websites, prank calls, and black faxes to Scientology centers. They state that their main goal is "to enlighten the Church of Scientology (CoS) by any means necessary".
Attack
The group was successful in taking down a Scientology website on January 18, 2008. Local Church of Scientology chapter sites were also affected. The "Project Chanology" website is set up in the form of a collaborative wiki. On January 21, 2008, a statement was released in the form of a press release by "Anonymous" declaring a "War on Scientology" against both the Church of Scientology and the Religious Technology Center. Speaking to Sky News, the chief executive of Internet security firm 7safe.com said that it was possible that the group used a denial-of-service attack, in order to take down the Scientology website.
On January 21, 2008 "Anonymous" posted a video to YouTube which said "We shall proceed to expel you from the Internet and systematically dismantle the church of scientology in its present form ... We are anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us." The Tom Cruise video is specifically named at the beginning of the "Anonymous" YouTube posting, and is referred to as a "propaganda video". As of January 25, 2008 the video had been viewed 800,000 times. Anonymous escalated their attacks against Scientology on January 25, 2008. In a different video posted to YouTube, Anonymous speaks to the news organizations covering the conflict, and criticizes the media's reporting of the incident. This second video was taken down on January 25, 2008, with YouTube citing a "terms of use violation."
In response to the attacks, the Church of Scientology moved its domain to a more protected location. On January 21, 2008 the Church of Scientology moved its domain to a company which specializes in protecting other web sites from denial-of-service attack, called Prolexic Technologies. A Prolexic spokesman confirmed to PC World that the Church of Scientology was one of its clients, but did not explain further, and the Church of Scientology did not return a phone call or e-mail from PC World. Attacks against the site increased, and a CNET News reported that "a major assault" took place at 6 p.m. EST on January 24, 2008. On January 25, 2008, eight of the top ten stories on Digg.com were related to either Scientology related controversies or "Anonymous" and the attempt to expose Scientology . As of January 25, 2008, the Church of Scientology's official website was still inaccessible.
Technical analysis
According to Jose Nazario, security engineer with the company Arbor Networks, the denial-of-service attacks on Scientology.org flooded the site with 220M bps of traffic. Nazario described this amount of traffic as a mid-range attack. The attacks each lasted an average of thirty minutes and used 168M bps of bandwidth. Arbor Networks has recorded data on attacks to other sites in the last year which were 200 times this amount. Nazario stated that there were 448 denial-of-service events on January 19, 2008, prior to the Church of Scientology's move to Prolexic Technologies. These attacks averaged 15,000 packets per second. Nazario described this as "common, garden-variety DDoS attacks." Speaking with SCMagazineUS.com, a security strategist for Top Layer Networks, Ken Pappas, told SCMagazineUS.com that he thought that botnets were involved in the "Anonymous" operation: "There are circles out there where you could take ownership of the bot machines that are already owned and launch a simultaneous attack against like the church from 50,000 PCs, all at the same time".
Criticism
Andreas Heldal-Lund, founder of the Scientology-critical website and non-profit organization, Operation Clambake, released a statement criticizing the digital assault against Scientology. Heldal-Lund commented, "People should be able to have easy access to both sides and make up their own opinions. Freedom of speech means we need to allow all to speak - including those we strongly disagree with. I am of the opinion that the Church of Scientology is a criminal organisation and a cult which is designed by its delusional founder to abuse people. I am still committed to fight for their right to speak their opinion." He also stated that "Attacking Scientology like that will just make them play the religious persecution card ... They will use it to defend their own counter actions when they try to shatter criticism and crush critics without mercy." University of Alberta professor Stephen A. Kent weighed in on the issue, and said "I think these disruptions probably are illegal. At the very least, they’re forms of harassment ... We now have three parties involved. Anonymous, Scientology and law enforcement." Kent stated that "The hacker community has been angry at Scientology for (their) attempts to block free speech on the Internet."
Calling Anonymous a "motley crew of internet troublemakers", a Wired blogger reported that, in a misguided attempt to bypass the Church of Scientology's Prolexic servers, users of a scripted DDoS tool inadvertently struck Etty Hillesum Lyceum, a Dutch secondary school in Deventer.
Church of Scientology's response
In a January 25, 2008 statement made to News.com.au, a spokesman for the Church of Scientology said, "These types of people have got some wrong information about us." A Toronto, Canada spokesperson for the Church of Scientology said she didn't "give a damn" if the group "Anonymous" was responsible for disrupting access to the Scientology site. Church spokeswoman Yvette Shank told Sun Media that she thought the "Anonymous" members were a "pathetic" group of "computer geeks". On January 26, 2008, CNET News reported that Karin Pouw, public affairs director for the Church of Scientology, did not address their specific request for a comment about the denial-of-service attacks but instead only responded to the appearance of the Tom Cruise video on YouTube. Pouw stated that the video consisted of "pirated and edited" excerpts of Cruise from a 2004 Scientology event, and that after the video appeared there was increased traffic to Scientology sites as shown by top lists compiled by search engines. Pouw went on to state "Those wishing to find out the Church of Scientology's views and to gain context of the video have the right to search official Church Web sites if they so desire."
See also
References
- ^ Warne, Dan (January 24, 2008). ""Anonymous" threatens to "dismantle" Church of Scientology via internet". APC Magazine. National Nine News. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ KNBC Staff (January 24, 2008). "Hacker Group Declares War On Scientology: Group Upset Over Church's Handling Of Tom Cruise Video". KNBC. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - FOX News staff (January 23, 2008). "Report: Church of Scientology Slams German Tabloid for Publishing Comments Comparing Tom Cruise to Nazi Minister". FOX News. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Vamosi, Robert (January 24, 2008). "Anonymous hackers take on the Church of Scientology". CNET News. CNET Networks, Inc. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Landers, Chris (January 25, 2008). "The Internets Are Going to War". Baltimore City Paper. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - New Zealand Herald staff (January 19, 2008). "Video shows Cruise in rave mode". New Zealand Herald. APN Holdings NZ Limited. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ George-Cosh, David (January 25, 2008). "Online group declares war on Scientology". National Post. Canwest Publishing Inc. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Singel, Ryan (January 23, 2008). "War Breaks Out Between Hackers and Scientology -- There Can Be Only One". Wired. CondéNet, Inc. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Feran, Tom (January 24, 2008). "Where to find the Tom Cruise Scientology videos online, if they're still posted". The Plain Dealer. Newhouse Newspapers. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Chan Enterprises (January 21, 2008). "Internet Group Declares "War on Scientology": "Anonymous" are fighting the Church of Scientology and the Religious Technology Center" (PDF). Press Release. PRLog.Org. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Thomas, Nicki (January 25, 2008). "Scientology and the internet: Internet hackers attack the church". Edmonton Sun. Sun Media. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Dingman, Shane (January 24, 2008). "Scientology under digital assault by web vigilantes". National Post. Canwest Publishing Inc. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Richards, Johnathan (The Times) (January 25, 2008). "Hackers Declare War on Scientology: A shadowy Internet group has succeeded in taking down a Scientology Web site after effectively declaring war on the church and calling for it to be destroyed". FOX News. FOX News Network, LLC. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Schliebs, Mark (January 25, 2008). "Internet group declares war on Scientology". news.com.au. News Limited. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Dodd, Gareth (Editor) (January 25, 2008). ""Anonymous" hackers vow to "dismantle" Scientology". Xinhua News Agency. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}:|first=has generic name (help); Check date values in:|date=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - United Press International (January 25, 2008). "Hackers target Scientology". United Press International. UPI.com. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Vamosi, Robert (January 25, 2008). "Anonymous steps up its war with Scientology". CNET News. CNET Networks, Inc. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ McMillan, Robert (January 25, 2008). "Hackers Hit Scientology With Online Attack: Hacker group claims to have knocked the Church of Scientology's Web site offline with a distributed denial-of-service attack". PC World. IDG. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Vamosi, Robert (January 25, 2008). "Technical aspects of the DDoS attacks upon the Church of Scientology". CNET News. CNET Networks, Inc. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Kaplan, Dan (January 25, 2008). "DDoS hack attack continues against Church of Scientology". SCMagazineUS.com. Haymarket Media. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Heldal-Lund, Andreas (January 22, 2008). "OC Press Release 22.01.2008: DDoS attacks on Scientology". Press Release. Operation Clambake. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Singel, Ryan (January 25, 2008). "Anonymous Hackers Shoot For Scientologists, Hit Dutch School Kids". Wired. Retrieved 2008-01-27.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Etty Hillesum Lyceum (November 12, 2007). "Etty Hillesum Lyceum in Deventer". Website's Main Page. Retrieved 2008-01-27.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Vamosi, Robert (January 26, 2008). "Church of Scientology responds to Internet attacks". CNET News. CNET Networks, Inc. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help)
External Links
- "Message to Scientology", "Anonymous", YouTube, January 21, 2008.
- Douglas, Nick (January 21, 2008). "Why Kids On The Internet Are Scientology's Most Powerful Enemy". Gawker.com.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Full transcript of "Message to Scientology" video, MSNBC, January 25, 2008
- NBC11 Staff (January 24, 2008). "Group Wants To Destroy Scientology, Video: 'We Do Not Forgive' - An anonymous group of hackers, fittingly known as "Anonymous," has declared war on the Church of Scientology". KNTV. NBC Universal, Inc. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) (NBC News broadcast.) - Archive of the original 4chan thread that started Project Chanology
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