Apparently an underground movement is forming with the sole intent of subverting the Church Of Scientology. Coming from all corners of the Earth, the members of this movement are using this miraculous invention—The Internet—as a vehicle of change in order to fight what they perceive to be a serious menace to all of humankind. In true cyberpunk fashion they are fighting the good fight, unleashing chaos upon their chosen foe from a state of virtual invulnerability via anonymity.

While I have no personal qualms with the Church Of Scientology I find this whole episode to be a fascinating social experiment, the ramifications of which will be ringing through the history books (blogs) for years to come. Can a group of faceless computer hackers from around the world succeed in their mission to destroy one of the most powerful religious organizations in the world? Will the Church Of Scientology be forced to turn back on its policy of "always attack, never defend"? It's all almost too surreal to be anything less than science fiction. Wherever L. Ron Hubbard is right now, he has to be at least mildly amused.

You can view the Anonymous' address to the COS here: Google Video

Here is the text of their statement:
Hello leaders of Scientology. We are Anonymous. Over the years we have been watching you, your campaigns of misinformation, your suppression of dissent, your litigious nature—all of these things have caught our eye. With the leakage of your latest propaganda video into mainstream circulation the extent of your malign influence over those who have come to trust you as leaders has been made clear to us. Anonymous has therefore decided that your organization should be destroyed. For the good of your followers, for the good of mankind and for our own enjoyment we shall proceed to expel you from the Internet and systematically dismantle the Church Of Scientology in its present form. We recognize you as serious opponents and do not expect our campaign to be completed in a short time frame, however you will not prevail forever against the angry masses of the body politik. Your choice of methods, your hypocrisy and the general lawlessness of your organization have sounded its deathknell. You have nowhere to hide because we are everywhere. You will find no recourse in attack, because for each of us that falls ten more will take his place. We are cognizant of the many who may decry our methods as parallel to those of the Church Of Scientology. Those who espouse the obvious truth that your organization will use the actions of Anonymous as an example of the persecution of which you have for so long warned your followers, this is acceptable to Anonymous. In fact, it is encouraged. We are your SP's. In time as we begin to merge our pulse with that of your church, the suppression of your followers will become increasingly difficult to maintain. Believers will become aware that salvation needn't come at the expense of their livelihood. They will become aware that the stress and the frustration that they feel is not due to us, but a source much closer to them. Yes, we are SP's but the sum of suppression we ever could muster is eclipsed by your own RTC... ologist free. We are Anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forgive. Expect us.

I've heard on the grapevine that there is a file floating around on the Net called SECRETDOX.RAR which contains some 37 highly classified Scientology documents. Anonymous is hard at work.