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Anonymous Attacks!

For more photos of the New York protest, click here

Hundreds of Internet users stood outside for hours in the cold on Sunday morning, and they weren't waiting for a shipment of Nintendo Wiis. They were Anonymous, a group of online activists standing outside the New York City Church of Scientology to protest the organization's policies. The protest was one of many conducted across the world at major Scientology centers on that day.

The New York City protest saw between 200 and 300 Anonymous gather outside of the Church of Scientology New York. Other prominent "raids" … Read more

Anonymous posts another video against Scientology

Editors' note, 11:00 a.m. PST: This blog has been condensed from an earlier version.

A group calling itself Anonymous is continuing its war against the Church of Scientology with a new video posted Monday. In its latest video message, the group seeks to dispel the notion it is a group of super hackers and, as though to prove it, includes a call for real-world protests outside Scientology centers worldwide on February 10. Friday night, the Church of Scientology issued a statement about the online attacks.

The latest two-minute video from the group continues to use a computer-generated voice, … Read more

Church of Scientology responds to Internet attacks

After several days of Internet attacks by a group calling itself Anonymous, the Church of Scientology has responded with a comment about the posting of one of its videos. A response on Friday evening from the Church of Scientology did not address CNET News.com's specific request for comment on the denial-of-service attacks themselves. Instead, Karin Pouw, public affairs director for the Church of Scientology, focused on the leak of a Tom Cruise video on YouTube earlier in the week. The response reads, in full:

As the Church previously announced, the pirated and edited excerpts of Mr. Cruise were … Read more

Whose Internet is it anyway?

This week we've seen two Internet events that are more alike than dissimilar. On Wednesday, an Estonian court convicted a 20-year Russian for his part in last spring's distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on that nation. On Thursday, word of mounting DDoS attacks on the Church of Scientology spread. Ultimately, both events could have larger repercussions.

The attack on the Estonian Web sites was prompted by an Estonian government plan to move a statue and grave sites honoring Russian-Estonians who died fighting the Nazis. Gadi Evron of Beyond Security said at last year's Black Hat USA that he … Read more

Technical aspects of the DDoS attacks upon the Church of Scientology

Dr. Jose Nazario of Arbor Networks has been looking at the technical side of the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks upon domain registered to the Church of Scientology International. In general he finds that while there have been a lot of DDoS attacks, the early ones were mild. They were, however, stronger than the DDoS attacks upon various Estonian sites last spring. As a protective measure, the Church of Scientology has since moved its domain to a more protected space.

Prior to the move, Nazario found that on January 19, there were 488 DDoS events, all of which appear … Read more

Anonymous steps up its war with Scientology

A group of vigilantes--calling themselves Anonymous, or Anon--are escalating their attacks against the Church of Scientology in what they consider to be Internet censorship by issuing new video challenges. In one video posted to YouTube, Anonymous addresses the many news organizations covering the war, stating that the group has been watching. While the individuals behind the effort generally support the coverage, they also severely fault the media.

"We find it interesting that you did not mention the other objections in your news reporting. The stifling and punishment of dissent within the totalitarian organization of Scientology. The numerous, alleged human … Read more