Alt.religion.scientology
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- The correct title of this article is alt.religion.scientology. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.
The newsgroup alt.religion.scientology (often abbreviated a.r.s) is a Usenet newsgroup started in 1991 to discuss the controversial philosophy known as Scientology, as well as the Church of Scientology, which claims exclusive intellectual property rights thereto and is viewed by some as a dangerous cult. The newsgroup has become the focal point of an aggressive battle known as Scientology versus the Internet, which has taken place both online and in the courts.
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[edit] Creation of the newsgroup
On July 7, 1991, the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup was created by Scientology critic Scott Goehring, who describes starting the newsgroup "because I felt Usenet needed a place to disseminate the truth about this half-assed religion" and in part as a joke (Wired Magazine 1995:3.12). Additionally, Newsday reported that Goehring started the newsgroup to demonstrate the behaviour of Scientologists to his girlfriend (Newsday, October 10 1995). The original Usenet newgroup message used to create the newsgroup was formatted in a manner to disguise the actual identity of the poster. A bogus email address, "miscaviage@flag.sea.org" (a misspelling of "David Miscavige," the current head of Scientology's Religious Technology Center), was inserted into the newsgroup creation message. Because of this, persons speaking in favor of Scientology frequently claim that "a forgery" was used to create the newsgroup. Scientology has used this argument in its requests to have the entire newsgroup removed from Usenet, but this argument has been nearly unanimously rejected by system administrators and ISPs alike.
[edit] Rmgroup controversy
The online "war" first came to the attention of Internet users in general when Scientology lawyer Helena Kobrin attempted to remove the entire newsgroup from Usenet. On January 11, 1995, an rmgroup message (a command designed to remove a newsgroup) was posted to Usenet containing the following statement:
- "We request that you remove the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup from your site. The reasons for requesting its removal are: (1) It was started with a forged message; (2) not discussed on alt.config; (3) it has the name "scientology" in its title which is a trademark and is misleading, as a.r.s. is mainly used for flamers to attack the Scientology religion; (4) it has been and continues to be heavily abused with copyright and trade secret violations and serves no purpose other than condoning these illegal practices. -- Helena K. Kobrin, Counsel for trademark and copyright owner" [1][2]
This message was largely ignored (and openly protested) by system administrators who carried the newsgroup.[1] It also led to a declaration of war by hacker group Cult of the Dead Cow.[3] Rather than being removed from Usenet, the newsgroup exploded in popularity. For a period during the first half of 1995, the newsgroup was one of the most popular and active on the entire Internet, with message traffic greater than the vast majority of newsgroups.
Alt.religion.scientology remains one of the more popular newsgroups on Usenet averaging three to four hundred messages per day. Some of the posters say they are Scientologists and some say they are not.
Critics of Scientology claim that Scientologists are forbidden from reading or accessing the newsgroup. As evidence, they point to the software package sometimes dubbed "Scieno Sitter" by critics. This software package, described as an "Internet filter," was part of a "Web starter kit" distributed by the Church. The stated purpose of the starter kit was to make it as easy as possible for Scientologists to create personal websites (hosted by the Church) promoting Scientology. The Church did not disclose the other purpose of the starter kit: the "Scieno Sitter" program blocks users from accessing the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology, as well as many Web sites containing information critical of Scientology, and references to the names of many vocal critics of the organization. If terms matching the software's list of forbidden words appear, the software may blank them from a web page, kick the user from the chatroom where the words appeared, or even shut down their browser altogether.[4][5]
[edit] See also
- List of newsgroups
- Sporgery, common Usenet phenomenon named by an a.r.s. regular
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Net.Wars Grossman, Wendy [October 1997]. “Copyright Terrorists”, Net.Wars. New York: New York University Press, 77-78. ISBN 0-8147-3103-1. Retrieved on 2006-06-11.
- ^ Kobrin's rmgroup message
- ^ Swamp Ratte. "Statement Concerning the 'Church' of Scientology." CULT OF THE DEAD COW Press Release, June 4, 1995. Retrieved June 14, 2006.
- ^ Brown, Janelle. "A Web of their own", Salon, Salon.com, 1998-07-15. Retrieved on 2006-06-11.
- ^ Ortega, Tony (Sept. 9, 2001). "Sympathy for the Devil". New Times Los Angeles. Convenience link at http://www.lermanet.com/scientologynews/newtimes-toryC-92701.html
[edit] References
- Article, The Net: Copyright Or 'Free Press' by Thomas Maier, October 10 1995. Online edition, Lermanet site
- Article, alt.scientology.war, Wired Magazine, Issue 3.12, 1995. Online edition, Wired site
