TAZ Report: Scientologists fill up the Search Machines

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Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Scn Cyber Sitter makes News in Germany
From: ronsmuerto@hotmail.com
Date: Thu, 09 Jul 1998 10:00:03 GMT

[non-smooth draft]

From: TAZ Nr. 5577
July 9, 1998

Scientologists fill up the Search Machines

Ron Hubbard's sect distributes instruction for the construction of home pages, but surfing is permitted only with a filter program.

Of course Ron Hubbard's Youth are permitted onto the World Wide Web. They are even supposed to be there, because they have a mission. Each Scientologist who wants to present himself on the internet receives a "Scientology Web Kit" on a CD ROM. A couple of forms have to be filled out, signed and sent in, and before you know it, another sect member's home page is ready.

It does not have to win any web prizes; it completely suffices that it is part of the net at all. That is because the objective of this operation is to flood the data bases of the search machines with thousands of standard pages so that anybody who searches on "Scientology" in Alta Vista, HotBot, or other programs will find the pages of the front line members.

This spam project, which affects the entire internet, was introduced on March 13. A couple of Scientology opponents taped the speech which was held on this occasion, and put it on the internet ( http://www.xmission.com/mirele/spam.html).

The sect shepherds do not appear to completely trust their sheep. Even dedicated Youths could find things on the web which could shake their belief. This is why they must sign a licence agreement before they install their Scientology Web Kit which states that they must use a specially designed filter program when they access web sites.

This is supposed to guarantee, as the instructions state, that "they can visit other pages about Dianetics and Scientology without running the risk of seeing pages on which the symbols or works are used in an unauthorized method, or which is regarded as disrespectful or dishonorable for the Scientology religion. Further instructions as to the construction of on-line pages are downloadable on-line from scientology.org/welcome.htm, but they can be accessed only with a password.

What are Scientologists not permitted to read? A free group of Scientology opponents who meet on the usenet group alt.religion.scientology have decoded the filter and published it (www.taniwha.com/crack.list .html). The sect had applied, less creatively, the data format from the Cybersitter program, the market leader of self-censorship of the net filters.

It is not surprising that all of the web sites of former members and declared opponents of the sect are on the black list. The usenet groups on Scientology are also locked out; discussion is not desired. Conspicuous are many German sites which have been censored: WDR and ZDF, the Stern, the Berliner Morgenpost, the Online Chat group "Metropolis,", the domestic intelligence and the Green Party in Bavaria, only to mention a few. Apparently they are all re-incarnations of "Xenu," who is the personified evil of the universe in the Scientology belief. There are unmistakable parallels to the church's "Index librorum prohibitorum" of 1564, that was effective up to 1966, and which censored works by Voltaire, Descartes, Sartre, Kant and Heine.

Tilman Hausherr, the Berlin resident who publishes extensive material on Scientology under www.snafu.de/tilman, and who is also on the black list, says, "It only goes to show you how much fear Scientology has of Scientologists having contact with the real world." The internet, as the sect would like to have it, is available at on-line.scientology.org/.

That is where links to the home pages of Scientology members are to be found. The layout of all the pages are the same. "About Me," "My Success with Scientology," "My favorite quote by Ron Hubbard" (choice words such as, "Try not to do unto others as you would have them do unto you."), "Groups I support," (always the same ones) and "Favorite Links" (always the same ones.)

With no more than two clicks the visitor will find himself looking at the "free information packet." Amazingly, the slogan used to recruit new members is found everywhere, "Think for Yourself!"

Roland Beck

Click here for some additional truth about the Scientology crime syndicate: XENU.NET