Wikipedia bans Church of Scientology

And the inevitable response:

In the wake of Wikipedia's unfortunate decision to ban all Scientologists from what is supposed to be "the encyclopedia that everyone edits," the Scientology religion's chief executive officer Mr. David Miscavige has issued a statement.

"Like all Scientologists, I am outraged that in the 21st century, it is acceptable for Wikipedia's ArbCom to commit such a despicable hate crime as blocking Scientology parishioners from editing Wikipedia in the comfort and security of Scientology-owned properties. Blocking the IP addresses of computers located at Scientology's Pac Base, Int Base and Celebrity Centre is just a way to force Scientology parishioners into an undesired beingness. What's next, will Scientologists have to wear yellow, six-pointed stars on our clothing?"

"The goal of Scientology is a sane world, without criminals, without psychiatric terror, without war. Ultimately, the goal of Scientology is sanity itself. Only the insane would attempt to stop Scientology. With this brutal decision, not only is Wikipedia criminally attacking the world's most ethical people, members of the Scientology religion, but it is preventing Scientologists from presenting our religion in the most positive and truthful light. There is so much nonsense on the internet about Scientology, all of which was written by anti-religion extremists in the employ of the Psychiatric-Pharmaceutical industry. Many are also being paid by certain depraved, degenerate factions within the German government. You can't believe any of it. If these scumbags had their way, all children would be psych-drugged into oblivion, most eventually becoming high school gunmen; vicious de-programmers would constantly be leaping out from shadowy corners; there would be all-night electroshock parlors on the high street of every village, town and city; and anyone who tried to live an ethical life would quickly receive an icepick lobotomy. This is why it is necessary for Scientologists to try to present a balanced perspective, by showcasing all the good things about the Scientology religion, and removing all the lies."

"The Scientology religion is the only major religion to have emerged in the 20th century. It is the world's fastest growing religion, found in over 264 countries, with tens of thousands of new people becoming Scientologists every day. Scientology was accepted as a religion by the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 1993.

Scientology has also been declared a bona-fide religion by Mr. Frank Flynn, Adjunct Professor of Sociology at the University of Kansas. Scientologists in the United States enjoy tremendous tax advantages, not available to members of other religions. Many celebrities are Scientologists, and ordinary public Scientologists sometimes get to meet them. As members of a minority religion, Scientologists deserve to be treated fairly, which means that we should be allowed to do things that other groups may not do. In this way, we are just a little bit compensated for all of our humanitarian efforts and our sharing of Mr. L. Ron Hubbard's extremely workable technology."

"Make no mistake: WE are the ones making huge progress in the Global Obliteration of Psychiatry. Wikipedia is acting at Big Psychiatry's beck and call. We do not find critics of Scientology who
do not have criminal backgrounds."

ABOUT MR.DAVID MISCAVIGE:

Mr. David Miscavige is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer or Religious Technology Center (RTC), and has been the leader of the Scientology religion since 1986, when he was a mere 26 years old. Mr. David Miscavige has worked tirelessly to boost the Scientology religion. He authored the early 1980's reorganization of Church corporate and management structures which have given the religion years of unparalleled growth and stable, sane leadership.

2009 Church of Scientology International

All Rights Reserved

Grateful acknowledgment is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron
Hubbard.

To request copies or permission to reproduce Mr. David Miscavige's statement, contact:

Church of Scientology International
6331 Hollywood Boulevard, Suite 1200
Los Angeles, CA 90028

copyrights@scientology.org

Wikipedia bans Church of Scientology

Wikioperating Thetan Level Zero By Cade
Metz in San Francisco • Get more from this
author

Posted in Music and Media, 29th May 2009 00:23 GMT

Exclusive In an unprecedented effort to crack down on self-serving edits, the Wikipedia supreme court has banned contributions from all IP addresses owned or operated by the Church of Scientology and its associates.

Closing out the longest-running court case in Wikiland history, the site’s Arbitration Committee voted 10 to 0 (with one abstention) in favor of the move, which takes effect immediately.

The eighth most popular site on the web, Wikipedia bills itself as "the free encyclopedia anyone can edit." Administrators frequently ban individual Wikifiddlers for their individual Wikisins. And the site's UK press officer/resident goth once silenced an entire Utah mountain in a bizarre attempt to protect a sockpuppeting ex-BusinessWeek reporter. But according to multiple administrators speaking with The Reg, the muzzling of Scientology IPs marks the first time Wikipedia has officially barred edits from such a high-profile organization for allegedly pushing its own agenda on the site.

The Church of Scientology has not responded to our request for comment. Officially, Wikipedia frowns on those who edit "in order to promote their own interests." The site sees itself as an encyclopedia with a "neutral point of view" - whatever that is. "Use of the encyclopedia to advance personal agendas – such as advocacy or propaganda and philosophical, ideological or religious dispute – or to publish or promote original research is prohibited," say the Wikipowersthatbe.

Admins may ban a Wikifiddler who betrays an extreme conflict of interest, and since fiddlers often hide their identity behind open proxies, such IPs may be banned as a preventative measure. After today's ruling from the Arbitration Committee - known in Orwellian fashion as the ArbCom - Scientology IPs are "to be blocked as if they were open proxies" (though individual editors can request an exemption).

According to evidence turned up by admins in this long-running Wikiland court case, multiple editors have been "openly editing [Scientology related articles] from Church of Scientology equipment and apparently coordinating their activities." Leaning on the famed WikiScanner, countless news stories have discussed the editing of Scientology articles from Scientology IPs, and some site admins are concerned this is "damaging Wikipedia's reputation for neutrality."

One admin tells The Reg that policing edits from Scientology machines has been particularly difficult because myriad editors sit behind a small number of IPs and, for some reason, the address of each editor is constantly changing.

This prevents admins from determining whether a single editor is using multiple Wikipedia accounts to game the system. In Wikiland, such sockpuppeting is not allowed. The Wikicourt considered banning edits from Scientology IPs only on Scientology-related articles. But this would require admins to "checkuser" editors - i.e. determine their IP - every time an edit is made. And even then they may not know who's who.

"Our alternatives are to block them entirely, or checkuser every 'pro-Scientology' editor on this topic. I find the latter unacceptable," wrote one ArbComer. "It is quite broad, but it seems that they're funneling a lot of editing traffic through a few IPs, which make socks impossible to track."

And it may be a moot point. Most the editors in question edit nothing but Scientology-related articles. In Wikiparlance, they're "single purpose accounts." Some have argued that those editing from Scientology IPs may be doing so without instruction from the Church hierarchy. But a former member of Scientology's Office of Special Affairs - a department officially responsible "for directing and coordinating all legal matters affecting the Church" - says the Office has organized massive efforts to remove scientology-related materials and criticism from the web.

"The guys I worked with posted every day all day," Tory Christman tells The Reg. "It was like a machine. I worked with someone who used five separate computers, five separate anonymous identities...to refute any facts from the internet about the Church of Scientology."

Christman left the Church in 2000, before Wikipedia was created.

This is the fourth Scientology-related Wikicourtcase in as many years, and in addition to an outright ban on Scientology IPs, the court has barred a host of anti-Scientology editors from editing topics related to the Church. Many Wikifiddlers have vehemently criticized this sweeping crackdown.

Historically, the site's cult-like inner circle has aspired to some sort of Web 2.0 utopia in which everyone has an unfettered voice. An organization editing Wikipedia articles where it has a conflict of interest is hardly unusual, and in the past such behavior typically went unpunished.

But clearly, Wikipedia is changing. In recent months, the site's ruling body seems far more interested in quashing at least the most obvious examples of propaganda pushing.

Scientology's banishment from Wikipedia comes just days after the opening of a (real world) trial that could see the dissolution of the organization's French chapter.