There’s a magnificent expose of the Church of Scientology in the current issue of The New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/02/14/110214fa_fact_wright?currentPage=all
The story is so long, you’d better budget a couple hours to tackle it. But it is unrelentingly fascinating. One thing which stands out– is how Scientology smears all the former members who now speak-out against it. Such as, when a woman is critical, Scientology provides a signed confession that says she’s an adultress. The smear tactics are designed to create just-a-sliver of doubt about her credibility. The smears don’t have to fully explain-away her charges, but simply create the appearance that she deserves skepticism.
Which brings us to another FANTASTIC story: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/02/how-one-security-firm-tracked-anonymousand-paid-a-heavy-price.ars That one is about a corporate creep who tried to attract media attention by claiming that he had hacked Facebook to learn the real identities of the group “Anonymous” (known for their hacking against Scientology and hacking in-favor of WikiLeaks).
But the corporate creep’s plan backfired, when Anonymous hacked him first, making off with 50,000 emails from his company; emails which REVEALED A PLOT RIGHT OUT OF A HOLLYWOOD CONSPIRACY THRILLER in-which The Justice Department, Bank of America, Three Government-Contractor Internet Security Firms, the US Chamber of Commerce, and a beltway-lobbying law firm hatched a plan to commit forgery and fraud in-order to destroy Wikileaks and journalists such as Salon’s Glenn Greenwald and firedoglake.
Hackers Reveal Offers to Spy on Corporate Rivals says the New York Times.
And the Bank of America would have gotten away with it too, hiding behind attorney-client privilege, says firedoglake’s Jane Hamisher: http://richardbrenneman.wordpress.com/2011/02/12/more-details-emerge-on-corporate-hackers/
Fortunately, Anonymous uses hacking instead of the court system, so the Private Spy firms, their Corporate Clients, and the Feds– couldn’t disguise their dirty tricks campaign, this time.
The significance of the story– is that it raises questions about how many times their ilk DID get-away with this crap. Remember when ABC News obtained documents proving that Bush deserted military service?… Only to be burned when the documents were declared forgeries? That leak-and-discredit is the exact same stunt the corporate creep tried to pull this time. OH– and the law firm involved are the same players who represented Food Lion in their notorious lawsuit against ABCNews (retaliating against an exposé on the practice of back-dating of expired meat, and spraying ammonia on raw fish cuts.) So these are experienced players in the game of defamation of character as damage control.
Business as usual.
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