Socketside heard Cruise was the buyer of an $18 million mansion in the ritzy Sea Cliff neighborhood. NBC Bay Area soon pointed out that, if that's true, Cruise's neighbors would be Robin Williams, Cheech Marin and the guitarist from Metallica. It's like the Bay Area's very own stunted little fog-swept Beverly Hills. But many locals will remember that the Church of Scientology was on the hunt for "apparent expansion" space starting in 2006, nosing around the once countercultural North Beach neighborhood.

So is Cruise, the alleged inspirer of Scientology beat-downs, spearheading a renewed expansion campaign by the cult to which he belongs? Maybe, or maybe said SF mansion is just being bought by another local tech exec like Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, per a SocketSite update:

Another reader quickly notes the mailing address for the purchasing LLC ("Tawaraya") is that of "a high-end accounting firm in Walnut Creek" which happens to advise Larry Ellison (amongst others). And The Real Estalker adds, "Tawaraya is a super posh and searingly expensive, 300-year old ryokan–which is essentially a Japanese bed and breakfast sort of place–located in Kyoto" which is rather Ellison-esque.

Oh great, more Larry Ellison dick waving. Don't we at least deserve some fresh megalomaniac mansion owners, out here?

As Evgeny Morozov wrote on the Foreign Affairs website, the ban marked the first time an entire social group was banned from contributing to Wikipedia. As such, the cult can now credibly argue it has been censored and repressed

We'll see a dozen anti-Wikipedia web-sites set up by Scientology to promote its own version of "censored truth". Unfortunately, Wikipedia's decision would only make their claims of unjust persecution easier to believe; after all, how else to explain that they were banned from a web-site that "anyone can edit"?

...The Wikipedia admins definitely need a primer on the Streisand effect.

A Columbia law professor, Tim Wu, told the Associated Press Wikipedia's decision should be closely examined.

"Wikipedia has more power over speech than many governments," he said. "We have to make sure that they're being reasonable."

Of course, things look quite different for those up against what one ex-Scientologist described as the group's "machine" of Web warriors, each creating a host of virtual identities from which to launch online campaigns. Wikipedia's arbitration committee voted in its ban unanimously, 10-0. Winning the war with determined Scientologists was presumably more important to Wikipedia than losing any one PR battle.

(Pic via)

The company's former CIO and Automation Planning Officer failed to injoin Diskeeper from using the teachings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard in the administration of the company. Now the Burbank, California company is going for the legal jugular, seeking summary dismissal of the case.

Amid this legal tussle, plaintiffs attorney Barry Kaufman filed a legal declaration containing the text of a "Diskeeper Company Handbook." You can read it in full here. In a nutshell, it has CEO Craig Jensen (pictured) speaking in the style of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard — and citing him directly.

Take the three-page excerpt below. It is part of what Jensen dubbed an "ESI (Executive Software International) Policy Directive," nomenclature not unlike Hubbard's "HCO (Hubbard Communications Office) Policy Letter."

And sure enough, right there at the top of the document, Jensen specifically cites two HCO PLs, of 1984. It goes on to echo Scientology's cosmo-apocalyptic language ("the situation here on Earth is one of not-so-quiet desparation"); intergalactic imagery ("a star-high goal"); and megalomaniacal ambition ("I have... set forth a goal... for the creation of a new civilization here on Earth").

Hubbard and his teachings are name-checked constantly — in 10 of 19 paragraphs.

It remains to be seen whether a court will accept the manual as evidence of religious bias. But it makes at least one thing clear: If the market for disk defragmentation software dries up, Jensen could probably develop a reasonably lucrative sideline in science fiction. Or the enthusiastic writer could just start a religion of his own.

(Jensen pic via CraigJensen.com)

Full handbook: Diskeeper Company Handbook

The company's hands are largely tied — there is no provision in the DMCA that allows sites and ISPs to confirm the provenance of claims. Issuers of bogus takedown notices can only be held accountable after the fact in court, and while it's not clear, YouTube would have to be wary of exposing to itself to more liability if it manually monitored cases. For instance, in Bunker's case, his XenuTV channel has been taken down and restored multiple times. Because either through flagging or phony takedowns, the automated system rewards the whims of "concerned citizens" who may well have an axe to grind.

What YouTube can do is help users affected by illegal copyright notices go after the liars. Individuals acting alone with no legal or financial support would have an uphill battle against L. Ron Hubbard's disciples. But YouTube could certainly lend both lawyers and money to a possible class-action suit, either directly or through a proxy like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (so as not to offend a paying advertiser). While rightsholders are given a warning that issuing false claims could result in a perjury conviction by the automated takedown system, until someone actually pays the price its just that — only a warning.

Through fast prototyping made possible by HP's Indigo line of industrial printers. Thanks in part to the Indigo 5000, Bridge can print, bind, and shrink-wrap 22,090 copies of Scientology: A New Slant on Life in as little as a week. And as acolytes move up "the bridge to total freedom," they are required to buy further materials for study that, because of the increasingly elite membership, necessitate small runs. Thankfully, print-on-demand technology is here! When some sucker ponies up the five-figure sum necessary to pass through the "Wall of Fire" in order to become a level three "operating thetan," Bridge can whip up a copy of the Xenu myth in no time flat.

And since all of the print production is done in-house, it allows leader David Miscavige and his disciples to keep a tight lock on potential leaks of "secrets" written in the embarrassingly bad prose of Hubbard. At the upcoming discussion, among the topics panelists address will be staffing and employee retention. There aren't a lot of press operators familiar with such cutting-edge technology. Luckily for Bridge, members of the church's paramilitary Sea Org — the true believers who often work as peons — have all signed contracts to serve for eternity. They couldn't jump ship for a rival printer or publisher if they wanted to — that old-time religion matched with the latest in HP's technology combine for a serious business advantage.

There's no surprise that Scientology is run like a business. Making a profit was the reason why Hubbard came up with the religion in the first place. But here's what's really disturbing: Could HP be helping Scientology proselytize? The church has a history of recruiting members in business settings. If Silber talked about more than just print-on-demand technologies at his seminar, is should raise eyebrows among HP's many non-Scientology customers.

They say that it isn't a coincidence that a week before Scientology began its YouTube campaign, YouTube banned Scientology critic Mark Bunker because, using a previous account, he once posted a copyrighted clip to the site. Perhaps it makes since that banned users shouldn't allowed to rejoin YouTube, these critics say, but then Scientology itself — once banned from the site for posting videos that revealed other users' private information, including[pictures, names and locations — shouldn't be allowed to create a new account either. Bunker, commenting on a Blogoscoped post on the subject, writes:

I don't expect YouTube to turn away the cash cow of Scientology and ban them from their service the way they banned me. YouTube will allow Scientology to say it was a subsidiary or a file clerk who opened the canceled account and not the same corporate entity as the paid channel but that is just crap.

Yes, type "tom cruise is gay" into Google and you get sponsored links to Gayvacationtravel.com — book your gay cowboy cruise today!
Even entering something innocuous like "tom cruise is handsome," and again Google thinks I'm either interested in learning more about Tom Cruise or going sailing with the gays.

It wasn't the interview with now-former CIO Douglas Merrill, which served to convince me that the Canadian-nice Merrill will get eaten alive by the music industry. It wasn't the moment when Jim Killeen of Cobe, Ireland, a Catholic priest, argues the Pope's position on human sexuality with Jim Killeen of Denver, Colorado, the swinger and self-described "tranny chaser."

It was a few minutes into the film when noted Scientologist and Earthlink founder Sky Dayton makes an incongruous appearance to muse on the business of moving bits. Later on, the filmmaker Killeen intereviews his schizophrenic brother and sister about their experiences with psychiatrists and the medications they're currently taking, proclaiming that he feels they'd be better off without psychiatric care. Finally he declares on camera that he's a Scientologist, confirming my suspicions based on Dayton's appearance and the anti-psychiatry agitprop.

But that's just a side note in a watchable and somewhat entertaining but otherwise forgettable documentary. The best moments are the man-on-the-street interviews where people from around the world describe their own experiences running a vanity search for their name on Google. But it doesn't succeed on the same, earnest level that 24 Hours on Craigslist did, probably because what it has in geographic scope it lacks in range of characters as subjects.

Just another reason the Anonymous vs. Scientology battle is the best show online right now.

• Message to Scientology. This is the first Anonymous video to declare war on Scientology. I keep waiting for a computer voice to say "fitter, happier, more productive."

• Anonymous Press Release: Anonymous explains its main objective: To revoke Scientology's status as a religion with the IRS. But I like this video for the swelling sound track and the creepy computer voice.
  

• London Protests: Anonymous and LOLcats come from the same place, the message board 4chan. So naturally, London protestors grew loudest when they began to chant "Do Not Want. Do Not Want."
  

• Seattle Protests: Protesters sing '80s hit "Never Gonna Give You Up" in front of a Scientology building, an allusion to the process of "rickrolling," or redirecting unsuspecting viewers to a Rick Astley video. For the Church of Scientology's official response, click here.
  

• Detroit Protests.Perhaps you were not aware that the Internet is a series of tubes, as Senator Ted Stevens famously suggested? Protestors in Detroit made this clear to Scientology.
  

• Atlanta Protests. Police in London, New York and L.A. largely ignored Anonymous protestors. Authorities in Atlanta sent out-of-shape riot cops to march against Anonymous.
  

• Vancouver Protests. Anonymous protesters are supposed to wear masks. And their mask of choice is the Guy Fawkes mask made popular in V for Vendetta. The masks are popular in England, where people get the reference, and in Canada, where they pretend to. Skip to 25 seconds in to get a close look at the lot.
  

• Toronto Protests:Skip to 1:40 where an ex-Scientologist tells the camera,

  It took me a year to fully recover and get out of there. They have everything in your files. You confess everything to them that you've ever done in your whole life. They have those files and they will use them against you.

• Clearwater ProtestsClearwater, Florida is the world capital of Scientology. Fast-forward to 1:11 for the organization's official response.

• Washington, D.C. Protests: A testimony from a Scientologist's family member:

  He looks like a walking corpse. He spent six months on a Path Six Cycle, which is taking walks and vitamins, when really, he needed psychiatric care. But because their beliefs were so strong, he chose to hang himself in the hopes that he could come back and recieve more Scientology auditing.

Anonymous
This loose group of Internet vigilantes (vaguely centered around, but not officially connected to, the site 4chan) often harasses unsavory but small-time people, but they did help with the arrest of pedophile Chris Forcand. Their usual tactic is a simple denial of service attack like the one against Scientology.org, but they occasionally get more sophisticated; members tell me they plan to hoist banners above some Church branches. Inspired by the release of Tom Cruise's secret Scientology video and the Church's attempts to suppress it, Anon promises an all-out war in the following hokey but entertaining video:

Digg
The users are less aggressive, but Digg is a promotion machine for stories users feel are overlooked by the media. They love to stick it to the man, and they love the freedom of information. That's why the many popular Scientology criticisms on Digg focus on the Church's history of censorship. Digg promoted the Cruise video, but they gave much more love to the Church's takedown letter to Gawker.

YouTube
The Church got the Cruise video removed from the site, but within a few days a new copy was up. Meanwhile there are plenty of parodies less likely to be deleted. The Church may have plenty of money to litigate, but if it tries to force the issue with YouTube, it'll find itself up against Google, which loves fighting bogus copyright claims.

YTMND
The site is usually just a jumble of in-jokes, but after several users mocked Scientology's mythology, user Smoothmedia designed a presentation accusing the Church of destroying several lives and harassing critics. There's a copy on YouTube (which was popular on Digg, natch):

Mainstream media has criticized the Church too, but the most famous examples are parodies from comedy shows like South Park (in an episode later censored by Comedy Central) and Craig Ferguson's Late Late Show (which still didn't run footage from the actual video). Maybe media outlets don't want to lose pull with Cruise and his celebrity friends, or maybe they just don't care, but the Internet's doing a great job exposing the dangers of the cult. Thank Xenu for immature Internet teenagers!

• Checking in with everyone's favorite accused killer that's contributed to the Linux kernel: Mr. Reiser's alibi got a lot better, as his dead wife's ex-lover confessed to killing 8 people. Fire up your Google and plug in Sean Sturgeon. Who knows, he may be the guy who wrote to the SEC like a forth grader. back story in a /. comment.
• Why is Terry Semel commenting on Tom Cruise's relationship?
• Speaking of comments, check out this doozie on the Wall Street Journal's Deal Journal blog. A fellow by the name of Thomas accuses the blog of fumbling the Microhoo! football. Far be it from the Fonz to criticize bad journalism, but pointing and staring is allowed. Is Thomas a crackpot?
• And speaking of Microhoo! we have a very serious question to ask you, our beloved and sweet smelling readers: Will Steve Ballmer convert to Scientology? Our money is on "Yes!"

Scientologists run a number of boarding schools around the country, including the prestigious Delphian School, in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, which counts Earthlink founder Sky Dayton among its graduates.

And, our reader gleefully points out, Sky has an incriminating L. Ron Hubbard quote on his Earthlink homepage. Looks like he's still in the church. Meanwhile, San Fran is looking to his ISP for its wifi blanket. Says the source, "Wonder if Gavin Newsom has met the guy through his new Thetan girlfriend?"

This is run-of-the-mill in Sky's home down in L.A. But you just don't find that in the Valley. At, say, Google, a Scientology habit wouldn't fly — it would conflict with the daily Est sessions.

Inside Scientology [Rolling Stone]
Sky Dayton [Earthlink]