Scientology Attacker Will Be Sentenced To Jail

OBG writes "A Nebraska native charged with taking part in a massive cyber-attack against the Scientology website will be spending the next year behind bars. 20-year-old Brian Thomas Mettenbrink will plead guilty to the charge of unauthorized access of a protected computer for his involvement in the denial of service attack, which was orchestrated by the online group 'Anonymous.' Mettenbrink's is the second successful prosecution connected to the 'Anonymous' attacks. Last year, Dmitriy Guzner of Verona, New Jersey, was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for attacks on Scientology sites."

Comments

We are Anonymous.

[Anonymous Coward]

We are Anonymous Cowards, all your base are belong to us.

Re:We are Anonymous.

[dintech]

Not so Anonymous now by the looks of things...

Re:We are Anonymous.

[Arancaytar]

That is because strong anonymity works best when keeping a low profile. Disruptive actions tend to leave a wide trail.

Wise Beard Man was right: The consequences of using illegal means in this conflict will eventually outweigh the benefit.

(Still, jail seems kind of disproportionate. Scientology has engaged in worse online censorship-fraud without even being fined.)

Re:We are Anonymous.

[jimicus]

(Still, jail seems kind of disproportionate. Scientology has engaged in worse online censorship-fraud without even being fined.)

Scientology has enormous amounts of money to ensure this remains the case.

Re:We are Anonymous.

[Anonymous Coward]

You're missing the idea behind Anonymous.
We are not Anonymous because we hide our names.
We are Anonymous because our names mean nothing.
We are disillusioned mundane people who are nothing and mean nothing.
We are something only as a Legion.
We are fans of Fight Club, but without illusions, a leader or a purpose. And with more malice.
We are tired with the system, and break it when and where we can.
Our only powers are numbers, variety and unpredictability.
Losing one or two of us means nothing.

They try to give a name to the threat, by providing the name of one of the people behind the Anonymous. That's like trying to fight avalanche by removing two rocks from it and giving them names.

Re:We are Anonymous.

[Chicken04GTO]

Wow, that's very poetic and all deep and shit. Tell me, oh nameless one, those two rocks who got stuck in jail...how do they feel about being nameless and being referred to as nothing? I think they'd disagree. You are only anonymous until you really piss someone off enough to come after you, then you are an individual hung out to dry.

Re:We are Anonymous.

[Anonymous Coward]

What do I care?
The chance it will be me next time is infinitesimal.
I know the risk and take it with full awareness. So did they.
And if they come for me after all, I won't cry to Anonymous for help, because I know it won't come. None of us means a thing, and if you think otherwise you are deluding yourself.

Re:We are Anonymous.

[testadicazzo]

It's not a question of beliefs. If Scientologists were harmless crackpots running around telling people that lord Xenu is behind everyone's problems, then attacking them would be pretty reprehensible. But Scientologists are a harmful, scary cult, invented by a con artist, that teaches people they don't need doctors, they don't need psychotherapy, they just need to give the church of scientology assloads of money and they'll be healthy, happy, and will live forever, for example with the case of Lisa Mcpherson, or with the case of Lindia Waliki , and others.

Because the church of scientology is enormously wealthy, and has a lot of rich and powerful members, they successfully censor and defame Scientology critics over and over. The Church of Scientology has been subject of credible accusation of human trafficking, and has harassed critics of the church (see "Operation Freakout"). It has infiltrated government agencies (see operation snow white) for which several scientologists, including hubbards wife were conficted. Scientologists consider enemies of the church to be "fair game", by which they mean that attacks on opponents of the church fall outside Scientology ethics. For example, in "Penalties for Lower Conditions", Hubbard states that opponents who are "fair game" may be "deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.". Some months later Hubbard recinded this policy saying: "The practice of declaring people FAIR GAME will cease. FAIR GAME may not appear on any Ethics Order. It causes bad public relations. This [policy letter] does not cancel any policy on the treatment or handling of an SP.". Read the language carefully...

The church actively, aggressively, and very successfully courts celebrities, which gives the church a veneer of legitimacy, and successfully spreads their word. A non-violent, extra-legal attack like that by Anonymous can be seen as an act of civil disobedience, in which a large group of relatively poor and powerless (compared to the COS) individuals break laws in order to strike back at a more powerful institution which is enormously harmful. Presumably the main purpose of the attack is generating interest in the evils of Scientology, i.e. using extralegal means to combat their giant, well funded propaganda machine. Considering the well-document, harmful nature of the COS, I would assume that this is the reasoning of Dr. Evil.

Justice

[nawitus]

So, if you beat up somebody, you'll probably get less jail time than refreshing a website several times using a script?

Re:Justice

[Anonymous Coward]

SciFag Inc. does NOT have millions of brain dead slaves.
Actual data suggests a mass exodus of customers (thanks to Anonymous) and they have now between 50k and 200k idiotic followers. Worldwide.

Re:Justice

[Anonymous Coward]

But if you're affecting millions of people, then yes.

Stop Scientology lies. There aren't a million in the cult world-wide.

Re:Justice

[delinear]

Just like you would get a "little bit" longer sentence if you beat up millions of people.

You'd get some badass bragging rights, though.

Re:Justice

[shilly]

Given their well-known homophobia, you could have chosen a slightly more appropriate insulting name...

Re:Justice

[ildon]

In 4chan terminology, "fag" is just a suffix that means "person" or "people".

gullibility test

[chentiangemalc]

Scientology Gullibility Test http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IQQE04_TCM

Re:Heroes, not criminals.

[nacturation]

Scientologists aren't popular because their beliefs are corny or stupid, or because the "church" engages in fraudulent practices and is known to abuse members; that doesn't mean that individual Scientologists are religious extremists or bad people. Scientologists are just a popular group to hate right now.

The fact that they do it under the guise of religion and get tax breaks and perks because of being a religion is what is offensive. I'd have no problem if they called themselves the L. Ron Hubbard science fiction fan club, but to do it while not paying taxes and while enjoying protected status as a religion makes no sense.

Re:Heroes, not criminals.

[xtracto]

I think it should be wise to separate Scientologists in two kinds. The first are the "officers" of the "church", akin to the priest in catholic religion.

IMHO, those are the ones who are engaging in fraudulent and misleading activities. The second type are the "followers"; my belief is that this is desperate and naïve people whose despair has gotten to the point that they choose to approach to this scamming community.

The problem is that the CultoS are so good at what they do that people really follow their orders of "not seeing your family forever!!" and other stupid orders.

Is like the "Flagellants" Christian groups who think hurting yourself is going to help you improve your image against God. Officers who promote this are assholes, followers who put their trust in the officers are naïve, weak and need help.

Re:Heroes, not criminals.

[hairyfeet]

Don't forget they try to get YOUR tax dollars to pay for recruitment through Narconon and Criminon and even broke into the IRS and wiretapped the place, so as far as I'm concerned they are RICO bait and deserve to be treated no better than any other criminal organization.

Re:Heroes, not criminals.

[mwvdlee]

I think it's a bit of a stretch to call Scientologists "terrorists" at the very least.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/terrorism

terrorism/trrzm/
1. the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes.
2. the state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization.
3. a terroristic method of governing or of resisting a government.

scientology has used violence in the past and openly threatens and intimidates both members and critics into silence.
"Religious extremist terrorists" is pretty close, although the "religious" part is legally incorrect in some countries.

Re:Heroes, not criminals.

[Anonymous Coward]

Keeping in mind that Scientology's attack is based on instilling fear in their victims, why do you consider calling them "terrorists" a stretch? Scientology isn't just unpopular, they're criminals. Their "religion" is a tax evasion scheme for rich members and Scientology preys on the weak and gullible with a classic scare tactic where the cure is always just one more (costly) step away.

Re:Seriously?

[jandersen]

... ethical people have the RIGHT to use force to oppose such religions

Ah, well, that is where it gets problematic, isn't it? There is no universal, objective standard for "good ethics", and in extreme cases we have people such as the terrorists of all denominations, who feel they have the ethical right to kill innocent bystanders "for a higher truth". Evil is evil, even if you use the excuse of a good cause.

Of course I understand the sentiment - it is galling to see a large organization like Scientology, that is considered a criminal organization in many countries, get any sort of victory, however small. But we are only as good as our deeds; and a crime is still crime, even if it is committed against criminals. This is the price you pay for being good.

And anyway - criminals like Scientology are always going to win if you play by their rules and fight them with their own dirty methods; they have much more experience in that game.

Why exactly did Anonymous do this?

[ddxexex]

Everyone here on /. knows Scientology is evil. But why did Anonymous do something stupid with a denial of service attack? Now the Scientologists can say Anonymous is a terrorist organization, get rid of all its critics using the PATRIOT act and get some good PR too. The only way Scientology will be defeated is if there is some major internal schism or everyone realizes they're not the nicest religion out there.

Re:Seriously?

[delirium of disorder]

However irrational religions are, they serve also usefull purposes.
Useful for the elite.

If the shift would be to[sic] rapid, you'll get chaos and the world reverting quickly to a state worse than before the shift.
You're on slashdot and you don't see how self organization, voluntary association, and mutual aid, can work? Hierarchy and exploitation are chaos. Democracy and freedom could give us more peace and order.

the gods are...completelly real...as constructs which proved hugely beneficial during our evolution; they wouldn't be so prevalent otherwise.
Once again, beneficial to those in charge, not the rest of us. Pie in the sky when you die; That's a lie!

Re:Heroes, not criminals.

[ultranova]

I think it's a bit of a stretch to call Scientologists "terrorists" at the very least.

No it isn't.

More importantly, though, if you justify acts of violence by saying "oh, they're extremists" or "oh, nobody likes them," then perhaps next time you'll be in the group that gets acted out against.

Violence? We're talking about making a website not load here. It's scientology that practices violence.

Scientologists aren't popular because their beliefs are corny or stupid, or because the "church" engages in fraudulent practices and is known to abuse members; that doesn't mean that individual Scientologists are religious extremists or bad people any more than the fact that Osama Bin Laden is a Muslim means that all Muslims are terrible people. Scientologists are just a popular group to hate right now.

Scientologists are a popular group to hate because they constantly engage in activities that are undeniably evil. The comparison to Islam is deceptive; scientology is a single organization, while Islam is not. Not every muslim answers to Osama bin Laden, while every scientologist answers to David Miscavige.

How do you define a religion?

[Viol8]

To me its just a bunch of gullible people believing some texts that have little if any supporting evidence (and in many cases evidence against).

So scientology is a crock. You think the abrahamic religions which believe in a magic garden with a talking snake and a man made out of clay and a woman made out of a rib make any more logical sense??

All religion is rubbish , it just depends how many people believe the rubbish which defines whether a particular belief system is classed as a religion or a wacky cult (which ironically all religions started out as).

Has anyone jailed the pope yet?

[Viol8]

After all, the catholic church is probably responsible for more misery in africa due to its attitude to contraception than any other single institution.

All religions fuck with gullible and/or insecure peoples heads. How is scientology different?

Yet again...

[blind biker]

Yet again, in the USA the more money buys the "better justice".

And the Co$ has gobs of money.

Stupid

[Errtu76]

I don't agree with Scientology at all, but if you('re stupid enough to) get caught DoS'ing their site you deserve to go to jail.

Re:Heroes, not criminals.

[BlueParrot]

Could you please not refer to those nuts as fags? The majority of gay people are not very found of religious fanaticism and we'd rather not be lumped together with the Scientology bullshit.

Re:Heroes, not criminals.

[Anonymous Coward]

Fag n. 1. An extremely annoying, inconsiderate
person most commonly associated with Harley riders.
2. A person who owns or frequently rides a Harley.

In the slammer:

[Anonymous Coward]

Inmate: What're you in for?
Guy: I beat up millions of people.

[and everyone edges away]