The "Anonymous" Scientology Protest is an NSA/FBI Fishing Expedition, page 36

I haven't bothered to read this large thread, but if anyone is still interested, I can shed light on things.

While it is certainly possible that it turned into a cointel project against both groups, it didn't start off that way. I know so because I was one of the original people who helped with the project when it FIRST started. And I mean the very beginning.

The way "Anonymous" works is simple, really; a large majority of those who call themselves Anonymous are idiots. Most can't do anything without being told when and how. The few people who understand how Anonymous works, and I was one of them, know how to manipulate them because we're experts on social engineering. We learn how the mind works, and how most people are affected by certain things. That is all what trolling is, and that is why we're experts in social engineering. While "trolling" can be mundane and simple minded, it can also be incredibly complex and take months to fulfill. Yes, we are (or were) that bored at the time.

So the few of us who know how Anonymous works and wishes to take advantage of the numbers it brings forth brainstorm. We were in an IRC room, and like always, we were bored. There wasn't anything major going on at the time. So we took it upon ourselves to make something major happen.

Now, ANYONE can be trolled. All trolling is, is the act of doing something in order to gain a reaction. That is it. Some people though are more likely to be trolled and to give out a larger reaction than others. One such group of people are religious folk. And to be frank, we hadn't messed with a bunch of religious folk in a while. So we were itching for that specific flavor of reactivity. Christians are boring, typical, far too large to get a significant reaction and are a splintered group. Jews suck to troll because you already know how they are going to react. Muslims were all ready being trolled by the US government. Buddhists just don't give a damn. And how do you troll Hindus?

So we struck off major world religions, which left us with some possibilities. And actually, we were heavily considering going after Wicca originally. But then, that Tom Cruise Scientology video surfaced. And we realize, this was our Holy Grail. We now knew THEY would be our target. So the collective minds in the IRC did research...and realize just how messed up Scientology is and how much they REACT to anything that is done to them. They were a ripe and firm lulz cow for the pluckin' and we got to the pluckin' real fast.

We gathered our tools, shared the info around on how to use them, gave Anonymous their target, and just watched action - reaction happen. We tended the fire a little longer, and then made that lovely declaration of war video.

Hello, Leaders of Scientology. We are Anonymous.

Over the years, we have been watching you. Your campaigns of misinformation; your suppression of dissent; your litigious nature, all of these things have caught our eye. With the leakage of your latest propaganda video into mainstream circulation, the extent of your malign influence over those who have come to trust you as leaders, has been made clear to us. Anonymous has therefore decided that your organization should be destroyed. For the good of your followers, for the good of mankind and for our own enjoyment. We shall proceed to expel you from the Internet and systematically dismantle the Church of Scientology in its present form. We recognize you as serious opponents, and do not expect our campaign to be completed in a short time frame. However, you will not prevail forever against the angry masses of the body politic. Your choice of methods, your hypocrisy and the general artlessness of your organization have sounded its death knell.

You have nowhere to hide, because we are everywhere.

You will find no recourse in attack, because for each of us that falls ten more will take his place.

We are cognisant of the many who may decry our methods as parallel those of the Church of Scientology, those who espouse the obvious truth that your organisation will use the actions of Anonymous as examples of the persecution of which you have for so long warned your followers. This is acceptable to Anonymous. In fact, it is encouraged. We are your SPs.

Over time, as we begin to merge our pulse with that of your "Church", the suppression of your followers will become increasingly difficult to maintain. Believers will become aware that salvation needn't come at the expense of their livelihood. They will become aware that the stress and the frustration that they feel is not due to us, but a source far closer to each. Yes, we are SPs. But the sum of suppression we could ever muster is eclipsed by that of your own RTC.

Knowledge is free.

We are Anonymous.

We are Legion.

We do not forgive.

WE DO NOT FORGET.

Expect us.

*tear*...I actually helped writing this. Twas beautiful. Really, it was. And in fact it was likely this video that really caused the whole thing to explode. I think at one time over 20 Scientology websites were down or effectively crippled.

Then, Mark Bunker happened. He turned a malignant attack against a religious institution in which the purpose for the attack was nothing more than our own amusement to a moral crusade of unrelenting faggotry. Needless to say, I backed out and gave up on the effort. But as history shows and I was completely surprised it happened, but this thing lasted for a good year or so until it really lost wind. I think it still goes on even now, but not like it was.

Now, I'm not taking responsibility for anything other than having helped write what was said in the youtube video that is known as the "official declaration of war" but amongst the 40 or so people in a certain IRC room down in the nether regions of the grand labyrinth of tubes that is the internet, I was one. And I can confirm that none of us were FBI, NSA, or any other alphabet organization. Is it possible that what the OP suggests is true? Could be, I don't know. But up to the point when the real life protests happened, a good deal of the brainstorming took place in that single IRC room. From there on it was out of any one person or groups hands though. You had over 6 de facto major planning areas on the internet from that point on, and this is completely ignoring any *chan site or IRC room.