Editing Scientology and the Internet (section)

=== Attempt to remove ''alt.religion.scientology'' ===
On January 11, 1995, Scientology lawyer [[Helena Kobrin]] attempted to shut down the [[Usenet]] [[newsgroup|discussion group]] ''alt.religion.scientology'' by sending a control message instructing Usenet servers to delete the group on the grounds that:

<blockquote>(1) It was started with a forged message; (2) not discussed on [[Control message|alt.config]]; (3) it has the name "scientology" in its title which is a trademark and is misleading, as a.r.s. is mainly used for flamers to attack the Scientology religion; (4) it has been and continues to be heavily abused with copyright and trade secret violations and serves no purpose other than condoning these illegal practices.<ref name="Net.Wars">{{cite book | last = Grossman | first = Wendy | title = Net.Wars | url = https://archive.org/details/netwars00gros/page/77 | access-date = 2006-06-11 | publisher = New York University Press | location = New York | isbn = 0-8147-3103-1 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/netwars00gros/page/77 77–78] | chapter = Copyright Terrorists | chapter-url = http://www.nyupress.org/netwars/textonly/pages/chapter06/ch06_.html | date = October 1997 | url-access = registration }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.xs4all.nl/~kspaink/cos/rnewman/usenet/rmgroup |title=Rmgroup message from Helena K. Kobrin |date=11 January 1995|access-date=2005-09-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050824091341/http://www.xs4all.nl/~kspaink/cos/rnewman/usenet/rmgroup |archive-date=2005-08-24 }}</ref></blockquote>

In practice, this [[rmgroup message]] had little effect,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.xs4all.nl/~kspaink/cos/rnewman/usenet/rmgroup.html |title=The Church of Scientology tries to shut down alt.religion.scientology |access-date=2016-02-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120172417/http://www.xs4all.nl/~kspaink/cos/rnewman/usenet/rmgroup.html |archive-date=2008-01-20 }}</ref> since most Usenet servers are configured to disregard such messages when applied to groups that receive substantial traffic, and [[newgroup message]]s were quickly issued for those servers that did not do so. However, the issuance of the message resulted in increased public criticism of Scientology by [[free-speech]] advocates.