On The Media

with respect to your story about the lost cell phone, I am surprised that you missed the crucial part of this story . The story stated that all of the information from the lost phone could be restored to the new phone including the new photos taken by the new user of the phone.

This implies that either the phone company stored all the information from the phone in a central database or that the phone company could access the lost phone over the air and download the information contained on the phone. Either way this has extensive privacy issues. Please respond as to what the phone companies can do with our private cell phone information.

Thanks,

Chris Williams

Re: Mr. Shirky's comments on the Catholic clergy sex abuse crisis, I wish he had done more accurate research. Porter, the ex-priest whose trial the Boston Globe covered extensively in 1992, was ordained in 1960 in the Fall River Diocese, not the Boston Archdiocese. He worked in that diocese until his removal from the priesthood in 1974. Cardinal Bernard Law had no role in the Porter case. Rather, complaints were handled by the then-chancellor of the Fall River Diocese, a different future archbishop of Boston, Humberto Medeiros, Law's predecessor.

I found Mr. Shirky's sloppy research frustrating; both the 1992 & 2002 church scandals were horrendous, & Mr. Shirky's point--that the internet caused the later scandal to become quickly national & even international, while the earlier scandal stayed local because of the lack of the internet--could have been made without his incorrect--& exaggerated--retelling of the Porter story.

Finally, the 2002 scandal & Boston Globe reporting on it went far beyond the criminal trial of Geoghan. A major reason that the scandal became national & international was that the Globe reporters & other journalists kept uncovering evidence of a far wider & deeper scandal involving many more priests & a cover-up involving pretty much all members of the Boston Archdiocesan hierarchy. Mr. Shirky over-simplified the story to make his point; in doing so, I don't believe he practiced the superior level of journalism that I expect from NPR.

There is also great power in message boards, here is a great example: http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98489

I find it interesting that OTM failed to mention the most newsworthy (in my opinion) group that has formed entirely on the internet: Anonymous.

Anonymous is a group brought together by the internet and spread around the world to effect social change. While we have a reputation as a group of hackers (as reported on OTM a few weeks ago, when we began our campaign against the Church of $cientology), on the 10th of February, we assembled 7000 people across the world to protest the actions and methods of the Co$. We are also planning similar protests on the Ides of March, and expect even more people.

We are unified by the internet.

Knowledge is free.

We are Anonymous.

We are Legion.

We do not forgive.

We do not forget.

And, Ghost, you are just about as weird and scary as the Church of Scientology or the Church of Pedophilia (see above posts), I'm afraid.

Can you say "Inquisition"?

Really?

While I accept the fact that we at Anonymous appear "weird and scary", I can confidently say that most of us are normal people. Our protests today were carried out in peace, and while we mask our identity, it is only to avoid becoming "fair game" (search Google for "Fair Game Policy").

If there is some specific action or group of actions that you find "weird and scary", please inform me. If you are specifically referring to the final lines of my post "we do not forgive/we do not forget", it refers to the people who have been prosecuted and/or died trying to escape from $cientology, and is part of our closing lines when we speak. In retrospect, I should probably have written "we are coming/Expect us", which better portrays the side of us that I was bringing light to

However, the real point I was making was that OTM made a report on us that portrayed only one side of us: the Hacker element; on a previous show, and when they had a chance to portray a much more relevant side of us (Unlike anything presented in the show, we are active in several countries). From my point of view, that is unbalanced reporting, and while I accept that as a fact of life, I feel that it should be brought to light.

Finally, regarding your comment about "Inquisition". Anonymous has several goals with regards to Co$: While we fully intend to shut them down, most of that is because we believe that if the truth is out there, the obvious course of action will be to shut them down.

Google "Lisa McPherson"

Go to Xenu.net

Find out the truth

I personally don't care if $cientology is shut down. I do care that they are held accountable for their actions: The Catholic Church has apologized for it's part in the Holocaust, and done some in the way of reparations. It has made reparations after the "Pedophile Priest" scandal. Why can't the "Church" of $cientology do the same for it's scandals: Why must it hide.