Video Sparks Hacker War vs. Scientology

After the Church of Scientology removed a video of Tom Cruise calling his religion a “blast” from YouTube, the Internet world declared war. Hackers have been furiously shutting down and “Google bombing” Scientology's website while free-speech protesters gather and pranksters send white powder in envelopes to LA-area Scientology locations, the Guardian reports.

Scientology derided attackers as “geeks,” but one free-speech activist said antagonizers have generated so much negative publicity that they’ve already won. But the activist chided the hackers for sabotaging websites: “One of the biggest arguments against Scientology is they are a threat to free speech, and here people are hitting back at their free speech.” (More Tom Cruise stories.)