Freedom Flames Out on the 'Net - 1996-07-04
Freedom Flames Out on the 'Net July 4, 1996,
What he and hundreds of others logging onto the group are experiencing is a "spam," in which someone posts dozens or even hundreds of messages to the same newsgroup, or the same message to different newsgroups. But this is no ordinary spam. Little does he realize it at the time, but Newman has just witnessed the start of what some are calling the biggest traffic jam in the history of the Net.
For weeks afterwards, this popular computer bulletin board is swamped daily by a mountain of pro-Scientology articles (nearly 28,000 at last count), posted by automatic computer programs in an apparent attempt to drown out criticism of the church.
Newman and other critics of Scientology suspect the culprit is the church itself. For their part, representatives of the church say they have no idea who's behind it, but they certainly don't appear to object to what's going on.