How Scientology will stalk you. A guide to protesting on Saturday.

(Sorry for the rambling of this poor update, but I wanted to get this info out before the next protest in case it's of use to anyone.)

In the next few posts, I'll be reviewing how Anonymous handled itself in the February protests, what having an E-meter reading is like and what it's like being tailed and followed by Scientologists, and hence whether you should wear a mask.

I'll focus on the latter first, as I'm running out of time before the next protest happens. Also I'm writing this at 3 am when I really should be sleeping, so expect the spelling and grammar to be even worse than the normal terrible standard. Sorry.

In my *last post* on the the whole Scientology vs Anonymous shennagins I tried to explain who exactly Anonymous are and what the whole thing was about. Long story short, Anonymous is a joke that the real world (like FOX news) took seriously, and so ironically created. [The game will be played till they get bored. Since the first article It seems the majority of the community involved have got bored, but their seems to be a strong, if more traditional, group that's been created by all this.)

The Pre Game preparation (it's not paranoia if they are really out to get you)


Waking up, hung over, in an unfamiliar house, the idea of trampling around London didn't seem that appealing. Would anyone turn up? Uptil now I had seen just a few jpeg posters and comment threads, so for all I new it might just be a dozen people. Or no one. Still I had agreed to meet a friend, so I had no choice.

First issue, should I wear a mask? The fliers recommended it, but I didn't feel I had to hide who I was, so I decided I wouldn't. But the tails of *'revenge'* scientologists have been known to take on protesters meant I grabbed some shades and a bandanna on my way out.

So, thanking my kind hosts who had put me up and nursing the mother of all hang overs, I left for the nearby North london Tube station (about 5 stops north of their Dyanetics centre) to head south to their HQ, holding the Sunglasses and Bandanna in my hand, feeling stupid that I thought such measures might be necessary.

When a man took my photograph.

I looked at him, and he preceded to continue to photograph the wall behind me, whilst his friend waited for him to finish. I walked on a few meters and turned into the station. I stood their for a second, composed my thoughts leant back round to look at him.

He was there with his friend. Watching me watch them. I realised they both had big, black SLR cameras. One of the ones with big telephoto lenses.

Whilst topping up my Oyster card my confusion started making me feel paranoid. I decided to lean round the corner and snap a photo of the two. Just in case.




Yeah, not very good is it? But the two suspects, are the two blurs facing away from me hidden by those in the foreground.

During the tube journey I realised that I was being stupid. They wouldn't be photographing people before they got to the protests would they? Before you had put on your mask?

Of course they wouldn't be...

Realising that I had some time to kill before I met my friend I hopped of the tube at Goodge Street thinking I would check how the centre of Dynatics was behaving before the protests were scheduled to start. Anonymous's (sic?) plan was to protest the HQ in the morning, have a break for lunch and reconvene at the centre about 2.

One thing lead to another and I ended up having a E-meter reading. But I'll save what happened till later.

20 minutes later, I'm heading down to meet my friend, and we make our way to the UK Headquaters of Scientology. You have to remember this was something organised on the internet with no real figureheads. No leaders. I didn't expect many people. I definitly didn't expect this (click to biggify):





I'll save a review of the protest till later, but the people were friendly, they were polite, and they had fliers and banners and were enthused with talking to the public. I caught a number explaining why they felt they had to wear masks to passers-by. I started to see their point. The protest was of such high quality that a few people had decided they were on clean up duty and were collecting litter. I was impressed.

But then I got creeped out. I expected the Scientologists to be filming everyone. That was a given. But I realised that the staff members, typically 18-35 year old males in casual clothes wandering around taking photo's of the protestors, all had the same black SLR camera.

The same camera those two men had early this morning. Scientology must have placed its members around tube stations in London to try and pre-emptively photograph people before they arrived at the protests. There was no other explanation.


A Trip to Forbidden Planet and a hasty retreat


During the break we headed back via the tube. Hundreds of masked anonymous people on the underground was quite a site.

As was the fact that there were already the same mid 20's man with black SLR cameras. Trying to get photos of people without their disguises on the tube. Assuming quite rightly that many would take them off to avoid the wrath of the transport police.

Frankly, it had been a strange day. I was hung over and creeped out. A little on edge we decided that before going to the place where I had already introduced myself to everyone by having an E-meter reading a disguise was in order.

So we decided to go buy one of the V for Vendetta masks that everyone was wearing from Forbidden Planet, the main provider of the mask of choice of Anonymous.

And this is where it gets fucked up.

Inside forbidden planet we see another two people. This time a man and a woman. Late twenties. With the same identical big SLR cameras.

Scientologists were staking out the geek shop to look for people buying masks.

We watched the woman pretend to be interested in some Dr Who figures for about ten minutes. Who would keep scanning the store looking for trouble makers.

I decided to try and get footage of the two of them, by pretending to make a phone call whilst using it's camera to film them from across the store (my camera phone is shit, it didn't work). I'm no James Bond, but if they were just ordinary shoppers they wouldn't have noticed anything. Or at least not cared. But they weren't.

We left the store, and quickly realised that we thought we were being followed. Like in some poor movie.

Thinking fast we did what anyone would have done. We went round the nearest corner, stopped and waited for them.

And waited, and waited, and waited.

And just as we were giving up and assumed we imagined it, they came round the corner camera high snapping away. Whilst we took this:



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Here they are in the bottom right.

We waved and smilied and the scientologists, who were visible shaken and quickly left.

In hindsight we should have repeated the favour and followed them. But we didn't.

Likewise the next protest had even more scientologists scattered around the area trying to photograph suspects on the way to the protest. And plenty shoving their cameras into the crowd. Like this guy:



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So sorry for the rambling nature of this post, but I wanted to just give some advice on the level of surveillance Scientology will employ tomorrow. The joke may have got old, and no one may turn up. But the scientologists will. So even if your not protesting, if your travelling around London keep and eye out for them by the tubes in North London. I'll try and improve the post over the next day. But I'm snowed under with work...