Editing Alt.religion.scientology (section)

=== Attempts to delete the group ===

In 1995, Scientology lawyers tried to get ARS removed from the internet.{{r|cusack2012|page=306}} Scientology lawyer [[Helena Kobrin]] attempted to remove the entire newsgroup from Usenet. On January 11, 1995, an ''[[rmgroup message]]'' (a command designed to remove a newsgroup) was posted to Usenet containing the following statement:

{{Blockquote |text=We request that you remove the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup from your site. The reasons for requesting its removal are: (1) It was started with a forged message; (2) not discussed on 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.|author=Helena K. Kobrin, Counsel for trademark and copyright owner{{r|Net.Wars|p=77}}<ref>
{{cite newsgroup|newsgroup=alt.config|author=Helena Kobrin|title=cmsg rmgroup alt.religion.scientology|message-id=hkkD29vI1.Mo9@netcom.com|date=12 Jan 1995 <!-- 03:10:49 GMT --> |url=https://groups.google.com/forum/#!original/alt.religion.scientology/LqslrCpjkV8/s7y2MbDjHicJ}}</ref>{{r|alt.scientology.war}}}}

This message was largely ignored (and openly protested) by system administrators who carried the newsgroup.{{r|Net.Wars|pp=77-78}} It also led to a declaration of war by [[Hacker (computer security)|hacker]] group [[Cult of the Dead Cow]].<ref>{{Cite web |author=Swamp Ratte |url=https://cultdeadcow.com/news/scientology.html |title=A statement from Cult of the Dead Cow |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060316225036/https://www.cultdeadcow.com/news/scientology.txt |archive-date=2006-03-16 |date=June 4, 1995}}</ref>{{r|cusack2012|page=306}} Rather than being removed from Usenet, the newsgroup exploded in popularity due to the not-yet-named [[Streisand effect]] phenomenon.{{r|hicks}} For a period during the first half of 1995, the newsgroup was one of the most popular and active on the entire Internet, with message traffic greater than the vast majority of newsgroups, averaging 65,000-75,000 users a month and 500-600 posts a day.{{r|bunny}}