The Church of Scientology have a history of conflict with groups on the Internet . In 1995 , attorneys for the Church of Scientology attempted to get the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology ( a.r.s. ) removed from Usenet . This attempt backfired and generated a significant amount of press for a.r.s. The conflict with a.r.s led the hacker group Cult of the Dead Cow to declare war on the Church of Scientology . The Church of Scientology mounted a 10 @-@ year legal campaign against Dutch writer Karin Spaink and several Internet service providers after Spaink and others posted documents alleged to be secret teachings of the organization . The Church of Scientology 's efforts ended in a legal defeat in a Dutch court in 2005 . This series of events is often referred to as " Scientology versus the Internet " .