panorama on scientology

One of the most prominent themes in our culture today is a battle raging between those who seek to control information, and those that want full and free disclosure/distribution.

The music industry, big brands, small time con-artists, the Chinese government, even restaurants that get bad online reviews and politicians are fighting a seemingly losing war against people who have very different views on how information should be controlled.

One good example of an organisation that works hard to maintain secrecy is The Church Scientology. I've been fascinated by the recent tiff between them and the BBC, following a Panorama episode which portrays them negatively:



Anyhow they've responded by creating material on youtube which questions the sensibility of the journalist, and his employers, as well as a damage limitation response here, complete with comments from sock puppets (fake Internet identities generated to look like grass roots support).

It's just drawing more fire from the Internet, and I'm sure they will get pretty tired of moderating comments soon enough.

There are a lot of issues to talk about, like censorship, who can own information, etc, will mass journalism work, etc, but for now, I just want to say that organisations that have to devote a lot of time to PR fighting will have so much work to do that it that it will be a real strain on them. The converse is true too.