 Project Chanology was formulated by users of the English @-@ speaking <unk> <unk> and 4chan , the associated <unk> wiki , and several Internet Relay Chat channels , all part of a group collectively known as Anonymous , on January 16 , 2008 after the Church of Scientology issued a copyright violation claim against YouTube for hosting material from the Cruise video . The effort against Scientology has also been referred to by group members as " Operation Chanology " . A <unk> called " Project Chanology " , part of a larger wiki , is maintained by Anonymous and chronicles planned , ongoing and completed actions by project participants . The website includes a list of suggested guerrilla tactics to use against the Church of Scientology . Members use other websites as well to coordinate action , including Encyclopedia <unk> and the social networking site Facebook , where two groups associated with the movement had 3 @,@ 500 members as of February 4 , 2008 . A member of Anonymous told the Los Angeles Times that , as of February 4 , 2008 , the group consisted of " a loose confederation of about 9 @,@ 000 people " who post anonymously on the Internet . A security analyst told The Age that the number of people participating anonymously in Project Chanology could number in the thousands : " You can 't pin it on a person or a group of people . You 've thousands of people engaged to do anything they can against Scientology . " 
