MemeMachineGo!

Once upon a time, there was a little non-profit organization called the Cult Awareness Network, which operated a hotline to advise concerned friends and family of people who had joined cults. The Church of Scientology was among the groups they considered a cult. And the Scientologists sued them to bankruptcy and bought what was left . You can call the Cult Awareness Network today, and odds are pretty good you’ll be talking to a Scientologist.

A lot of people were disappointed with Google when they caved when Scientology threatened a DMCA lawsuit and demanded that they cease linking to Operation Clambake . But here’s a scary scenario for you: Google made themselves the test case, fought the legal battle, went bankrupt, was bought by Scientology and Google’s results became what the Church of Scientology wanted them to be.

(Yes, there are several reasons this scenario wouldn’t be likely to play out exactly like that, but I still found it a scary campfire story for geeks.)