The IRS refuses the FOI
request, and Tax Analysts files suit. Ref: Tax
Analysts press release, 26 June 1995
(Timeline of Scientology versus the IRS)
In keeping with their new jobs as IRS agents, top execs issue a Scientology Policy Directive on this date, entitled – "Personal Income Taxes",
which says in part:
"Until the tax system is changed, a Scientologist who refuses to file a
tax return, to pay required income taxes, or to comply with other tax laws, is in
violation of the Scientology ethics codes and by his or her unethical conduct is placing himself and the group at risk. Such a person will be
ineligible for Church services until the matter is rectified. Anyone promoting to other Scientologists not to pay taxes or file returns or
promoting any of the various tax protest schemes, will be subject to discipline under the Scientology justice
codes." (Criminal Time Track:
Issue III)
The Church (OSA) becomes aware of the Internet:
BRIEFING TO ALL SCIENTOLOGISTS ON THE INTERNET, DATE: 11.05.1994 02:59 -
FROM THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY INTERNATIONAL
(NOTE: If you know any other Scientologists on Internet or America Online,
please e-mail this briefing to them).
Dear Scientologist, as you know, there has been quite a bit of false and
derogatory information going out over the Internet by a few detractors,
squirrels etc.
The Church fired a project to collect up all this information, and we have
been in comm with some of you already. We have obtained legal input on some of
the messages that individuals have posted that could be libelous or in
violation of copyright laws.
We have a plan of action that we are taking, to simply outcreate the
entheta on these newsgroups (alt.religion.scientology
and alt.clearing.technology), and
get positive information to the general public on what Scientology is, our
activities around the world, successes stories and LRH writings. There will
also be some legal actions, which you will be further briefed on. Basically,
as a group we will NO longer put up with our religion being criticized,
harrassed and denigrated on the Internet.... (full
text of the Siegel Briefing, see also article SP
Times, 3.8.94)
In the summer of 1994, a disgruntled Scientologist forwarded a copy of an electronic memo to an
a.r.s critic. Elaine Siegel of Scientology's
Office of Special Affairs (OSA) had apparently sent the memo to several Scientologists on the Internet and
America Online as a plan to handle electronic criticism of Scientology. The memo was promptly reposted to a.r.s. It read:"As you know, there has been quite
a bit of false and derogatory information going out over the Internet by a few detractors, squirrels [relapsed Scientologists], etc....We have a plan of action
that we are taking, to simply outcreate the entheta on these newsgroups (alt.religion.scientology and alt.clearing.technology)...." Ms. Siegel went on to
explain that critics should not be engaged in debate, but 40 to 50 Scientologists should post pro-Scientology materials every few days so that
"we'll just run the SP's [suppressive persons] right off the system. It will be quite simple, actually."
(Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
Vicki Aznaran settles her suit against Scientology for $25,000.00. She signs
a gag order as part of the settlement. (Criminal
Time Track: Issue II)
St. Petersburg Times, August 3, 1994
A BATTLE OF BELIEFS WAGED IN MEGABYTES - By WAYNE GARCIA
Scientologists and their critics are colliding in cyberspace.
The critics started the fight, creating an electronic bulletin board dubbed
alt.religion.scientology on the Internet, a worldwide web of computer
networks with an audience pushing 25-million.
Then they downloaded their knowledge and opinions in e-mail messages that
just about anyone with a computer, a little money and a modem can view.
"As you will see, Scientology is astronomically prohibitive," one
anonymous writer said on a.r.s in
a message that reprinted the church's price list for counseling and training.
"If you're not a celebrity or a very rich businessman, you'll be in for a
few surprises."
Another, code-named "The Squirrel," chimed in"I am plotting,
for the umpteenth time, how I can reveal that yet another "Scientology
Truth' is just one of the many strange and somewhat stupid utterances that
came from the lying lips of L. Ron Hubbard."
Scientologists were appalled when they found out about this bashfest three
months ago. A church staff member in Los Angeles electronically deputized a
posse of the faithful to counter the naysayers. Within days, the Internet was
flooded with testimonials praising Scientology and with texts written by
Hubbard, the late science fiction writer who founded Scientology in the 1950s.
Hundreds of pages of dogma hit the computer screens, including a
chapter-by-chapter serialization of an 863-page Scientology book.
From Largo, the manager of a software company threw in glowing weekly
accounts of goings-on at the Fort Harrison in Clearwater, Scientology's
international spiritual headquarters. The message throughout Try Scientology,
it works.
Watching from afar, and laughing at both sides, is a splinter group calling
itself the Free Zone. Its members love Hubbard's teachings and
technology but reject the organization that is the church.
It's no surprise that Scientology is a hit on the Internet. For many
religions, computer networks have become a place to pray, debate dogma, study
the Bible, read the Koran and recruit new members.
But Scientology's niche is busier than most, and certainly more
entertaining, say some of the 77,000 Internet "surfers" a month who
run across the Scientology-related bulletin boards, called newsgroups.
The explosive growth of the Internet - and Scientology's presence on it -
caught church officials by surprise. Scientology has always met its critics
head on and spent time and money dealing with dissent. That was easier when
the critics were earthbound, warm bodies with identifiable faces.
In the world of computer networking, the critics float unfettered, as
anonymous as they want to be, connected to millions of others at the push of a
button, disconnected and hidden just as easily.
Kurt Weiland, who heads Scientology's legal and public affairs
branch, dismissed much of the Internet traffic as irrelevant and a waste of
time. In the next breath, though, he acknowledged that "we asked our law
firm to look into what was going on."
A private investigator working for Scientology posed as a journalist to
quiz a computer user in Bloomington, Ind., who is believed to have started the
anti-Scientology newsgroup.
"These people are welcome to speak their minds," Weiland said.
But he added a caveat "It is clear that some of this is written to be
derisive of and libel the church."
And, as Weiland acknowledged, the Church of Scientology doesn't stand still
in the face of what it believes is derisive, incorrect data.
Every few days, someone posts a message on the Internet asking, "Where
is Elaine Siegel?"
They worry that Siegel, a staff worker in Scientology's Office of Special
Affairs in Los Angeles, has been punished for letting a copy of her now
infamous letter fall into the wrong hands - the critics' quick hands.
They have not received a response from her.
Siegel's letter has been posted more than a dozen times on Internet. It
details a plan for Scientologists to counter their cybercritics.
"If you imagine 40-50 Scientologists posting on the Internet every
few days, we'll just run the SPs (suppressive persons) right off the
system," Siegel wrote. "It will be quite simple, actually."
She added "Basically, as a group, we will NO longer put up with our
religion being criticized, harassed and denigrated on the Internet. There will
also be some legal actions, which you will be further briefed on."
Scientology is going to get its own link to Internet, Siegel said. She
called the critics "jerks."
The critics went ballistic, half-upset at the takeover attempt,
half-tickled at the impossibility of such a task. They began the "Where
is Elaine Siegel?" e-mail campaign, its sinister-sounding question about
her fate sure to tweak Scientology officials.
Weiland said Siegel's letter was distributed without her superior's
approval and doesn't represent an official position.
She has not been punished, he said. Weiland said he agreed with her basic
message of countering negative news with positive but denied wanting to push
anyone off the Internet, saying the critics' response suggests it is they who
want to dominate the medium.
"That just shows that these people wanted a free-for-all on a forum
that is meant for everyone," Weiland said.
Through Weiland, Siegel declined to talk to the Times for this story.
The man who exposed Siegel's private letter to the Internet is Chris
Schafmeister, a third-year biophysics graduate student at the University of
California in San Francisco. He posted the Siegel letter after receiving it
from a Scientologist whom he said he befriended on Internet. Before tripping
across the Scientology newsgroup, he had no experience with the organization.
He is now a caustic critic.
"My role is to make sure they're never going to be comfortable on the
Net," Schafmeister said.
Now, he is the one getting uncomfortable. After being interviewed for this
story, Schafmeister said, he learned that someone claiming to be a reporter
from Orange County, Calif., was checking up on him with other computer users.
The "reporter" refused to identify his newspaper. In a second
incident, someone claiming to be a parcel delivery worker phoned Schafmeister
to get his home address. Schafmeister never got a delivery.
Weiland said he doesn't know of any Scientology inquiry into Schafmeister
but acknowledged that a private investigator did pose as a reporter and
question the Bloomington man who is believed to have founded the
anti-Scientology bulletin board.
Weiland said that was done because the person who started the board used
the name of David Miscavige, the current leader of Scientology.
Scientologists on the Net
Stu Sjouwerman is vice president of a software company in Largo.
The Dutch native has been a Scientologist for 12 years and is known to
Internet users for his "Warm Regards" Stu closing on his weekly
reports about what's happening in Clearwater Scientology.
Sjouwerman (pronounced Shauw-er-min) uses his Internet time to spread the
word from Scientology's Clearwater-based Flag Service Organization, mainly
detailed accounts of the speeches given at the Friday night graduation
ceremonies at the Fort Harrison Hotel.
Sjouwerman, 38, also guides people on Internet to Clearwater, where the top
Scientology courses and processing are available.
Sjouwerman said his motivation is to tell how Scientology has helped his
life, how it keeps his marriage alive, how it helped him get the best job he
has ever had.
"... I'd like my fellow beings on this planet to experience this same
absolutely wonderful feeling of spiritual freedom," Sjouwerman said in a
written statement. "That is why I am here on the Net."
Others get similarly involved, posting lengthy passages from Scientology
books, a list of every Scientology organization in the world and lists of
available books and tapes.
On the Internet, they describe how Scientology has helped them become
better people.
"Ever wonder why the critics can't just let you do Scientology, while
they simply not do it, since it's obviously not for them?" wrote one
person who identified himself as a Scientologist. "What would be wrong
with people getting better?"
Weiland said the Scientologists on Internet are individuals, not part of
any church plan. Scientology's marketing branch, he added, is looking at the
possibility of using the Internet.
The Free Zone lives
All the benefits of Scientology at a fraction of the cost. That is the
promise of the Free Zone, located on an Internet bulletin board called
alt.clearing.technology.
Neither fish nor fowl, not Scientologist or basher, the United Free Zone
Alliance and its estimated 3,000 adherents trade variations on Hubbard's
theme, and some continue his research, an idea that is blasphemous to the
Church of Scientology.
It also attracts believers in alternative mind-clearing technologies or
religions outside of Scientology, people who practice processes aimed at
ridding the mind of harmful, painful memories.
That kind of dissension and continued research, coupled with the freedom of
choice to learn mind-clearing outside official channels, makes the Free Zone
Scientology's "worst nightmare," said alt.clearing.technology
founder Homer Wilson Smith, a computer artist from upstate New York.
"Scientifically this is very fertile ground," said Smith, 43.
"Dogmatically, it sows the seeds of war."
Some even use the medium to discuss auditing techniques and tips,
Scientology's confessional process that is used to locate and discharge areas
of mental strife. The most expensive Scientology auditing costs $1,000 an
hour. Free Zoners are doing it for nothing, or next to nothing.
Weiland called the Free Zoners "squirrels," a term
for those who take Hubbard's teachings and use them outside the officials
channels of the church or who alter them into something else.
Scientology has pursued countless lawsuits against squirrels, aimed at
ridding the religion of squirrel tech, as they call it.
Scientology has known about the Free Zone for years, long before it went on
the Internet. As long as no Scientology copyrights or trademarks are violated,
Weiland said, no legal action will be taken.
But what the Free Zone is doing is wrong nonetheless, he said.
"We are not tolerant of any alterations or deviations from the
standard technology. If you alter it, you may get some benefit, but it won't
be the benefit you could get by following it."
Out in cyberspace, the skirmish for souls continues.
A man who identifies himself as a Russian writes "My name is
Alexander. I live in Moscow and I'm interested in Scientology very much. I'd
like to know if it is possible to have your information in Russian?"
A Scientologist responds that most of the literature has been translated
and that there are even several Scientology organizations in Russia. He offers
to mail him more information.
That's too tempting for a critic in Arizona, who posts the last word.
"My critique of Scientology has been translated into Russian,"
Jeff Jacobsen writes, "in case you want a copy of that."
- Times researchers Kitty Bennett and Debbie Wolfe contributed to this
report.
OSA has David Mayo arrested at his home in the Dominican Republic on false
charges of drug smuggling. Interpol had called the head of the Dominican Republic drug department to get Mayo arrested. (In case you didn’t know,
like the IRS, DM is also friends with Interpol.) (Criminal Time Track:
Issue III, (18, 41))
UPn - Washington Agenda - General News Events - Update
EVENT: THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY holds a news conference to protest the
opening of an exhibit "Against Hitler German Resistance to National
Socialism, 1933-1945." The Church objects to the German government's lack
of resistance to incidents of ethnic and religious discrimination currently in
Germany.
Washington Post - Advertisment of the Scientology Church, Sept. 1994 (full
text... click on picture)
On September 14, an anonymous poster claiming to be a concerned Scientologist also posted a plan to handle the Internet critics, allegedly originating from
the COS and filled with citations to Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letters (HCOPLs), which are organizational and
administrative policies authored by L. Ron Hubbard. This plan was more elaborate, with individuals assigned to Legal, Security, Success
Posting, and even Humor assignments. The goal was to have "no less than 50 posts per day for the next month."
(Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
Randy McDonald becomes aware that upper level management is writing their
own policy, called Scientology Policy Directives (SPD).
He writes a High Crime Report on Tax Compliance Officer OSA Int. and AVC Int. for enforcing Scientology Policy Directive 2 May 1994
Personal Income Taxes, on him.
McDonald’s knowledge report notes that what the SPD says violates various HCOPLs and the very existence of SPD’s also violates HCOPLs.
Per HCOPL 9 August 1972 Seniority Of Orders: "Any practice by which junior issues, such as directives, abolish
networks or make off-policy changes can only result in the destruction of
networks, orgs and tech. This is therefore a High Crime policy letter and it is an offense both to
follow or obey or issue any verbal or written order or directive which is contrary to or changes or abolishes anything set up in HCO Policy Letters or
HCOBs…." (Criminal Time Track:
Issue III, (46))
1994, 19.9.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 /PRNewswire
Officials of the Church of Scientology joined the D.C. Student
Coalition Against Racism in a demonstration in front of the German Embassy
this afternoon, charging that "the German government is actively fueling
the growing religious and racial intolerance in that country."
"While the German government claims to support the
principles of tolerance and democracy," explained church spokesperson Sylvia
Stanard, "law abiding German citizens are being arbitrarily stripped
of their rights by that same government, solely because of their faith. Such
actions only give tacit approval to the growing skinhead violence against
religious and racial minorities. People must learn the truth about Germany and
make their voices heard now."
As evidence, Stanard cited the official Hamburg ordinance
prohibiting the sale or rental of property to Scientologists as well as the
official exclusion of Scientologists from the three major political parties,
including the Christian Democratic Union, the party of German
Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
The church participation in the demonstration comes days after
the Scientologists launched a national public information campaign on Germany
with the first of a series of full-page ads in both The Washington Post and
New York Times.
The church is urging concerned citizens to write to German
Chancellor Kohl, President Bill Clinton and other key officials on the
issue.
1994, 22.9.
PR 22.09.1994 23:46 - PRESIDENT CLINTON PRAISED BY RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- President Clinton's recent
intervention into the Crystal Evangelical Free Church tax case was praised
today be a diverse group of religious organizations.
The president's action comes during Religious Freedom Week, proclaimed by
Congressional Resolutions and Presidential Proclamations and celebrated
nationally by citizens of all faiths.
The letter stated that those signing "applaud the president's support
and strong interpretation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act
(RFRA) ... A safer community is created for all when religious values are
protected and promoted."
The letter was signed by representatives of the National Council of
Churches, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the Church
of Scientology International, the General Conference of Seventh- day
Adventists, J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at Baylor
University, The General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist
Church, the Mennonite Central Committee US, The Family, the Native American
Church of North America and the Assemblies of God....
1994, 13.10.
New York Times, 10/13/94
Officials in Germany Denounce Sect as a Menace to Democracy
Leading members of the German Government and
oppostition parties have attacked the American-based Scientology movement as a
danger to democracy, and called on the next government to ban it.
The interior ministers of the 16 German states last spring
called Scientology "an organization that combines elements of business
crime and psychological terror against its own members with economic
activities and sectarian traits, under the protective cover of a religious
group."
On Tuesday, Renate Rennebach, a member of Parliament
from the opposition Social Democratic Party, asserted that Scientology
was not a religion but a conspiratorial movement with global political aims.
"At present Scientology is misusing international
concern about right-wing radical attacks in the Federal Republic to cause
serious damage to the reputation of the country abroad, with an advertising
campaign in influential American newspapers," Mrs. Rennebach said.
Full-page advertisements paid for by the British-based International
Association of Scientologists appeared in The New York Times and The
Washington Post last month. The advertisements recounted the rise of militant
right-wing violence against foreign asylum-seekers and immigrants in Germany
since unification four years ago and said "fascism is on the rise again,
condoned and encouraged by the German Government."
Labor Minister Norbert Blum denounced the
advertisements today as a campaign of defamation against the German
Government, which has strongly condemned the attacks against foreigners and
since 1992 has outlawed five neo-Nazi parties that it maintained had inspired
the attacks.
"Scientology is not a church or a religious
organization," Mr. Blum said. "Scientology is a machine for
manipulating human beings."
Asserting that the movement's real aims were political and
transcended national boundaries, Mrs. Rennebach, her party's spokesman on
sects, said the new German federal government that will be elected next Sunday
should put the group under surveillance.
With an estimated two million members in Germany alone,
Scientology has aroused considerable controversy since it first came here in
1970 and stimulated the production of at least six books denouncing it for
defrauding adherents of their savings, threatening opponents with violence and
seeking to infiltrate companies and entire branches of commerce, such as
commercial real estate, in major German cities.
Ursula Caberta, who heads a department of the
Hamburg state Ministry of the Interior that is devoted exclusively to dealing
with complaints about Scientology, supported Mrs. Rennebach's call to outlaw
the movement here and said the Hamburg authorities would pursue legal action
against it all the way to the German supreme court.
"Scientology is by far the most dangerous and the most
widespread of these psycho-technical groups," she said.
Scientologist documents made available by Mrs. Rennebach today included a
"Call-to-Arms Germany" complaining of bomb threats and violence
against Scientology churches. "We can prove beyond any doubt that this is
the exact same pattern which was used to start the hate campaign against the
Jewish people in 1935," said the document, signed by Klaus Buchele,
from the group's office of special affairs.
Roll Call Newspaper - April 11, 1994
Note: On the bottom of the full page it it says that the add is a paid message from the Church of Scientology International from a grant from the International Association of Scientologists. It's purpose is to focus attention on the alarming resurgence of violence in Germany.
This is the first ad ... there are six more
STOP THE HATRED IN GERMANY - DON'T LET HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF
FREEDOM - HARD WON DON'T WASTE IT
...Today we are seeing what the world was witnessing in the 1930 sa multi-pronged onslaught against anyone who doesn't fit into a "German" mold.
Among those targeted have been members of the Church of Scientology. They are being ostacized purely because of their religious beliefs. German Scientologists are barred from membership in political parties. In Hamburg, laws exist which prohibit Scientolgists from renting public halls or buying city property. Rocks and bottles have been hurled through Church windows and individual Scientologists have been threatened, beaten and harassed.
...
... two men came to
the door of former Scientologist Arnie Lerma, who had been posting court documents pertaining to
Scientology on a.r.s., with a document for him to sign. It was a yet unsigned affidavit in his name which declared that he recanted his attacks on
Scientology and that he had "left the Church entirely because I could not maintain a high enough ethical standard and wished to protect the
organization from my destructive behavior." Lerma refused to sign. Within an hour after
the men left, he received a fax accusing him of posting illicit materials to the network and stating that "THE COS IS WILLING TO SETTLE THIS MATTER
OUT OF COURT AND WITHHOLD ANY FURTHER LEGAL OR INVESTIGATIVE ACTION IF YOU WILL AGREE TO CEASE AND DESIST ALL YOUR
ACTIVITY AGAINST THE CHURCH AND ANSWER SOME OF OUR QUESTIONS TO CLARIFY THIS MATTER." Lerma reported these events to the FBI
and to the Washington Post, which reported them on December
25, 1994, as did the Associated Press on January 3,
1995. (Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
The Library of Congress records show that on this date:
- Mary Sue Hubbard, widow,
- Diana Meredith Dewolf Hubbard Ryan,
- Mary Suzette Rochelle Hubbard,
- Arthur Ronald Conway Hubbard,
- Lafayette Ronald Conway Hubbard Jr., aka L. Ron Hubbard Jr. aka Nibs Hubbard aka
Ronald Dewolf &
- Katherine May Hubbard Gillespie,
children of deceased author L.Ron Hubbard, copyright assignment:
Ceremonies of the Founding Church of Scientology & 1,364 other titles by
L. Ron Hubbard. Full document range: (In V3058 P 155-208) to the Church of Spiritual Technology. (Criminal Time Track:
Issue III, (75))
One of the earliest articles cancelled by the Cancelpoodle was a "decree of the commencement of oral trial," a court document from
Spain dated December 12, 1994, describing criminal proceedings initiated against COS president
Heber Jentzsch, and leading Spanish Scientologists, for "felonies of illicit association, threats,
coercion, usurpation of functions, false accusation, simulation of felony, illegal arrest, crimes against the Tax Administration, crimes against freedom and
safety in the workplace, intrusion, crimes against the public health, injuries, damages, abuse, slander and inducement to suicide."
(Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
December 24, however, someone using an anonymous remailer in the Netherlands posted OTI, OTII, and "New OT" (NOTs) issues 34, 35, and 36 to a.r.s.
...Former Scientologist Dennis Erlich, a regular contributor to the a.r.s newsgroup since August 1994, posted
articles commenting on some of the material and pronounced it genuine. Suddenly the material Scientology reveals only after the investment of
considerable time and money was accessible to a potential audience of 30 million Internet users.
(Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
On December 27, the COS contacted the Netherlands remailer operator, who promptly announced to a.r.s that he had disabled the anonymous account of
the user responsible. On the same day, an event took place which focused the attention of free speech activists on a.r.s. A person
using the name "Harry Jones" issued a cancellation for an article posted by Dennis Erlich commenting on the OT materials. The cancellation,
issued from an account with Netcom, a San Jose-based national Internet service provider, was easily traceable to its origin but was soon
followed by more sophisticated cancellation messages.
These later messages were all directed at postings by Scientology critics, but now were done in such a way that they could not easily be traced to the
account which originated them. The unknown person responsible for these cancellations was dubbed the
"Cancelpoodle," a variant on the name of the
"Cancelmoose." (The Cancelmoose, an anonymous individual who cancels
indiscriminate mass postings of articles known as "spam," is generally accepted by the
Usenet community. This is because the Cancelmoose does not cancel articles on the basis of content, but only removes articles which are
widely duplicated and waste disk space and the time of Usenet readers. He also makes reports on what is cancelled, including a full copy of the original
article, and performs the cancellations in such a way that site administrators can refuse to accept them at their own sites. The Cancelpoodle, by
contrast, targets specific content in its decision to cancel.)
Dozens of postings by a.r.s critics have been cancelled by the Cancelpoodle, in many cases with a cancellation message that claims the posting is
"CANCELLED BECAUSE OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT." Many of the articles by Scientology critics which have
been cancelled, however, contained either no copyrighted material whatsoever or only brief quotations falling within the bounds of
"fair use" for commentary and criticism. One of the authors of this article (Jacobsen) saw several of his critical postings which he
considered fell well within the bounds of "fair use,"cancelled. One of the earliest articles
cancelled by the Cancelpoodle was a "decree of the commencement of oral trial," a court document from Spain dated December 12, 1994, describing
criminal proceedings initiated against COS president Heber Jentzsch, and leading Spanish Scientologists, for "felonies of illicit association,
threats, coercion, usurpation of functions, false accusation, simulation of felony, illegal arrest, crimes against the Tax Administration,
crimes against freedom and safety in the workplace, intrusion, crimes against the public health, injuries, damages, abuse, slander
and inducement to suicide."
After several weeks of cancellations, Netcom modified its Usenet software to make it easier to trace the origin of bogus cancellation messages. The result
was that when Netcom cancelled the accounts of several abusers, cancellations began to surface from
accounts at other Internet service providers. A series of cancellations posted from
Deltanet, a provider based in Orange County, California were issued from an account obtained by two persons who showed up
late one night at the Deltanet office shortly before it closed. They had told Deltanet that they needed immediate access, and paid in cash. The true identity-or
identities-of the Cancelpoodle has yet to become public knowledge. The COS denies any knowledge or connection with these activities. Regular
participants on a.r.s have responded to the Cancelpoodle by simply reposting whatever is cancelled. One regular even wrote a
program which automatically posts a public notice to a.r.s about any articles which are cancelled from the newsgroup. Anonymous
posters have also responded by reposting the secret church materials to a wide variety of other newsgroups on the Usenet, a tactic
which has been condemned by many Scientology critics for its violation of accepted standards of "netiquette."
(Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
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1994