The head of security at the Clearwater church, Bill Johnson, allegedly chases a former member through the streets, screaming death threats. He stops only
when she ducks into a martial arts academy and he is barred from following. Scientology Attorney Paul B. Johnson explains that the threats were only a figure of
speech.
(Brief History of Scientology in Clearwater)
RTC files a suit on Dennis Erlich and his internet service provider for violating its copyrights on the internet. (Criminal Time Track:
Issue III, (70))
On January 3, Thomas Small, an attorney for the Religious Technology Center (RTC, the corporate entity that holds the copyrights and
trademarks of Scientology) sent notice to the operators of anonymous remailers stating that two newsgroups were being used to violate the
COS's copyrights. "The spread of infringements and misappropriations by the users will be lessened if you lock out from your systems the two
newsgroups involved, alt.religion.scientology and alt.technology.clearing [sic], limiting the potential for reposting and downloading." Small's notice
spoke of impending action against individual copyright infringers and suggested that remailer operators might also be the subjects of litigation.
He concluded by asking that remailers "confirm that you have blocked access to these newsgroups through your remailer. If you are unwilling to
do so, we ask that you inform us as to the reasons for your position." A number of remailers responded by limiting their ability to be used to post
to newsgroups. (Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
PR 05.01.1995 23:04 - SCIENTOLOGY OFFICIALS REVEAL GROWTH OF CHURCH IN 1994
WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 /PRNewswire/ --
At the Church of Scientology's annual New Year's Eve
celebration which is traditionally satellited to members in cities around the
world, Church officials released statistics showing the growing public
awareness and acceptance of Scientology.
One of the most dramatic was the increase in public
awareness of the Church. In 1982, surveys revealed that only 10% of the
population had heard of Scientology. By 1994, the number had jumped to 83%.
Similarly, in 1982, awareness of L. Ron Hubbard's seminal work
"Dianetics" was only at 20% but by 1994, had risen to 89%. Other
statistics released during the New Year's Eve event included: --
One person starts an introductory service in a Scientology
Church or mission every minute. Such services included courses on bettering
one's ability to communicate, improving one's marriage and understanding the
nature of man and his relationship to God. -- Church ministers and students
delivered 1,427,000 hours of pastoral counseling in 1994. (Pastoral
counseling, known as "auditing" in Scientology, is the primary
religious practice in the Church. It is designed to raise the person's
awareness of himself as a spiritual being and with it, his abilities, level of
integrity and understanding of God.) --
Scientologists and people seeking information on the Church
and the writings of Church founder Hubbard, purchased 3,162,000 books and
tapes in 1994. --
The Church has 2,318 churches, missions and groups
operating in 107 countries. --
Scientology is practiced in 31 languages. --
In 1994, 23 new countries were introduced to Scientology.
--
There are 19 missions in Russia including the Moscow
mission which has over 100 staff. --
In Russia alone, over 4,200 Dianetic counselors were trained in
1994. They helped to deliver 26,259 hours of Dianetic counseling, 20
times what was accomplished in Russia in 1993.
On January 10, RTC attorney Helena K. Kobrin issued an "rmgroup" (remove group) control message for the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup. In the text of
the message, Kobrin offered the following justification for the removal of the newsgroup:
- "it was started with a forged message;
- [it was] not discussed on alt.config;
- it has the name 'scientology' in its title which is a trademark and is misleading, as a.r.s is mainly used
for flamers to attack the Scientology religion;
- it has been and continues to be heavily abused with copyright and trade secret violations and
serves no purpose other than condoning these illegal practices."
Since most Usenet sites don't automatically honor rmgroup commands and since several prominent Usenetters immediately issued
additional "newgroup" control messages for the newsgroup, there was no negative effect
on alt.religion.scientology's distribution. In fact, the attempt had the opposite effect, as it attracted the attention of site administrators and free
speech activists. Many responded to Kobrin's arguments, pointing out that discussion on alt.config is not a necessity for alt newsgroups; that the
forged "newgroup" was followed by non-forged "newgroup" messages; and that it is
unacceptable practice to "rmgroup" a newsgroup that is receiving heavy use. Perhaps realizing this tactic to be a mistake, the church has made no further
attempts to remove the newsgroup. Instead, it has followed through on its threats of litigation against individual posters mentioned in
Thomas Small's notice to the anonymous remailers. (Skeptic: Scn vs
Internet)
On January 14, Tom Klemesrud visited a Los Angeles bar after
returning from a convention of BBS sysops in Denver. According to Klemesrud, a
woman came up to him at the bar, they began conversing, and then they went to
another bar. At the second bar the woman allegedly told him that she was an
IRS agent, showing him a laminated ID card with the letters "IRS" in
blue. The subject of Scientology came up, and she mentioned the names of IRS
agents who had been involved with the investigation of Scientology's
tax-exempt status in the 1980s. Eventually, says Klemesrud, they ended up at
his home where he says she asked to see his BBS because she was supposedly
investigating Scientology's tax-exempt status. After asking a few questions
about users of the L.A. Valley College BBS, the woman excused herself to use
the bathroom. When she did not return immediately, Klemesrud says he went to
check on her and saw blood on the floor through the partially opened doorway.
The woman spread blood around Klemesrud's bathroom, carpets, chairs, and bed,
and police were called to the scene. According to the police report, the
apartment was quiet, there were bloody jeans on the hall floor, and blood was
smeared in the bathroom and on the bed. Klemesrud was sitting in a chair and
the woman was sitting on the bed. Klemesrud told the officers that his shotgun
was in the kitchen, and they retrieved it from a closet in the kitchen area.
The police report states that Klemesrud said he let her into his apartment
because she claimed to be an IRS agent, and that she went into the bathroom
and began cutting herself.
He also reported that she was trying to frame him in an attempt to silence
Church of Scientology critic
Dennis Erlich (the police report confusedly states that Klemesrud was
a "critic for" Scientology). The woman's account in the police
report, on the other hand, stated that they had met in a bar the previous week
and she came to his apartment that evening. She stated that he loaded his
shotgun when she entered the bedroom, pointed it at her, and stated, "How
do you like that, I can kill anybody I want." She explained the blood as
the result of a medical problem with rectal bleeding and hemorrhoids
aggravated by alcohol and stress, and denied any involvement with Scientology
or acquaintance with anyone in Scientology. Klemesrud says that while he
originally was under the impression that she was cutting herself in the
bathroom, he is now convinced that she was cutting open "a bag, bladder,
or balloon nestled in her crotch" which was filled with blood and which
he both saw and poked when she turned to sit on his bed and spread blood on
it. He maintains that "if this is a medical problem, then she has an
intestine or artery running outside her body filled with cold almost
coagulated blood."
Klemesrud was arrested on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon and
released on $30,000 bail the next morning, while the woman was allowed to
leave the scene without any examination. A police detective was subsequently
unable to contact her. The District Attorney rejected the charges, refusing to
prosecute. (Skeptic:
Scn vs Internet)
Dennis Erlich posted a short account of the incident to a.r.s on
January 15, 1995, while another version of what happened was anonymously
posted on January 23 by "-AB-." The latter posting claimed that its
author "called in a very big favor owed me" to obtain the name and
telephone number of the woman involved in the incident with Klemesrud, and
sent "a trusted friend (aspiring investigative reporter)" to
interview her. This version of the story agreed with Klemesrud's account that
they had only met the evening of the incident, rather than the week before. It
then goes on to claim that Klemesrud had accused her of being in the CIA,
threatened her with a shotgun, demanded that she have sex with him, and
repeatedly telephoned the Church of Scientology until she called 911.
Klemesrud says that he called the FBI and 911 as she single-mindedly moved
repeatedly between the bathroom and the bedroom and spread blood around. He
grabbed his shotgun from the corner of his bedroom and placed it in the
kitchen, then hid it in the closet. He says that he never mentioned the CIA,
and believed her to be an IRS agent until he first saw the blood. (Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
The Finnish newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, reported on February 18 that someone had broken into a Scientology computer system and stolen information that
was publicly posted on the Internet via Helsingius' remailer on January 23. (Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
On January 24, the Los Angeles Times contacted Scientology for comment on
the story, but the request was declined. That evening, however, the Church of
Scientology's OSA faxed what was apparently a signed declaration by
the woman involved to the Times. This declaration gives an account of the
incident which is virtually identical to that posted by "-AB-,"
including the erroneous detail that Klemesrud had a 10-gauge shotgun (it was a
12-gauge, as described in the police report). No newspaper article on the
incident was published.
This incident raises numerous unanswered questions: Who is
"-AB-"? Where did he obtain his information? Why did the Church of
Scientology later fax almost exactly the same information to the Los Angeles
Times? Why did the Church of Scientology take such extreme measures to obtain
"-AB-"s identity? Why would a woman with no connections to
Scientology give her declaration to the Church of Scientology rather than the
police? (Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
Scientologist Russell Shaw, posted that the way to stop critics was
to out-post them. "Now, I'm not talking about a paltry 100-200 posts a
day. I'm talking about ENOUGH of the success stories to really 'paint over'
all of the graffiti. If a particular newsgroup had 100 negative posts a day
going to it, then we would need to post at least 2000-3000 success stories a
day to that newsgroup."
Recently, however, this technique has been all but abandoned, probably
because it is very simple to "killfile" particular posters so that
you don't see their articles at all. (Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
WP 29.01.1995 06:00 - Germany, Church of Scientology Feuding in Print and
Political Arena
By Rick Atkinson Washington Post Foreign Service
BERLIN -- As the Church of Scientology sees it: Germany
today is a repressive and intolerant place, not much different from the Third
Reich of more than half a century ago in its hostility toward racial and
religious minorities.
As the German government sees it: The Church of Scientology is not a church
at all, but rather a dangerous cult that uses religion to cloak its
money-making schemes while exploiting gullible members and threatening local
communities.
... Germany's 16 state premiers last month demanded concerted federal and
state scrutiny of Scientology activities, as well as a European conference on
the subject. Germany's main political organizations have banned Scientologists
from membership, either nationally or in individual states. And state interior
ministers last summer warned that Scientology -- which claims 30,000 members
in Germany -- combines "economic activities with elements of economic
criminality under the cover of a religious community."
Labor Minister Norbert Bluem has described Scientology as "a
machine for manipulating human beings." Renate Rennebach, a Social
Democrat member of Parliament, declared in an interview that Scientologists
are "seeking political influence to dominate the world according to their
view of things. . . . They're a danger to democracy."
1995, 2.2.
On February 2, 1995, Helsingius was contacted by an American representative of the Church of Scientology, informing him that his remailer had been used
to publicly post information stolen from a private Scientology computer and requesting the identity of the
poster. When Helsingius responded that he could not reveal that information, he was told that Interpol would be making a request to
the Finnish police for the information. The next day, Finnish police contacted Helsingius requesting the same information, and
informed him that a warrant would be obtained if necessary. (Skeptic: Scn vs
Internet)
On February 8, Finnish police arrived at Helsingius' home with a warrant entitling them to seize information about all users of his
service, but he persuaded them to settle for the identity of the single requested poster. This marked the first time that any public
authority has required a remailer to divulge the identity of a user. But what is perhaps more startling (because of their respect for
privacy) is that the Finnish police almost immediately gave this information to the
Church of Scientology. Helsingius reports that his legal representative received acknowledgment of receipt of the information by Scientology within an hour
of divulging it to the authorities.
The Finnish newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, reported on February 18 that someone had broken into a Scientology computer system
and stolen information that was publicly posted on the Internet via Helsingius' remailer on January 23. This date led to speculation
about what information taken from the church would cause the Scientologists to take such drastic measures in response. The
speculation has focused around an article posted to a.r.s via anon.penet.fi on that
date by someone using the name "-AB-" which has subsequently been confirmed to be the user whose identity was sought and obtained by the Church of
Scientology. Oddly, this article had nothing to do with secret church teachings, but was about an incident nine days previously involving
Tom Klemesrud, the system operator of the BBS used by Dennis Erlich.
(Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
At 7:30 a.m. on the morning of February 13, 1995, a group of people showed up at the home of ex-Scientologist
Dennis Erlich with a "writ of
seizure." Erlich refused to answer the doorbell and called the police, but the 911 operator informed him that he had to let his
morning visitors into his home because they had a warrant. Over the next 7.5 hours, Erlich's personal papers and correspondence,
financial records, and computer were examined. Photocopies were made, and over 300 floppy diskettes and two 120 MB tape
backups were confiscated. Numerous files were deleted from his computer, leaving it in an
inoperable condition. Erlich was also served with papers declaring him the subject of a
lawsuit for copyright
infringement, also naming Tom Klemesrud, system operator of the L.A. Valley College Bulletin Board System (BBS) which Erlich used, and Netcom, the Internet provider for that BBS, as
defendants.
Klemesrud and Netcom were named on the grounds that they should have taken action to prevent Erlich's alleged copyright violations
from being posted to the Usenet. A temporary restraining order was issued against Erlich, Klemesrud, and Netcom prohibiting the
publication of Scientology materials on the net.
As early as August 1994, Erlich had exchanged correspondence with RTC attorney
Small about some of his postings to a.r.s. Up until the raid, Erlich had
been an active critic of the church on a.r.s, often using information from his own experiences of many years in a
high position in the church, posting followup articles to anonymously posted articles containing church scriptures along with his own
commentary. Erlich's follow-ups contained quotations from the anonymously posted articles to which he was responding. Small
accused Erlich of violating church copyrights by posting these church scriptures without
permission. Erlich responded in a September 7, 1994, letter that "I'll be happy to retract but you must first provide me with the materials whose copyrights I
supposedly violated."
RTC then persuaded Northern California District Judge Ron Whyte to approve the writ of seizure used to raid Erlich's home.
(Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
Accompanied by police officers with a writ of seizure, RTC reps enter the
home of Dennis Erlich in Glendale, California. The RTC reps are Warren
McShane, Thomas Small and Paul Wilmhurst. They seize all material he has on
the subject of Scientology. (Criminal Time Track:
Issue III, (44))
The raid on Erlich’s home and the suit galvanized many internet users against the Church of Scientology. New web pages were created posting
affidavits from other Scientology cases. As one commentator pointed out The church made enemies of a host of people who had previously not even
registered its existence." (Criminal Time Track:
Issue III, (70))
In a posting to a.r.s on February 14, 1995, Helena Kobrin justified the raid on the grounds that "Erlich has repeatedly posted
published and unpublished materials on the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup which are subject to copyrights registered with the
United States Copyright Office. Attempts by my clients to engage Mr. Erlich in any meaningful dialogue have met with an absolute
refusal to communicate-he would not even speak with my clients' representatives." Other Scientologists on the net began a campaign
to discredit Erlich, posting allegations that he had abused his wife and children and
even killed his pets.
After initial hearings, Klemesrud and Netcom were dropped from the temporary restraining order, and
Judge Whyte made it clear that Dennis Erlich still had the right to post to a.r.s and comment on Scientology materials so long as he stays within the bounds of "fair
use." After Erlich posted some additional Scientology materials to the net, the church filed a motion to have him declared in contempt
of court. The San Francisco law firm of Morrison and Foerster took on Erlich's case, and through their efforts Judge Whyte suspended
further motions in the case until a hearing scheduled for June 23, 1995. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has set up a
Dennis Erlich
Defense Fund to assist Erlich in paying his court costs. (Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
Los Angeles Times Tuesday February 14, 1995 - By Alan Abrahamson and
Nicholas Riccardi
GLENDALE - Led by a lawyer brandishing a federal court
order and backed up by a pair of off-duty police officers, a handful of Church
of Scientology representatives searched a Glendale house Monday and seized
hundreds of computer disks and files allegedly containing copyrighted
religious texts.
In the latest twist to a fractious dispute that began in cyberspace and
landed last week at a federal courthouse in San Jose, Scientologists spent six
hours Monday searching the house of Dennis Erlich, an outspoken critic
of the church, for material they believed he transmitted, or intended to
transmit, on the Internet about the Los Angeles-based church....
Helsingin Sanomat, 18 - Feb - 1995 - Tuomo Pietilainen
The investigators of Bureau of Investigations in Helsinki
(police) have confiscated sender information from a link on the internet in
Helsinki.
The police took information last weeks wednesday from the
server maintained by Penetic Inc., Finland, from which people could
send anonymous messages and information throughout the world.
The police acted upon a request of investigation made by the international
church of scientology. The HQ of CoS claims that an unknown person has
penetrated into the computer system of the church itself in the United States
and has stolen a rapport that is classified as "business security"
(*)....
Los Angeles Times Wednesday February 22, 1995 - POSTCARD FROM CYBERSPACE /
DANIEL AKST
The Helsinki Incident and the Right to Anonymity - By DANIEL
AKST
Something happened recently on the Internet that no doubt sent chills down
an awful lot of spines. A government used its power to breach anon.penet.fi.
[snip]
According to Helsingius, authorities in his country were
investigating an allegation by the Church of Scientology that anon.penet.fi
had been used to make public private information taken from a church computer.
You'll recall that the controversial Los Angeles-based church provoked
anger on the Internet not long ago when a church attorney attempted to
obliterate the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology,
a well-known gathering place for church critics in which anonymous postings
are common. Armed with a court order, church officials also seized computer
disks from the Glendale home of a church critic whom they accused of violating
copyright law by posting church materials on the Net.
Helsingius refused at first to knuckle to the church's demands, but he says
the search warrant gave Finnish authorities the right to seize his computer,
which contains the identity of all 200,000 people who have sent messages
through anon.penet.fi during its 2 1/2 years of existence. Faced with a
potentially catastrophic loss of confidentiality--anon.penet.fi processes more
than 7,000 messages daily, mostly for Americans--Helsingius and his attorney
negotiated a compromise: On Feb. 8, he gave police the single identity in
question.
Within the hour, Helsingius reports, a church representative told him the
church had the name. (A church spokeswoman contacted would say only that
"we took actions to handle illegal posting," insisting that her
organization was simply defending its rights. As for anonymous posting, the
spokeswoman added, "People should be responsible for what they do.")
...
If The Church of Scientology got the real name of the party in question
from US authorities, they did so illegally. A commander at the Los Angeles
Police Department said he knew nothing of the LAPD cooperating with
Interpol on this matter. This is not to say someone in the 10 thousand member
department did not; but, if they did relay the name to the Church of
Scientology, they would have done so illegally. Handing the name of a suspect
in a criminal investigation over to a civilian agency (CoS is not law
enforcement--as they would have use believe), is a crime. The FBI would never
legally turn the information over to civilians either. It would seem that CoS
is misstating the truth by saying the know the identity of the particular
anonymous poster. If they do, it comes from unauthorized rogue agent(s) inside
law enforcement.
APf 02/28 2342 Finland-Internet - By MATTI HUUHTANEN - Associated Press
Writer
HELSINKI, Finland (AP) -- Police have seized data from a computer operator
who helps people mask their identities on the Internet, firing a new shot in
the war over computer privacy.
The action last month has drawn protests from Internet users, who said it
was the first time police have forced one of the so-called "anonymity
servers" to help an investigation.
But police insisted Tuesday that they operated within the law when seizing
a computer address on Feb. 8 from the service run in Helsinki by private
computer consultant Johan Helsingius.
"It's a wild network as far as we're concerned," said Police
Inspector Harri Pulkkinen. "We were asked to look into an alleged
crime, and that's what we did."
At the request of California police and the Los Angeles-based Church of
Scientology, Finnish police ordered Helsingius to hand over information that
might help them identify an Internet user who allegedly had stolen files from
the church's computer in Los Angeles in January.
Police said they believed the stolen material was distributed through
Helsingius' computer in Helsinki to thousands of users on the global computer
network.
[snip]
But before ending the probe, police relayed Helsingius' information back to
California police via Interpol. They also turned over the information to the
Helsinki representative of the Church of Scientology, Pulkkinen said.
Asked why Finnish police gave the private information to another private
party, Pulkkinen answered that the original complaint had come from the
scientologists.
[end AP citation]
It appears here that the Finnish police supplied the name of the person
sought to the CoS, not the US police authorities, for in the US this is a
breach of law. Pulkkinen was in contact with Interpol for the authority to
perpetrate the raid, and a CoS attorney, to give the information to--perhaps
for a price. With all due respect, the US police are not the culprits in this.
It is generally known by the upper echelons of law enforcement in the US that
Scientology is a Racketerring Influenced Corrupt Organization. Perhaps the
Finnish Police should be informed of this. And, if something happens to -AB-,
it is the Finnish Police at blame. Interpol has clearly defined guidelines in
these matters, and they would be out of line to suggest to the Finnish Police
that they hand over the name of a US citizen--contrary to US law--to the
infamous "Church" of Scientology.
I have from a reliable source, that the one name sought from the anonymous
name server was an144108 nickname (-AB-), and the "stolen document"
was the declaration of Linda W concerning the blood attack on Sysop of
Support.COM.
On March 13, the authors of this article along with three others picketed the Scientology building in Mesa, Arizona to protest the
church's treatment of alt.religion.scientology. The Scientologists called the police, but since picketing is legal in the U.S. provided it is
done in an orderly manner, the policeman advised the picketers not to cause any disruptions and left. The picketing was quiet and no
disruptions or arguments occurred. Just before the protest ended, the Scientologists photographed each of the picketers. As the
picketers left the scene, a man with a camera waited to take photographs of their cars as they drove by, perhaps to obtain license
plate numbers. The protest was relatively uneventful, and prompted one article in the Religion section of the
Scottsdale Tribune on
March 18. (Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
Scottsdale [Arizona] Tribune 3/18/95
"Scientologists, Internet users square off over computer
missives" by Kelly Ettenborough
A small skirmish in the ongoing fight between Internet users and the
Church of Scientology International erupted in the Valley this
week.
Five local Internet users picketed the Church of Scientology of Arizona, in
Mesa, earlier this week to protest the international church's efforts to close
down their "newsgroup" on the Internet. The Internet, accessed by
computer and modem, contains about 6,000 newsgroups on different topics in
which people leave messages and information. The newsgroup in question is alt.religion.scientology,
also known as a.r.s.
Earlier this year, Scientology church officials requested it be eliminated
after copyrighted church documents were posted on the Internet. The protesters
also said the church doesn't want any critical messages about the church
posted on the newsgroup. "Basically it's a freedom of speech issue where
the church decides that critics on the Internet should not have a voice,
therefore they tried to close our newsgroup down," said Jeff Jacobsen,
a Scottsdale resident and one of the protesters. About 60 percent of the users
of the newsgroup are critics of the church, Jacobsen said. Lisa Goodman, media
relations director for the Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology
International, said copyright infringement, not freedom of speech, is the
issue.
The church filed suit against Dennis Erlich of Glendale, Calif.
after he continued posting church materials on the Internet. In asking for the
newsgroup to be shut down, a church attorney cited the use of the church
trademark "Scientology" in its name, the release of "copyright
and trade secret violations" and "flamers" who use the forum to
attack the church. "They are posting illegally obtained, copyrighted
church scriptures. They don't really care about who is affected or anything
else," Goodman said. "The problem with the Internet is it is open to
abuse, and they violate the laws of the land." Goodman called the
messages posted by flamers a form of hate crime. "It's not a matter of
global freedom of expression. It's cyber terrorism," she said. Jacobsen
is a local contact for Cults [sic] Awareness Network, a group that considers
Scientology a cult, but he said the protest at the Mesa church wasn't about
the church's beliefs or teachings.
"The whole point of the Internet is the idea that freedom of speech is
the ultimate important thing. When one newsgroup is attacked, then everyone
gets upset," he said. "It obviously goes from the Internet to the
real world." The newsgroup had not been shut down, and the response from
Internet administrators was to invite church members to post their own
messages in response to critics. John DeNero, director of special
affairs of the Church of Scientology of Arizona, 2311 [actually 2111] W.
University Drive, Mesa, called the demonstration a curiosity. "It's not
really a local issue," he said. "It really has nothing to do with
our local church so I ask, why are they here to cause disruption to the local
church?... You have to wonder what their real concern is." One protester
shouted at cars during the demonstration, DeNero said, so the church called
the police, who came down and talked to them. The protesters met on the
Internet, and not all are users of alt.religion.scientology. Internationally,
the church has about 8 million members, Goodman said. Several thousand people
in Arizona are members of the church, DeNero said.
APn 23.03.1995 09:03 - Allstate-Scientology
NORTHBROOK, Ill. (AP) -- He was a dynamic, results-oriented management
consultant who urged rewarding productive employees and punishing laggards.
That sounded good to Allstate Corp. in 1989.
Six years later, the insurance company admits it made a mistake by allowing
Donald Pearson to teach "unacceptable" Church of Scientology
management principles to its agents and supervisors.
"We dropped the ball," Allstate spokesman Al Orendorff said
Wednesday. "We should have managed that part of it better and
didn't."But the company denied allegations that some employees were
hounded, intimidated and wrongfully fired as a result of the training program.
...
More than 3,500 Allstate employees took part in Pearson's training program
from 1989-1993, learning to disregard ethics in the quest for greater
productivity, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. ...
More than two dozen agents have filed lawsuits or Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission complaints alleging fraud, harassment or discrimination
by Allstate, often in connection with wrongful-discharge claims, the Journal
reported. ...
On March 24, however, Eugene Ingram, Scientology's principal private investigator, showed up at the place of employment of one of
the authors (Jacobsen) and began taking photographs. Recognizing Ingram, Jacobsen immediately asked him, "Do you have a
warrant for your arrest in Tampa, Florida?" Ingram replied, "Not anymore." Jacobsen then checked and confirmed that the Tampa
warrant for Ingram's arrest for allegedly impersonating a police officer was still valid, but Ingram had left. The next evening, Ingram
visited Jacobsen's sister's home and asked about Jacobsen's financial status. He was told to leave and did so. Ingram was next seen
driving through Jacobsen's neighborhood in such an unusual and frequent manner that neighbors called the police. At one point,
Ingram questioned a 13-year-old neighbor, asking him if he knew Jacobsen, and showing him one of the photographs taken on March
24. Ingram did not question any of the adults who were present outside the home at the same time as the young teen. (Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
For several weeks, a group of pro-Scientology posters seemed intent on overwhelming a.r.s with off-topic posts, single paragraph
posts of questionable interest, and single sentence follow-ups to long articles which requote the entire posting being replied to.
Between March 26 and March 30, 1995, for example, just two of these mass posters placed 139 articles on a.r.s between them, for
an average of 28 per day. (Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
On March 28, Jacobsen was served with a subpoena ordering him to be deposed by Scientology's in-house attorneys regarding a
case filed by the director of the Cult Awareness Network against a cult front group. (Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
in 1995, Richard Weigand (one of the eleven Scientologists convicted
in 1979) was listed in internal Scientology publications as currently heading up a project in Colombia, and was active on
TNX-L, a private Scientology Internet mailing list, as recently as April of 1995.
(Brief History of Scientology in Clearwater)
More extreme responses have also occurred. Church attorneys have sent letters suggesting potential legal actions for copyright violations
against at least four other critics. Another a.r.s critic, Grady Ward, received an unannounced visit on April 14 from two
Scientologists at his Arcata, California, home. One of the Scientologists, Jeff Quiros of the San Francisco Church of Scientology's
OSA, drove five hours to Arcata only to leave and return to San Francisco after Ward phoned police without speaking to him. (Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
One of the most recent tactics adopted by Scientologists on a.r.s has been to criticize anonymous posters or those using
pseudonyms, as well as investigate them and reveal their real names. In one case, a user posting under the name
TarlaStar was shocked to find her real name posted to a.r.s by Scientologist
Andrew Milne after receiving a strange phone call from someone named "Judy" claiming to be an employee
of Internet Oklahoma, her network access provider. (Internet Oklahoma employs no one
named Judy.) She was further surprised and angered when Scientologist "Vera
Wallace" (a pseudonym) reposted not only her real name, but her home address and telephone number.
Wallace wrote to a.r.s on April 11 that "It is Andrew's right, as it is mine, to post
the name of anyone who is hiding behind a phony name while spewing forth lies...No one is telling you to stop your tirades, but at the
same time, no one can tell me not to find out who you really are and publish your name for all to see." Other Scientologists on a.r.s
have made similar condemnations of anonymous posting, contradicting a statement by Los Angeles church spokeswoman
Karin Pouw in a February 28 AP story that "We have nothing against anonymous
posters...It's a great freedom and the right of everyone to communicate as long as anonymity is not used to cover up a crime." (Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
On April 4, Jacobsen received a telephone call from his local phone company, reporting that someone claiming to be him had made three attempts to access computer data from his
phone bill. These attempts were unsuccessful only because he had previously placed a pass code on his phone accounts on the
advice of another church critic who had been subjected to the same intelligence-gathering technique. These events suggest that the
Church of Scientology took the protest more seriously than an outsider might imagine. (Skeptic: Scn vs Internet)
Date: 20 Apr 1995 13:36:59 +0200 - Subject: French IRS vs. French
Scientology : Scientology looses and vanishes
From: marin@ccr.jussieu.fr (Emmanuel MARIN) - Newsgroups:
soc.culture.french,alt.religion.scientology - Organization: CCR - Universites
Paris VI/VII - Paris - France
It is very likely that there won't be any French scientology left very
soon.
Taken from today's "Evenement du Jeudi" :
The cult has to pay 90.000.000 F (about 17.000.000 $) to the French IRS and
has lost all the juridical tricks it attempted to avoid this.
So the US scientology is coming to the rescue. Monique Yingling, the
advocate of the International CoS, has proposed to buy the French CoS.
The project proposes the creation of two new entities : the New CoS of
Paris, and the New Spiritual Association of Scientology of Paris. The former
has a 'cultural vocation', and the latter has the vocation to continue the
activity of the current French CoS. Note the change in the names to create the
confusion : the 'New CoS of Paris' won't be the New 'CoS of Paris', in fact
the New 'CoS of Paris' will be the 'New Spiritual..'
Both groups will be owned mostly (99%) by the International CoS , while the
French CoS will only have the 1% left. The International CoS proposes to pay
the French IRS 90 MF + 10 MF so that everything happens as they want to.
And here is where everything is complex, because the French law normally
doesn't authorize such a buy, because the French CoS legally is a 1901-law
association (no tax, no profit, etc...). Even if the French CoS has been
condamned because it made profits. But if the French judges refuse the buy,
the CoS will be able to claim that, see, we are legally a non-profit
association, and the payment we must pay the IRS is pure nonsense.
The decision will be known in a week.
What will be interesting to watch is the reaction of the intellectuals...
After the Jehovah Witnesses, it's now the turn of the CoS to be denied the
status of religion by the French courts. Will there be someone to call French
fascists because of that ?
Julie Mayo is held at customs and interrogated for 5 hours based on a false report (from OSA operatives) that she was drug smuggling. (Criminal Time Track:
Issue III, (18))
Randy McDonald writes a High Crime Report on David Miscavige, Chairman of
the Board of RTC and Jim Morrow, Tax Compliance Officer of OSA Int.
Randy’s report says that Jim Morrow attempted to justify the existence of
Scientology Policy Directive 2 May 1994 Personal Income Taxes by saying that it was based on the secret IRS agreement.
Randy’s report also says that Miscavige is guilty of withholding vital information for keeping the details of the IRS agreement a secret from other
Scientologists. (Criminal Time Track:
Issue III, (48))
Randy McDonald writes a High Crime Report on Jim Morrow and Ray
Mithoff, Senior C/S Int.
In his report he quotes HCOPL 5 March 1965 Policy Source Of: "If it is not in an HCO Policy Letter, it is not policy."
Randy’s report says that since there is no HCOPL that establishes anything
called Scientology Policy Directives, that all SPDs are an unauthorized type
of issue.
Note: There are actually hundreds of these SPDs. Not only are they not authorized
by LRH, but a study of them shows they are either:
- Redundant (because it was already covered in HCOPLs)
- Conflicting with HCOPLs.
The following High Crime is being committed by those who write and follow SPDs:
"Running any organization on squirrel "policy" or third
dynamic administrative or management procedures that are contrary to approved policy."
Hereafter, Randy McDonald would not shut up about top management being off source. He is not alone. There have been hundreds of Scientologists who have
noticed that top management is off-source and is guilty of squirreling both policy and tech.
Top management’s solution to Randy McDonald noticing they were off source,
was the same solution they have used on hundreds of other Scientologists who have noticed they are off source. Their solution is – discredit the person
reporting on them.
The following pattern has emerged:
- A Scientologist notices upper level management is off source and squirreling policy/tech.
- The Scientologist applies KSW and writes reports.
- Nothing is corrected. Instead, the Scientologist gets beat up in ethics
until he shuts up.
- If the Scientologist won’t back down and continues to apply KSW, they
start a black PR campaign against him, to discredit him in the eyes of other
Scientologists. It should be understood that the Black PR campaign consists of one or more lies they
invented about the person. They falsely accuse him of doing things that he never did.
The purpose of this Black PR campaign is to get other Scientologists to think he is a bad
hat. This results in cutting the person’s comm lines so that he cannot alert other
Scientologists to the squirreling being done by upper level management.
It also ensures that no one will defend him when they attack him with a comm ev.
- Covert Knowledge Reports (KRs) are written on the person, containing false data, and the
person is not given a copy of them so he can correct them and defend himself.
- Black Dianetics and/or reverse processing is often done on the person in
an effort to cave him in or make him crazy. (Criminal Time Track:
Issue III, (29))
- A Committee of Evidence is called on the person, based on the false reports. The comm ev
is also squirrel in that they have their orders to find the person guilty. In other words, it is
not a fact-finding body as intended in policy. They have already made up their minds and
are just going through the necessary motions.
- Quite often the person is refused a copy of the Bill of Particulars. This
violates policy.
This also violates any concept of justice because the person does not know what he is
charged with and therefore cannot prepare a defense.
- The Comm Ev is held for a few days without the person’s knowledge. Then,
the person is given short notice to appear before the Comm Ev, even though they are
thousands of miles away, have to quickly arrange for time off work, etc. This gives them no
time to prepare a defense.
- The person’s requests for copies of the KRs against him, are refused.
The Comm Ev takes no interest in the fact that there are false reports in the KRs
being used to Comm Ev the person.
- The Comm Ev is sent to International Justice Chief and gets stale dated
for months.
- The person is either expelled or his comm ev just remains stale dated forever, with no
findings and recommendations being released.
- The Comm Ev charges are then used as further black PR against the person.
Ethics tells other Scientologists about the charges, to further cut his comm line with other
Scientologists. Confessional data out of the person’s pc folder is also presented to other
Scientologists to further black PR the person.
The end result of the above "ethics" and "justice"
actions is a perversion of Scientology ethics. The purpose of ethics is to get tech in. Not to
protect squirrels. But, since the squirrels in this situation are senior to org ethics officers, org ethics officers have been powerless to do anything
about the squirrels.
Thus, top management has also squirreled Scientology ethics. They use it to attack Scientologists who are reporting on their squirreling, instead of its
true purpose given by LRH in policy, to get tech in.
In the area of tech, they have re-written over a thousand of LRH’s
technical issues, in addition to that they have massively altered LRH taped lectures.
The number of alterations is so massive that we cannot include them all in this time track. We are only including a few of the alterations on this time
track, to serve as an example of their squirreling. It should be understood that the amount of squirreling is not limited to our examples on this time
track.
Thus, top management has turned all of Scientology into a squirrel group, in all 3 areas. Squirrels are at the top of the command lines and this has
resulted in all orgs being run on squirrel admin, squirrel tech, and squirrel ethics.
Any Scientologist who tries to report on the squirreling and attempts to apply KSW, is done away with in the manner stated above, because the
squirrels are at the top and in command.
The above sounds pretty fantastic, doesn’t it? But, you don’t have to believe us. You can personally find out if it is true. Pick up any one of a
thousand pieces of tech they have altered. Write a High Crime report on Miscavige and insist the tech be put back the way LRH wrote it. Hold your
ground. Now start telling other Scientologists about the out tech. And you too can watch all of the above happen to you.
As stated earlier, there are hundreds of Scientologists who have noticed that Miscavige and his top aides are squirrels and they have been handled by
"ethics" as above. Each of their individual stories would take a
time track all by themselves, so there is no effort here to include all of the details
on this time track. If you want to know their individual stories about how they were treated when they applied KSW, ask them. It’s an eye-opener. (Criminal
Time Track: Issue III)
PR 30.05.1995 19:29 - UNPRECEDENTED COALITION OF RELIGIOUS GROUPS TELLS U.
NEW YORK, May 30 /PRNewswire/ -- A wide-ranging group of 60 sectarian and
civic organizations spanning the religious and ideological spectrum today
filed a brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth
Circuit urging reversal of a decision holding the Religious Freedom
Restoration Act (RFRA) unconstitutional.
AJCongress prepared the brief on behalf of its partners, organized into the
Coalition for the Free Exercise of Religion.
RFRA requires that government justify burdens on religious practice. It has
been widely characterized as the most important piece of religious liberty
legislation enacted in many years. But in March U.S. District Court Judge Lucius
D. Bunton, in the case of Flores v City of Boerne (Tx), held the Act
unconstitutional.
In that case, a Catholic church invoked RFRA in a challenge to its
designation as a historic landmark, which prevented its expansion to meet the
needs of its parishioners. The court ruled that Congress lacks the power to
protect religious liberty from infringement by the states.
Disagreeing emphatically, AJCongress and its partners maintain in their
brief that in "enacting RFRA Congress was enforcing a right with firm
roots in constitutional text and history."
"No brief to our knowledge has been so widely endorsed by such a broad
variety of religious and civil liberties organizations as we see in this
case," declared AJCongress Executive Director Phil Baum. "The
ability of these groups with often substantially differing agendas to work
together so closely shows the overwhelming support for RFRA in this country
and how the court decision overturning it flies in the face of the
Constitution."
The Coalition for the Free Exercise of Religion is remarkably broad.
Among its members are:
-- AJCongress, the U.S. Catholic Conference, Baptists, Southern Baptists,
the Christian Legal Society, Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Union of Orthodox Jewish
Congregations;
-- Also the Church of the Brethren, Church of Scientology International,
Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church, Friends, United Synagogue of
Conservative Judaism, Seventh-day Adventists, and the National Association of
Evangelicals;
-- Also the Rabbinical Council of America, National Council of Churches,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Federation of Reconstructionist
Congregations, United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, as well
as Christian, Jewish and secular public policy organizations such as the
American Civil Liberties Union and People For the American Way.
-- Other religions organizations include those representing Muslims, the
Guru Gobind Singh Foundation, and the National Sikh Center.
The Coalition now fighting for the upholding of the Act was originally
responsible for drafting it. On behalf of the Coalition, AJCongress filed over
a dozen briefs around the country in support of the constitutionality of RFRA.
Today's brief emphasizes Congress' power to enforce "the majestic,
guarantees" of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Taking a historic tour through some of the key Supreme Court decisions in
American history, AJCongress' brief declares that the drafters of the
Fourteenth Amendment, which became law following the Civil War,
"consciously set about protecting the free exercise of religion."
As a result, the brief argues, "In enacting RFRA, Congress was not
creating a right out of whole cloth, or enforcing a right without foundation
in the Fourteenth Amendment, one the Framers intended to exclude, or one
inconsistent with the purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment. On the
contrary," the Coalition argues, "RFRA was well within Congress'
power to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment."
The brief was prepared by Marc D. Stern, Co-Director of the
Commission of Law and Social Action of the American Jewish Congress.
Serving Of Counsel were the legal departments of the National Council of
Churches, Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, Christian Legal Society,
Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, Home School Defense
Association, American Jewish Committee, People For the American Way, American
Civil Liberties Union, Liberty Counsel, and Agudath Israel of America.
The case is expected to be heard this summer.
A complete list of coalition members follows: COALITION FOR THE FREE
EXERCISE OF RELIGION
- Agudath Israel of America
- American Association of Christian Schools
- American Civil Liberties Union
- American Conference on Religious Movements
- American Humanist Association
- American Jewish Committee
- American Jewish Congress
- American Muslim Council
- Americans for Democratic Action
- Americans for Religious Liberty
- Americans United for Separation of Church and State
- Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith
- Association of American Indian Affairs
- Association of Christian Schools International
- Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs
- B'nai B'rith
- Central Conference of American Rabbis
- Christian Church - Capital Area
- Christian Legal Society
- Christian Life Commission, Southern Baptist Convention
- Christian Science Committee on Publication
- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Church of the Brethren
- Church of Scientology International
- Coalition for Christian Colleges and Universities
- Coalitions for America
- Concerned Women for America
- Council of Jewish Federations
- Council on Religious Freedom
- Criminal Justice Policy Foundation
- Episcopal Church
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
- Federation of Reconstructionist Congregations and Havurot
- Friends Committee on National Legislation
- General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
- Guru Gobind Singh Foundation
- Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, Inc.
- Home School Legal Defense Association
- Honorable Jerrold Nadler, M.C.
- International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists
- International Institute for Religious Freedom
- Jesuit Social Ministries, National Office
- Justice Fellowship
- Liberty Counsel
- Mennonite Central Committee U.S.
- National Association of Evangelicals
- National Council of Churches
- National Council of Jewish Women
- National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods
- National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs
- National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council
- National Sikh Center
- Native American Church of North America
- North American Council for Muslim Women
- People For the American Way Action Fund
- Rabbinical Council of America
- Soka-Gakkai International - USA
- Traditional Values Coalition
- Union of American Hebrew Congregations
- Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America
- Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
- United Church of Christ, Office for Church in Society
- United Methodist Church, Board of Church & Society
- United States Catholic Conference
- United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
-0- 5/30/95/CONTACT: Stephen Steiner, Director of Communications of
AJCongress, 212-360-1540/CO: AJCongress; Coalition for the Free Exercise of
Religion ST: New York IN: SU: LEG - Copyright 1995 PR Newswire. All rights
reserved
Scamizdat, an electronic magazine with anonymous editors, and other internet
providers, posted OT documents to sites throughout the internet. The Fishman affidavit appeared on servers throughout the world. (Criminal Time Track:
Issue III, (70))
Judge Whyte in RTC v Netcom rules that HCO Manual of Justice was not
entitled to copyright protection. The 1959 copyright notice had gone beyond the original 28 year term and expired in 1987 and no renewal was timely
obtained. (Criminal
Time Track: Issue III)
In order to draw attention off of their High Crimes of writing and enforcing
Scientology Policy Directives, OSA attacks Randy McDonald and 6
other Scientologists, falsely accusing them of being tax protestors. (Criminal Time Track:
Issue III, (49))
APn 21.07.1995 05:30 - Canada-Libel
OTTAWA (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed Canada's largest
libel award, rejecting calls for U.S.-style defamation laws that would provide
greater protection from libel suits.
The court dismissed an appeal by the Church of Scientology and its lawyer, Morris
Manning, of the 1991 award of $1.2 million to Casey Hill, then an
Ontario government attorney. ...
The Fishman affidavit, containing OT materials, reappears on alt.religion.scientology. (Criminal Time Track:
Issue III, (70))
F.A.C.T.Net is a nonprofit archive with an electronic bulletin board service
on the internet. Arnaldo Lerma is a board member. Lerma posted the Fishman affidavit on the
internet. (Criminal Time Track:
Issue III, (69))
RTC files suit for copyright infringement against Lerma and his internet
provider. An Arlington, Virginia court ordered the seizure of Lerma’s personal computer, floppy disks, and any copies of Scientology’s
copyrighted works found in his home. The judge in the case was not aware that Lerma’s
postings were based on a publicly available document. RTC execs, accompanied by federal marshals, searched and confiscated these
materials from Lerma’s home. (Criminal Time Track:
Issue III, (69, 70))
Raid on Arnie Lerma
WP 19.08.1995 06:00 - Church in Cyberspace; Its Sacred Writ Is on the Net.
Its Lawyers Are on the Case.
WP 22.08.1995 06:00 - Speech in Electronic Space
AS USE OF the Internet grows, one thing that's becoming uncomfortably
clearer is just how much of existing communications and copyright law depends
on the physical limitations of records and publications kept on paper. A
copyright infringement suit brought recently in Alexandria, concerning
dissemination via the Internet of supposedly secret and copyrighted documents
belonging to the Church of Scientology, brings some of these newly
problematic issues into sharp relief. It's only one of a string of recent
cases that show how much things are changing because of the new medium and how
difficult it will be to enforce existing law by existing mechanisms.
In the Scientology case, a federal judge in Alexandria ordered marshals to
seize the computer equipment of a man who had allegedly transmitted an
unpublished but copyrighted "secret" text about Scientology,
containing theological precepts and instructions, to a computer
"newsgroup," or public space, from which it was instantaneously
copied by thousands of other computer users all over the world. A lawyer for
the church told the New York Times, "There are people out there who think
the Internet has created a new medium where all the rules go away, and it's
not true." (...) Copyright 1995 The Washington Post
WP 31.08.1995 06:00 - Court Lets Post Keep Scientology Texts - By Charles
W. Hall - Washington Post Staff Writer
A federal judge in Alexandria yesterday permitted The
Washington Post to retain a copy of Church of Scientology texts and to use
them in its news reporting, saying the paper's news-gathering rights far
outweigh claims that the documents are protected by copyright and trade
secrecy laws.
U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema refused to
issue a preliminary injunction against The Post, saying its excerpts of the
church's texts in an Aug. 19 Style section article were brief and did not
diminish the texts' value to the worldwide church.
The article, which reported on lawsuits filed by the church
to prevent critics from putting its texts on the Internet computer network,
included brief quotations from Scientology documents obtained from a federal
court file in Los Angeles.
"The public interest lies with the unfettered ability
of The Post to report on the news," Brinkema wrote. "The article
contained only scant quotations. . . . Scientologists in search of advanced
training could not possibly consider these short quotes as substitutes for the
full texts."
The church originally sued Arnaldo Lerma, 41, of
Arlington, a former church member who put portions of the texts on the
Internet. On Aug. 12, U.S. marshals seized computer equipment and files from
Lerma's home after Scientology lawyers argued that Lerma might possess
protected trade secrets and copyrighted material.
Brinkema found it likely that The Post's story on that and
other Scientology suits would fall within the "fair use" doctrine,
which balances the rights of copyright holders with the public need for
information in areas of widespread interest.
Mary Ann Werner, vice president and counsel for The
Post, said news organizations generally are entitled to publish brief excerpts
so long as the quotations are not so extensive as to damage the copyright's
financial value.
"We used this material in a very limited and judicious
way," Werner said. "There is no valid claim that we violated their
copyrights or trade secrets."
The church, which was founded by science fiction writer L.
Ron Hubbard and includes as members celebrities John Travolta, Tom Cruise and
Lisa Marie Presley-Jackson, has gone to extraordinary lengths to protect the
documents.
When a federal judge in Los Angeles refused to seal a court
file containing the texts, five Scientologists checked the file out daily to
prevent others from reading and copying the material.
After The Post succeeded in copying 103 pages from the
court file on Aug. 14, and then used brief portions in its article,
Scientology added the newspaper and reporters Marc Fisher and Richard Leiby to
its suit against Lerma, seeking to prevent further publication of its texts.
Despite yesterday's ruling, the overall lawsuit is still
pending. Copyright 1995 The Washington Post
Amsterdam - thuesday september 5, 1995.
Police and members of Scientology church enter offices of XS4ALL
PRESS RELEASE - From: XS4ALL Internet
Today at about 14:00, XS4ALL was visited by Mr. S. Braan, bailiff.
He was acting on behalf of the Religious Technology Centre, better
known as the Scientology Church, or Scientology for short. He was assisted by
a local police officer and Mr. Hermans from the 'Nauta-Dutilh' legal firm that
represents Scientology in The Netherlands. Also present were two computer
experts (Mr. Ootjes and Mr. Van Suchtelen) a locksmith (to enter had we not
been present) and two American employees of Scientology, Mr. Weightman and Ms.
Jenssen.
Scientology is filing for seizure of XS4ALL's computer equipment. Under
dutch law, this means that a bailiff comes in to record your assets. In
real-life, the computer-experts that were present have recorded the types and
serial numbers of all the computers in our offices. They did not take any
equipment, the continuity of XS4ALL's services is not in jeopardy.
What is this all about?
The Scientology Church claims that the XS4ALL anonymous remailer was used
to disseminate documents over the Internet to which the church holds the legal
copyright. This has led the church to ask the president of the district court
of Amsterdam to grant permission for this seizure as a prelude to legal
procedures concerning damages suffered by the church.
The remailer in question has been disabled more than 2 months ago.
During the visit of Scientology to XS4ALL this afternoon, the remailer was
not the subject of any conversation. The organisation seemed totally
preoccupied with the information about Scientology that one of our users has
put on his home page. Part of this information is said to be a file to which
Scientology holds the copyright. If we were to delete the file in question on
the spot, they were willing to drop the seizure.
Responsability of Internet Providers
XS4ALL categorically denies any responsability for contents of users'
homepages. The users decide for themselves what is on their homepage.
Since XS4ALL does not edit the homepages and has no mechanism of control
over the contents we strongly feel that the users themselves are responsible
for what they say on their homepage.
This whole affair demonstrates the need for clarity concerning the legal
postion of Internet Providers. We are shocked that our offices can be invaded
bij freshly flown-in U.S. cult members. If we as Internet providers are held
responsible for what our users say, that will undoubtebly kill freedom of
speech on the net.
Scare-tactics
XS4ALL is not alone in receiving this kind of attention from Scientology.
Scientology, a semi-religious multinational, is at war with a number of people
on the Internet. A non-organized group of people on the net has started to
openly discuss the activities of the church.
Until recently, the church has always managed to supress critical voices by
means of sheer intimidation and by engaging in endless legal battle.
One of the people that Scientology has a problem with is 'fonss', an XS4ALL
user that publishes the F.A.C.T.-net Kit on his home page
(http://www.xs4all.nl/~fonss). This kit (which can be found on numerous
homepages all over the Internet) consists of a large number of documents that
show the true face of Scientology.
One of these documents is a piece to which Scientology supposedly holds the
copyright and which has been added to the kit without the church's permission.
1995, 13.9.
Denver Post, 13.9.95 - SCIENTOLOGISTS LOSE IN COURT - by Peter G. Chronis,
Denver Post Staff Writer
The Church of Scientology lost its federal court battle yesterday against a
former church member whose materials were seized in a raid last month.
U.S. District Judge John Kane ordered the immediate return of
computer equipment and other items that federal marshals seized Aug. 22 from Lawrence
Wollersheim, a former Scientologist who has become a critic of the
religion. Wollersheim claimed that the names of alleged victims of the dhurch
were on the computer disks.
Wollersheim, of Boulder, ran a computerized "library" on
religious cults. The Church of Scientology had accused Wollersheim and Bob
Penny of Niwot, also a former Scientologist, of illegally posting
copyrighted, confidential church teachings on the Internet to discredit the
church, founded by the late science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.
Among Kane's findings were:
The plaintiffs didn't show a likelihood that they would succeed on their
claims of copyright and trade-secret violations. Rather, Kane said, it
appeared the defendants were covered by the "fair use" provision of
the copyright law, which allows use of copyrighted materials for
"criticism, comment or research."
The Scientologists hadn't presented evidence that the materials are a trade
secret under Colorado law.
There was no showing of "irreparable injury." The defendants
weren't using the materials commercially, and the church wouldn't suffer a
competitive disadvantage. "The threat of injury to the plaintiffs does
not outweigh the harm to the defendants," Kane said. But there was a
showing of potential harm and injury by prohibiting the functioning of FACT
Net, Wollersheim's business.
Kane's ruling is "only the beginning," said Wollersheim. "We
will stand up to them. What they did was outrageous. They raided a library and
archive on false premises. Now they're going to have to suffer the
consequences." He vowed to file countersuits.
After the ruling, Scientology attorney Earle Cooley asked that the
decision be delayed, pending an appeal to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals. Kane refused, saying it would "cause the harm" to
Wollersheim he was trying to avoid.
"We will seek relief from the 10th Circuit, I'll tell you that,"
Cooley said as he left the courtroom. "It's totally wrong. It's not a
reflection of the law. In fact, it overlooks controlling law."
Cooley also said Wollersheim had never collected money from any of his
lawsuits against the church.
NO MORE COPIES
Kane's order also barred Wollershiem from making more copies of the
supposedly secret Scientology materials. Wollersheim had argued that if the
computer gear and other items weren't returned, the FACT Net service would
cease to exist.
The church had asked Kane to bar the return of the seized items pending
outcome of a trial.
Kane prefaced his decision by noting that the preliminary injunction
requested by the church is "an extraordinary remedy which by its
emergency nature does not afford the court the opportunity for... the
deliberative process of a full-fledged trial."
JUDGE CAUTIONS
That's one reason that the decision of whether or not to issue an
injunction requires "the utmost caution and prudence," Kane
continued.
Issuing an injunction is "a power best used sparingly," similar
to the contempt citation.
A preliminary injunction is intended to "preserve the status quo
ante," or last existing state, he said.
"The public interest is served best by the free exchange of
ideas," Kane said. "To issue the injunction sought will not serve
the public interest. The plaintiffs have not shown a likelihood of success.
The plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction is denied."
Kane ordered the Scientologists to "return and restore" to the
defendants "all seized materials." He ordered the defendants to
maintain "the status quo" on all copyrighted materials in their
possession, restricting them to "fair use and only fair use."
Judge Kane denies RTC their injunction against FACTnet. Judge Kane said: The
alleged copying by the defendants was not of a commercial nature. Rather, it was made for non-profit purposes to advance understanding of issues
concerning the church, which are the subject of on-going controversy. The postings may well be considered as having been made for the purposes of
criticism, comment, or research falling within the fair use doctrine, under section 107 of the Copyright Act.
He also rules that the OT materials do not qualify as trade secrets because
evidence indicates they are in the public domain. Judge Kane concluded that the
Fishman materials posted by Lerma were not trade secrets because they
were widely known outside of the church through multiple sources. The same day, Judge
Brinkema in Virginia ruled the same as Judge Kane in Colorado and vacated the writ of seizure she had given to
RTC to seize all of Lerma’s Scientology materials. The judge ordered RTC to return all of
the seized materials to Lerma. Judge Brinkema also concluded that the Fishman materials were not trade secrets. (Criminal Time Track:
Issue III, (31, 69))
Washington Post, Sept 16th - Reined In Church May Have To Return Computer
Files - by Charles W Hall, Washington Post Staff Writer
Arnaldo Lerma, the Arlington man who took on the Church of
Scientology by putting its texts on the Internet, won a partial victory
yesterday when a federal judge in Alexandria ordered that the church return 58
computer disks that it seized from him.
US District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema also verbally slapped
Scientology lawyers, saying their handling of Lerma's files went far beyond
what she had authorized as part of a suit alleging copyright and trade secrecy
violations.
"This case is somewhat out of control, and I need to get it under
control," said Brinkema. "It was not the courts intention to give
wholesale license to go through Mr Lerma's possessions willy-nilly."
But within hours, a judge for the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Apeals granted
the church a temporary stay, preventing Lerma from receiving the disks until
Brinkema's written opinion can be reviewed.
Brinkema's ruling was the latest twist in a case that has pitted numerous
conflicting rights--copyright protection, freedom of speech and religious
expression--in an age of the Internet, when documents can be distributed
worldwide with the touch of a button.
Brinkema authorized the unusual Aug 12 search of Lerma's home conducted by
the U.S. Marshals service, after church lawyers said they needed to block
further spread of the texts, which they described as sacred materials to be
seen only by advanced church members.
Brinkema said yesterday that she had meant for the search to be
"narrow," saying the church was allowed to examine only files with
any of three key words, including "Scientology" and
"Hubbard" for L Ron Hubbard, the late science fiction author who
founded the church.
Yesterday, Lerma's lawyers charged that Scientology searched computer files
without regard to whther they were covered by Brinkem'a order.
"This is a dirty dearch, your honor,"said Lerma's lawyer, Michael
D. Sullivan. "They went through e-mail after e-mail. This is an egregious
violation of my client's Fourth Amendment rights. [Scientology] must be banned
from using the material they seized in this case."
Earle Cooley, a lawyer for the church, defended the search.
"There was no effort to intrude beyond the materials we were concerned
about." said Cooley, "But it's impossible to sterilize a search and
then be certain you've gotten everything."
The church, which has a long history of suing critics or news publications
that print negative stories is suing the Washington Post to prevent the use of
copyrighted materials in stories about Scientology.
The Post obtained church texts from a federal court file in Los Angeles and
printed excerpts in a story about the Lerma case.
Brinkema said yesterday that The Post's excerpts appeared to be protected
by the "fair use" doctrine, which allows some quotation of
copyrighted materials to discuss public issues. But she said it was less clear
that the doctrine would protect Lerma, who put much longer passages onto the
Internet.
Brinkema's ruling was the second defeat in court this week for Scientology.
On Tuesday, a federal judge in Denver ordered the church to return computers
and files seized from two Scientology critics in Boulder, Colo.
Lerma said yesterday that he had no idea his transmission of the church
text would cause such a legal blowup, and expressed cautious optimism.
"Its progress. You want me to say I'm happy? said Lerma. "I can't
jump up and down, because we're dealing with mad dogs."
UPn, 19.9.1995 - Scientology church asks document seizure
WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- The Church of Scientology asked the Supreme
Court Tuesday to enforce a federal judge's oado authorizing the seizure of
church materials published on a computer network.
The judge's order was vacated by the senior judge of the U.S. District of
Colorado.
According to papers filed with the Supreme Court, the case began when a
director of F.A.C.T.Net Inc. posted 64 pages of the church's
"confidential material" on the Internet in early August.
The church sued the director and obtained an order seizing the material on
Aug. 12.
Two former Scientologists then posted a message on the Internet saying that
the seized documents were F.A.C.T.Net materials and "advocated that
others should also post (the church's) unpublished copyrighted trade secrets
on the Internet 100-1,000 times more," according to the church's
application to the high court.
The senior judge vacated, or threw out, the first judge's seizure order
earlier this month, releasing the materials back to F.A.C.T.Net.
"This case involves religious scriptures of the Scientology religion,
written by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of that religion," the church
said. "The scriptures principally in question here are unpublished,
copyrighted and highly confidential."
The church said the scriptures are made available, "under highly
secure conditions, to those parishioners who have reached a substantial level
of spiritual awareness within the Scientology religion."
The church and its Religious Technology Center "derive
substantial economic value from the materials...because Scientology
parishioners make payments to the churches in exchange for the services,"
the application to the Supreme Court said.
"The confidentiality of these materials is so critical that the most
dedicated of Scientologists formed a religious, fraternal order -- the Sea
Organization, whose members demonstrate their eternal service to the religion
by signing a billion-year convenant -- to secure the confidentiality of these
documents," the church said.
1995, 20.9.
UPn 20.09.1995 23:58 - Breyer turns down Scientology request- WASHINGTON,
Sept. 20 (UPI) --
Justice Stephen Breyer refused without comment Wednesday to enforce
a federal judge's order authorizing the seizure of Church of Scientology
materials published on a computer network.
The church had sought the materials, claiming they were confidential. A
federal judge in Colorado had authorized the seizure, but that order was
vacated, or thrown out, by a senior judge.
According to papers filed Tuesday with the Supreme Court, a director of F.A.C.T.Net
Inc. posted 64 pages of the church's "confidential material" on
the Internet in early August.
The church sued the director and obtained an order seizing the material on
Aug. 12.
Two former Scientologists then posted a message on the Internet saying the
seized documents were F.A.C.T.Net materials and "advocated that others
should also post (the church's) unpublished copyrighted trade secrets on the
Internet 100-1,000 times more," said the church's application to the high
court.
The senior judge vacated the seizure order earlier this month, releasing
the materials back to F.A.C.T.Net.
"This case involves religious scriptures of the Scientology religion,
written by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of that religion," the church
said. "The scriptures principally in question here are unpublished,
copyrighted and highly confidential." (Application No. A-274, Religion
Technology Center vs. F.A.C.T.Net Inc. et al)
In US District Court in San Jose, California, Judge Ronald Whyte denies
RTC an injunction against Dennis Erlich and Netcom for misappropriation
of trade secrets, concluding that they were already "generally available to the
public." He also vacated his writ of seizure and ordered RTC to return all
of Erlich’s possessions to him. The judge did grant the church a
preliminary injunction against Erlich, because he thought it was likely to prevail in
its suit against him for copyright infringement. (Criminal Time Track:
Issue III, (69))
In 1995 the Free Zone Association in Germany purchased the exclusive rights
to the 1934 publication of Dr. Anastasius Nordenholz, "Scientology, Science of the Constitution and Usefulness of Knowledge"
(original German title: "Scientologie, Wissenschaft von der Beschaffenheit und der Tauglichkeit des Wissens").
In November 1995 this book was republished in german and english. The
interesting part is not only the title but also its basic philosophy. It is
comparable to LRH's "Factors". To summarize it in one sentence: The
"beingness-by-itself" (static) creates "consciousness" and
"consciousness" creates "the world" (material universe).
Nordenholz also uses Axioms as basis for his theories. (see: http://www.scientologie.de)
1995 17.10.: Parallel to that the Free Zone web site was set up,
first at http://www.freezone.org in the
US and later, after some legal pressure increased involving the provider in
the US, an additional site was established at http://www.freezone.de.
Lisa McPherson is a Scientologist in Clearwater, Florida. She tells her
parents that she is leaving Scientology and will be home for Christmas. She has a car accident in Clearwater and runs down the street naked. She is
hospitalized. (Criminal Time Track:
Issue III, (13))
Scientology staff members take her from the hospital and keep her at the Fort Harrison. Seventeen days later she dies. The coroner found her
covered with cockroach bites and that she had been deprived of water for the last 5
to 10 days and had died of a blood clot brought about by severe dehydration. (Criminal Time Track:
Issue III, (13))
The domain: http://www.scientologie.org
gets online. In June 1996 the lawyers of the Curch of Scientology first contacted
the Free Zone Assoc. provider "lightlink.com" in order to get this site
removed. Short after that InterNIC was approached by the Church Lawyers with the result that "scientologie.org" was put on "hold".
The only alternative to keep this site online would have been to fight it out
legally in the US and this the Free Zone Association didn't want to do. It
would have consumed too much time and money. Consequently the domain http://www.scientologie.de
is set up in Germany. Two more legal approaches were made by the Scientology
lawyers in Germany to get this domain off the net... however, not successfull.
Lisa McPherson, after being held 18 days in the Ft. Harrison Hotel, dies December 5
of severe dehydration. (Brief overview of Scientology's
interaction with Clearwater Florida)
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1995