Volume 0, Issue 25 vom 8. 10. 1995

Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review
Volume 0, Issue 25
10/08/95
by Rod Keller [rkeller@netaxs.com]
copyright 1995

Contents

  1. CAN Loses Suit
  2. Colorado Ceremony
  3. National Press Club
  4. Dennis Erlich's Parents
  5. AOL Cancels Diane Richardson
  6. Henry Harassed
  7. Kobrin Speaks
  8. Larry Wollersheim Harassed
  9. OT 9
  10. Poodle Canceled
  11. Special Master
  12. Xenu, the Newspaper

Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review summarizes the most significant
postings from the Usenet group Alt.religion.scientology for the preceding
week for the benefit of those who can't follow the group as closely as
they'd like. Out of thousands of postings, I attempt to include news of
significant events, new affidavits, court rulings, new contributors,
whatever. I hope you find it useful. Like many readers of a.r.s, I have a
kill file. So please take into consideration that I may not have seen some
of the most significant postings. 

The articles in A.r.s Week in Review are brief summaries of the articles. 
Many include an excerpt, and all include message IDs for the articles I
cover. This may or may not be useful to you, depending on how long your
site stores articles in the newsgroup before expiring them. 

Free A.r.s Week in Review subscriptions are available, just email me at 
rkeller@netaxs.com
It is archived at:
        http://www.amazing.com/scientology/ars-summary.html
        http://users.aimnet.com/~jdiver/scieno.htm
        http://www.thur.de/religio/publik/arsfaq.html
        http://wpxx02.toxi.uni-wuerzburg.de/~krasel/CoS/ars-summary.html

#####

CAN Loses Suit

An announcement from the Cult Awareness Network was posted this week. Cynthia Kisser reported on a loss in a civil suit to cos lawyer Kendrick Moxon, representing Jason Scott, accusing CAN of kidnapping. "A jury verdict was delivered September 29 in U.S. District Court in Seattle, following a six-day trial. Scott was represented at trial by Kendrick Moxon, a minister with the Church of Scientology International, a long time adversary of CAN that had tried unsuccessfully to win dozens of lawsuits against CAN in the past. Moxon was an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal investigation of Scientology in the seventies that lead to the felony convictions of 11 of its high-ranking members, including Mary Sue Hubbard, the wife of Scientology founder the late L. Ron Hubbard. "Federal judge John Coughenour refused to let CAN introduce any evidence concerning Scientology into the case, but permitted Scott, over CAN's objections, to include inflammatory language about CAN's alleged role in criminal deprogramming. "CAN executive director Cynthia Kisser attended the trial and concluded, "Scientology used Jason Scott to make false claims to a jury about CAN in an effort to further their well-publicized vendetta to destroy CAN because of its effectiveness in making the public aware of Scientology's ruthless tactics. The judge's pre- trial rulings did not permit the jury to learn the truth about Scientology's part in the litigation, but Scott was not prevented from introducing Scientology's assertions to the jury about CAN's alleged involvement in criminal deprogramming." Message-Id: <m0szazJ-000RJHC@eagle.ais.net> #####

Colorado Ceremony

Chris Yoder reported this week that the cos recently sponsored a non-denominational religious ceremony celebrating religious freedom. "It was held in veterans memorial park, just to the west of the Colorado state capitol. I went, along with one other critic. We took flyers, and left some on windshields outside the capitol building. "Some of the prestigious members of The Church of Scientology that were there included Heber Jentzsch, Leisa Goodman, and maybe Helena Kobrin, but I'm not sure about Ms Kobrin. The infamous Deb Danos was there as well. "It was an odd feeling, to say the least, to be there in the park surrounded by at least 50 people who consider me to be a suppressive person. I'm not saying that the Co$ has declared me suppressive, but as soon as they found out who we were, they became less than friendly. I did not see anyone that I recognized from normal life, which I am very thankful for. "The main things I noticed was a fairly subtle attack on psychiatry, saying that the church should be allowed to do mental health stuff, and mental health stuff should not be allowed without appropriate spiritual guidance." Message-ID: <44ro3b$f76@tali.UCHSC.edu> #####

National Press Club

The Cyberspace Law Institute sponsored a round table discussion this week at the National Press Club. The title was The Internet and Property Rights: What's Mine is Yours? Here's the list of actual panelists Panel Moderator: Bill Burrington - AOL Vint Cerf - MCI David Johnson - Cyberspace Law Institute David Post - Cyberspace Law Institute Wayne Rash - Contributing Editor, Communications Week Dan Duncan - Information Industry Association Peter Pitsch - Progress and Freedom Foundation Helena Kobrin: Counsel, Church of Scientology International and RTC Rebecca Fry: Attorney, Intellectual Property, Foley & Lardner Mark W. Heaney provided a summary of the discussion. Some comments are excerpted below. "Helena Kobrin: Copyright law is currently strict liability, there does not have to be intent for copyright violation to take place. The CoS believes in warning the customer and the ISP. If the customer and the ISP don't comply they are both liable. The ISP put the system there, nobody made them. They are accessories by providing the means. Some providers do cooperate. "Bill Burrington: I met with the Church of Scientology to find out 'what's your beef?'. They have tremendous vested interest in protecting their copyright as does AOL and other intellectual property owners. We are all in the same boat. Providers (like AOL) do not want to be part of the liability chain. If a provider gets a complaint, they must respond to it. How will AN IP holder provide notice and evidence of infringement? AOL does not want to be a net.cop. Optional approach - immediate (temporary) shut down upon complaint - has 1st amendment problems. "HK: Another aspect... I am a proponent of free speech and so is the Church of Scientology. <chuckles from the audience, HK looks even less happy than before> Prior restraint right should reserved be in all ISP contracts. Do it voluntarily or we will make you. "HK: I am for an amendment to the law that if an ISP responds properly to a complaint they should not be liable. CoS takes a different approach because confidentiality of materials demands immediate response. We can't ignore freedom of religion. "HK: The role of government is directly related to the responsibility of the net. An example: The Roman empire, no one was being responsible, so it crumbled. Anonymous users think they are beyond the law. Anonymous remailers must respond acceptably to legal complaints or they will become government regulated. "BB: Senator Cole from Wisconsin agrees.<Question to HK:> Regarding virtual magistrates, what's to prevent copyright holders from harassing individuals? Wouldn't this be a type of private law enforcement? "HK: As a lawyer I can say that the legal system is not the most expeditious way to resolved disputes. <HK is becoming agitated> It's not private law enforcement. It should be written into ISP contracts, they should reserve the necessary rights. It's not harassment... you can clearly see what's going on... it's obvious... the... the issues are clear! "David Post: Copyright law is not clear, it is not a black and white issue. There are complicated issues. For example, Fair Use, if anyone can give me a clear and complete description of Fair use in under a half hour, please talk to me when we are done. I have to teach it to my law classes and I can't do it. There is a possibility for abuse on both sides of the issue. Message-ID: <44v4as$1ch@gamera.cbl.cees.edu> #####

Dennis Erlich's Parents

Dennis Erlich reported this week that the cos has extended their harassment to Dennis' parents. "Some of you already know that my dad is dying of an incurable bone marrow disease. His life expectancy can be measured in weeks. My mother is caring for him at home. In spite of knowing this, my venomous ex-wife, Rosa has just responded to a letter my mother sent her trying to make peace. "Since the levy on my bank account and the loss of my job, my parents have been kind enough to pay my on-going child support payments. They are doing this because I supported my brother's two children. "Rosa's letter starts off by accusing my parents of setting up a bank account *for me* with *my* money in order to protect what are allegedly *my* assets from the judgment she managed, with the help of information taken during the illegal raid and a scieno-paid lawyer, to get against me. The clear inference from her letter is that I have engaged in illegal conveyance, that my parents conspired to commit this criminal act and that the money in my parent's back account is mine, and therefore subject to seizure. "Of course this cause a major upset and tremendous concern to my elderly parents who are living on Social Security and a pension from my dad's retirement as a letter carrier." Message-ID: <9510011207.0H0XT04@support.com> #####

AOL Cancels Diane Richardson

Diane Richardson has been booted from America Online for responding to statements made in a public folder. "What AOL is doing is seriously wrong. By permitting the 'Church' <spit> to spread its propaganda unchallenged by critics, the 'Church' <spit> is managing to reach an audience of middle-income, relatively unsophisticated people that they would NEVER manage to reach through their normal marketing methods. "I have no idea what sort of hold the 'Church' <spit> has over AOL, but I would imagine that money has something to do with it. AOL has given protection to the Scientologists[tm] that they offer to NO OTHER religious group on their Religion & Ethics Forum. There's something operating behind the scenes there #####

Henry Harassed

The anonymous poster henry has been found by cos fugitive private investigator Eugene Ingram. "I feel like Gregor Samsa. Gene Ingram came into town yesterday with a sheaf of papers and a pack of lies, and managed to get a criminal complaint filed against me for 'terroristic threats.' "I also lost my job, partly based on alt.angst posts, nasty things said, and otherwise." Vera, a poster for the cos, responded with this Dead Agent attack. I won't repeat the alleged real name of henry. "Robert Clark was one of two computer hackers who was arrested and charged with illegally using computer systems at Penn State University on February 16, 1990. He and his roommate, Xxxxx, broke into national computer systems with 'industrial, educational and military use.' "The investigation began on November 6, 1989 when the University of Chicago contacted the Computer Emergency Response Team at Carnegie Melon University in Pittsburgh because of unauthorized entries into the Chicago computer system on the access code of a former Penn State graduate student. The system was reached via Internet. "Robert Clark, a student at the time was caught on November 7, 1989, the same day the Computer Science Department realized that someone was gaining unauthorized access to the Penn State computer system. Department employees were able to determine who had unauthorized access and police were called." Message-ID: <noodleDFy6p0.Hwo@netcom.com> #####

Kobrin Speaks

Chief legal terrorist for the cos, Helena Kobrin, posted a warning concerning "Fair Use". I have not included the text of Dennis' post that she refers to because it doesn't seem to exist. Helena isn't getting enough sleep. "Dennis Erlich and others have posted notices of their intention to post all of the Scientology OT materials a little bit at a time under the guise of 'fair use.' "It does not take great genius to realize that fair use means that the use is 'fair.' To be 'fair,' a use must meet certain explicit criteria, and the fair use defense is not an invitation to a free-for-all. No court is going to accept that publication of all of a work through a series of smaller postings under an announced plan to destroy the owner's rights through such a scheme is 'fair use.'" Message-ID: <hkkDFsnt9.Aqz@netcom.com> #####

Larry Wollersheim Harassed

Larry Wollersheim, defendant against a cos lawsuit in Colorado, reported the following incident this week. "Tonight shortly after 6 P.M. one of the private investigators that Scientology had present at the raid of my home came to my door. After recognizing him through the peephole I told him I had nothing to say to him and ordered him to stop pounding on my door and leave. Over the next ten minutes I ordered him to stop pounding on my door and leave repeatedly. "I finally told him I was calling the police. He then left. His name was Paul Figlia. I believe his outrageous threatening and relentless door pounding was meant to harass and intimidate me before the upcoming court hearing on Monday. "I and FACTNet have repeatedly told Scientology, its lawyers and PI's over the years that we never want to see them or talk to them about anything, PERIOD. Every time they make these harassment calls we have and will continue to call the police and make out a report for our future legal action against them." Message-ID: <44fqsm$7ug@natasha.rmii.com> #####

OT 9

An anonymous poster contributed the text of OT 9 this week. This would have to be the old OT 9, since the new OT 9 is really the old OT 4, which we've all seen in the Fishman document. Here is a Fair Use excerpt. "OPERATING THETAN Section 9 "To complete the organization needed to trap energy, the different groups of thetans appointed themselves captains, and captains of captains, and gave them the intention of control. "The control given to the captains was to distort the intentions perceived by other thetans. To do this required agreement among thetans (in a particular camp) to permit the distortion, but the captains quite quickly discovered that by sequencing the energy from the distortion frequently enough to certain thetans, they could create a self-replicating cycle of distortion, which takes on its own mass, etc. Using this, they were able to essentially implant distortions permanently and enslave other thetans. Xenu, of course, exploited and extended the process to implant thetans and enslave them for his own purposes. "Soon it became a contest among thetan captains to capture and enslave thetans from other camps, both to insure their own survival, and to further their own span of control. Anyway, what with all the thetan captains trying to grab one another's slave thetans, all of the differing energies and masses converged together again, and things happened so fast that all the MEST structure vaporized, and BOOM, Incident I occurs. "[Y]ou might be interested to know that a certain third-level thetan captain, whose identity at the time best translates to Um today, created some severely disorienting and enturbulating distortions, such as the cherub and the horn. That captain created and controls the solar system, and was known to ancient Jews as Yaweh." Message-ID: <140308Z03101995@anon.penet.fi> #####

Poodle Canceled

Ron Newman reports that the latest CancelPoodle's account has been closed. "From: claude@netvoyage.net (Claude von Trotha) Subject: seanm "I canceled seanm's netvoyage service 10-4-95 at 5:30 pm." Message-ID: <450st7$60n@kalypso.cybercom.net> #####

Special Master

Judge Kane has appointed a Special Master to investigate the materials seized from Larry Wollersheim and Bob Penny. Because cos officials have refused to turn over the OT materials to "apostates", Judge Kane ordered the materials turned over to him. "Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 53, I appoint Professor Gary Nutt of the University of Colorado as special master in this civil action with all and full powers contemplated by the rule. The reasonable fees of Professor Nutt and any expenses he incurs of whatever kind, including the rental or purchase of any necessary materials or the retention of any other experts or assistants, shall be paid by RTC. This reference is made based upon the exigencies ofa fishing expedition is not legally justifiable.'" Message-ID: <44vfhi$9n8_001@netcom.com> #####

Xenu, the Newspaper

David Gerard reports that the (Australia) Victorian Cross-Campus Student Paper will be called "Xenu". "[It] Even features a beautifully Photoshopped picture of That Darn Xenu himself on the centre spread. "We had this vote over names, y'see. Other choices (from a shortlist of about forty) were Red Dye No. 1, Besmirched or Student Economic Rationalist Journal. I liked Red Dye No. 1 myself, but once the others read the story of X--- himself, well ... they couldn't resist. "The important aspect, of course, is that there WILL be publicity around this issue, *should* they choose to sue." Message-ID: <44vf65$e50@cougar.vut.edu.au>