Volume 1, Issue 14 vom 28. 07. 1996

Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review
Volume 1, Issue 14
07/28/96
by Rod Keller [rkeller@voicenet.com]
copyright 1996

Contents

1. Associated Press
2. CNN Spikes Behar
3. E-meter Lawsuit
4. Grady Ward
5. Cult Awareness Network
6. DEFCON
7. Dennis Erlich
8. Life in Clearwater
9. Keith Henson
10. Dutch Bus
11. Barkmarket
12. New Web Sites

Alt.religion.scientology
Week in Review Volume 1, Issue 14
7/28/96
by Rod Keller [rkeller@voicenet.com]
copyright 1996

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@voicenet.com
It is archived at:
        http://wpxx02.toxi.uni-wuerzburg.de/~krasel/CoS/ars-summary.html
        http://user1.i1.net/~mallen/scn/arswr/ars-summary.html
        http://www.amazing.com/scientology/ars-summary.html
        http://users.aimnet.com/~jdiver/scieno.htm
        http://www.thur.de/religio/publik/arsfaq.html

#####

Associated Press

"Some on the Net call it cyberspace's Vietnam. Others prefer the analogy of the Spanish Civil War. Whichever it is, the back-and-forth skirmishes of this guerrilla conflict are an excellent example of the kind of vigilantism that rules in the anarchy that is the Internet.

"The ongoing confrontation is perhaps the best example of the Internet as a self-regulating anarchy: When the church made ample use of the U.S. legal system to stop the illegal posting of its copyright materials, Internet users countered with hit-and-run online networks to spread information faster than the church could file suits.

"Things boiled over in January 1995, when Scientology lawyer Helena Kobrin attempted to delete an Internet discussion group devoted to Scientology because she believed it violated the church's intellectual property rights to the word 'Scientology' itself and that it had been initiated with a forged e-mail address -- one that misspelled the name of a church leader.

"'It was intended as an attempt to protect intellectual property rights. Nothing more,' Kobrin said from her Los Angeles office.

"Numerous anti-Scientology Web sites also have gone up, meticulously detailing each court case, summons and outcome, with whole libraries of newspaper and magazine article appended.

"Scientology has countered with its own massive Web site, weighing in with more than 30,000 pages in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian. It includes information on church beliefs, a virtual reality tour of Scientology headquarters in Los Angeles and even a sound clip of Scientologist John Travolta performing.

"The most recent engagement was last month's massive 'vertical spam' of alt.religion.scientology, a tactic that overwhelmed almost all discussion. No one knows who was sending the messages, which sometimes came at a rate of 100 per hour. Scientology spokeswoman Debbie Blair said the church had no part in the attack."

Message-ID: <4t0mgh$fi2@basement.replay.com>

#####

CNN Spikes Behar

"I stated that the loss of the Time suit was a resounding defeat for Scientology, and that we told the truth about them in 1991 and we suffered the consequences. We published the story even though we knew that it might lead to years of expensive litigation and harassment.

"I stated that we are living in an age where media giants run like cowards at the first sight of a group like the Church of Scientology or a tobacco company. But not Time inc., and every journalist can be thankful for that.

"I went on to mention that Scientology s own doctrine states that the purpose of a suit is to harass and not to win, and that in this way they chilled the media from covering them closely. I mentioned that I have filed a counterclaim against the Church which is still pending, in which I charge that I was tailed and harassed by private eyes and my credit report was illegally obtained, and that even that my office telephone records were nefariously secured.

"I mentioned that I was deposed for roughly 30 days. Through an agent, I made inquiries to a number of major book houses to see if anyone would be interested in a book on Scientology. Not one house wanted to touch it.

"The interview was at 5:30 and three hours later CNN contacted our attorney, Floyd Abrams, the country's premier first amendment expert. They were panicked because the Church had pressured them and they were worried about what I had said in my interview, and they discussed the details of the interview with Floyd.

"He explained to them that they had nothing to worry about: that the information that I had given them was either in the article itself which had just been exonerated by the judge or in my counterclaim, which was part of the public record. Floyd suggested that they run my comments along with Scientology s denial but they cowardly chose to spike my interview entirely."

The Washington Post picked up the story in a July 22nd article.

"After talking to a church official, however, CNN killed the interview with Richard Behar. The reporter, who now works for Fortune magazine, is accusing CNN of 'cowardice,' saying 'this is exactly the chilling effect' about which he was interviewed.

"CNN spokesman Steve Haworth denied that pressure from the church was involved, saying Behar did not 'advance the story' and made 'unsubstantiated allegations' against the church that the network did not have time to check out. 'We felt it would have been irresponsible to air those particular excerpts,' Haworth said.

"Debbie Blair, the church's national affairs director, said it was 'absurd' to suggest that the church pressured CNN, saying the network made the decision on its own. 'I can't tell anyone what to air or not to air,' she said, adding that Behar seems to be 'promoting himself' and 'trying to make this into some kind of conspiracy.'"

Message-ID: <4t6hsh$9ne@newsbf02.news.aol.com>
Message-ID: <31f3a7fd.895936@news.snafu.de>

#####

E-meter Lawsuit

"The latest rumor about this suit is that in gearing up for the e-meter lawsuit, Graham Berry has departed from his old law firm of Lewis, D'Amato, which refused to let Berry litigate with the cult because of alleged blackmail they have on Bob Lewis. According to this source, Dan Leipold of Hagenbaugh and Murphy has teamed up with Graham Berry who is now 'of counsel' at Hagenbaugh and Murphy order to take on the e-meter class action suit and bring Hagenbaugh and Murphy into the forefront of anti-Scientology litigation. Hagenbaugh and Murphy advocates all out war against the cult and they are now THE firm to go to. They are out to avenge the closing of the Cult Awareness Network which was hit by multiple suits by the cult."

Message-ID: <4t6j9s$3o0@basement.replay.com>

#####

Grady Ward

"On May 6, 1996 the first of several large postings were scattered over the entire Internet that contained the totality of the Exhibit C NOTs work. Subsequently two further mass postings of the same material occurred from different sites around the world. The first was in the Netherlands, the succeeding postings originated in Maryland and from a site elsewhere in the United States. After each massive world-wide posting the articles were attempted to be removed by anonymous cancel forgeries that apparently the plaintiff now admits to masterminding. However the plaintiff's Opposition contains a misstatement of material fact by stating that the 'posting was totally off the Internet within one day.'. Many Internet service providers do not ever honor 'cancel' commands, forged or not, issued to eliminate a posting. America On Line, for example, would keep all postings for a minimum of seven to fourteen days in plain view of its millions of subscribers. Subsequently, these NOTs were found to be available world-wide from Dr. Scott's site in Germany for a period of at least two full, continuous months. The plaintiff was able to detect this permanent storage only after I gave them a primer on Internet search engines during my June 27, 1996 deposition.

"The inescapable fact is that these NOTs materials have been sown and are generally known world-wide.

"The defendant categorically denies that he or anyone working in concert or participation with him had anything to do with any of the acquisition or dissemination of the NOTs materials.

"If the plaintiffs have even a scintilla of authenticated or physical evidence, circumstantial or not, demonstrating a connection between him and the NOTs postings or any unlawful acquisition or dissemination of the plaintiff's Advanced Technology works, the defendant asks to have it presented in open court. The plain fact is that after three days of accelerated deposition, service of six third party subpoenas for production of documents and things, seizure and careful search of my computer archives by three computer experts for almost a full month, along with a thorough extra-legal investigation of the defendant by scientology agent Eugene Martin Ingram, the plaintiff has not a shred of evidence other than his own pleadings to back up his allegations of wrong-doing on the defendant's part."

The report of the Beth Hamilton, Special Master assigned to search Grady's computer files was posted. Interestingly enough, she claims to have decrypted a PGP file containing computer viruses. It does not appear that any infringing material was found in the search.

"The disk which is being provided to Mr. Hogan with this letter contains all hits from decompressed data on IBM Disks 1-5 (except the Lawsuit Directory on Disk 5) for all of the search terms.

"The computer technicians were not able to decrypt any of the PGP files except the one that contained viruses. This morning they completed decrypting that virus file, and determined that it contained nothing but viruses.

"When we are assured that there is no further work for us to do we will complete the task of erasing and wiping all data relevant to Mr. Ward from all of the hard drives (both from the hard drives on the rented machines and from the machine purchased for this project). In other words, we will not erase the operating system, system utilities, or other applications not relevant to Mr. Ward's data."

Message-ID: <sthomsonDv11Dn.ALB@netcom.com>
Message-ID: <4tb7hr$s4t@nyx10.cs.du.edu>

#####

Cult Awareness Network

"[T]he Cult Awareness Network, or CAN, and the Church of Scientology remain locked in a battle over allegations that CAN fell victim to a Scientology-sponsored litigation campaign designed to destroy the Scientologists' foe.

"CAN was ordered to liquidate under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code June 20 when U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ronald Barliant, of the Northern District of Illinois, converted CAN's Chapter 11 to Chapter 7 after the network could not devise a satisfactory reorganization plan. The group filed for Chapter 11 last October after losing a $1.1 million verdict in a case in which it was charged with a role in the kidnapping of a Seattle member of a Pentecostal church. The plaintiff was represented by Scientology attorney Kendrick Moxon.

"Although largely a shell with assets to be sold to satisfy creditors, CAN continues to litigate against the church. In Illinois state court, CAN alleged that Scientologists filed at least 24 'baseless lawsuits' to drive CAN out of business. It lost in the lower courts and is asking for leave to appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court.

"CAN claimed that the church, its Illinois affiliate and Bowles & Moxon, the church's Los Angeles law firm, 'conspired to file and prosecute' CAN and its affiliates and 'instigated, assisted, and financed individual Scientologists who participated in the respondents' scheme' to drive CAN into bankruptcy.

"And, court papers added, the purpose of the Scientologists' suits was 'not to recover on any legitimate legal claims, but rather to harass and intimidate CAN, to suppress CAN's legitimate public education activities, and to bring about CAN's ultimate demise.'

Message-ID: <31f656ec.515086@news.snafu.de>

#####

DEFCON

"I heard a rumour that there were going to be people at DEFCON IV in Las Vegas this weekend distributing diskettes with the super secret sacred scriptures on them."

Message-ID: <31f6b094.93508054@news.xmission.com>

#####

Dennis Erlich

"I am in the process of appealing a scieno-funded attempt by my charming ex-wife in San Diego to cite me in contempt and have me thrown in jail. For some strange reason the paperwork I file there keeps getting misplaced. The main thing I am attempting to accomplish with the appeal is clearing my unblemished legal record of this absurd charge.

"I am still waiting for a ruling from Judge Whyte in the San Jose court relating to the scieno's motion to reconsider the judge's earlier ruling where Whyte acknowledged the loss of the scieno's Trade Sekrit status to the Internet. Since two other courts (Kane and Brinkema) have likewise ruled that the materials can no longer be considered trade sekrits, it will be a contrary ruling should Whyte decide to reverse himself again (as with the original Writ of Seizure he did) on this matter.

Message-ID: <31f280d6.8718190@204.245.3.50>

#####

Life in Clearwater

"The Sand Castle was purchased in relatively great condition. In the high humidity of Clearwater, the drainage system for the [air conditioning] pans became blocked with dust and dirt. The resultant use of the air conditioning during the initial cleaning by the Estates Org/RPF caused the drain pans to over flow with water and ruin nearly all the dry wall of the ceilings in the hall and rooms of the first floor. This error was very costly and caused the year and a half delay in the preparation of the SC for use as the 'Suites' for the rich public. Mildew loves wet dry-wall.

"The rich public meanwhile stayed in the lower rooms of the FH (Fort Harrison hotel) that were still in condition to be lived in. The Upper floor rooms of the FH were used for G.O. staff, and FSO staff 'berthing' during this time period. The QI (Quality Inn) was half used for a Nursery (infants to 6 year olds) and half for married couples of all the Orgs. Getting married during this time allowed the couple to have a room to them selves because the single staff were berthed in 6 to 12 bunks per hotel/motel room, between the FH, and the other motel, the Clearwater Inn, aka CI.

"With the restriction that only married couples could have sex, and the lack of private space, marriage was the best and quickest life improvement. But there was also a *baby ban* for most of this period of time, meaning that there was almost no more space in the nursery for new children. So having a baby during this time (off and on) could have severe penalties, including being transferred into the nursery. I do not know where or who provided the service of any abortions.

"Mary Sue and Diana shared the FH penthouse as both their offices and living quarters when they were in Clearwater. Ronnie Miscavige was one of the FH cooks at this time. If one parent was on a mission and the other was not up-stat, then the child would stay with the nanny or be taken by one of the other family's. The same if both parents were either in the RPF or down stat. Often when a parent was sent on a Mission, the remaining parent would lose their room to a more up-stat couple and have to move in with the singles, or another temporary single with child.

"Staff would rarely occupy a room for more than 3 or 4 months. A couple would get assigned a mission for a month or more and return to find that their belongings were in storage somewhere (some times in a forgotten location) and that there was no room for them to sleep for a day or so. They would wait for a day or so (or a week) and some other 'down-stat' would suddenly find that they were living in another space.

"If your new location did not have enough room for all your meager belongings then what was left over would go to storage. Storage was moved around as space was needed, so your things in storage might become lost for a month or so. You would bribe an RPF person with a cigarette, and ask your friends to keep an eye out for your stuff.

"Roaches were/are also a major problem there. This was a constant cleaning problem which the RPF was assigned to on a regular basis. Finding a roach in the served food at the FH was a common occurrence. Checking your shoes each morning prior to wearing them and shaking out your clothing was required. The problem was that the roaches would move when a room was poisoned. So like the staff, who were always being moved from room to room, the roaches moved from room to room.

"[T]he people who were so down-stat as to have the flu, or chicken- pox were set up in cots in the garage. I vividly remember a friend shivering in her cot, during a winter there, with little protection from the wind. Coughing, wheezing, and having to move her cot around as the blowing rains woke her up, I brought her meals, since there was no 'room service' for such down-stats. She survived."

Message-ID: <31f2bd08.1360492@snews.zippo.com>

#####

Keith Henson

"Accordingly, Henson's separate motion for leave 'to discuss criminal aspects of NOTS with FDA' also must be denied as frivolous, in as much as it would permit the disclosure of information protected as a trade secret under the Preliminary Injunction. In all events, on the merits, FDA evaluation of the NOTs scriptures would constitute an unconstitutional entanglement with religion, in violation of the First Amendment.

"The procedure sought by Henson here, in addition to being condemned by this line of decisions, is that much more of an impermissible exercise for the Court because it would require a potentially limitless series of advisory rulings as to whether postings crafted by Henson pass fair use muster under the Copyright Act. No individual, pro se or otherwise, has the power to compel such abstract legal advice from a federal judge. If Henson is uncertain as to the meaning of the Copyright Act, he should seek the advice of counsel and make an independent judgment as to the activities the injunction does or does not prohibit.

"Henson seeks a right of 'fair use' of RTC's trade secrets. He cites no authority. That omission is understandable: the copyright fair use doctrine has no parallel in the law of trade secrets that counsel for plaintiff have been able to locate. The reasons for the absence of a fair use doctrine in trade secret law is easy to understand. Copyright grants exclusionary rights as to form of expression. Unlike trade secret law which protects information, system, and methods, copyright law does.

"Permitting Henson to make 'fair use' postings of RTC's trade secrets would be analogous to permitting an enjoined competitor of a trade secret plaintiff to disclose a modification of the trade secret that is substantially derived from that secret. Such disclosure itself would jeopardize the secrecy element, and is antithetical to the central purpose of the Court's preliminary injunction: maintaining the status quo during the pendency of the litigation."

Message-ID: <hkhensonDuxG3v.66B@netcom.com>

#####

Dutch Bus

"I received a fax from the Amsterdam local television station, AT5. They'd received a press release from CoS announcing their new promo campaign; they would have open house, invite the neighbors, and present a bus - a London one, the two-stored kind - which had video's running inside. Miss Holland 1993, their only prominent Scieno in the Netherlands, would launch the campaign. AT5 asked me whether I would like to be present, so that they could do an interview with me.

"This morning, at almost twelve, the journalist phoned me. She told me that CoS had phoned her with the news that they had some trouble with the bus and that they hoped it would be repaired later this afternoon; meanwhile, the launch of the campaign had been postponed until four o'clock.

"At three, the journalist called me again. She had just phoned CoS to ask whether they would be able to make it at four. Julia Rijnvis - the local PR woman - was unreachable; the journalist was put through to somebody else. That person explained that unfortunately, Miss Holland 1993 had been in a bit of a hurry, so that they had had to reschedule the launch, and that it had already taken place at one o'clock this afternoon. (It would seem that they had been able to repair that bus _real_ quick - within the hour, even) In short, this CoS person explained the AT5 journalist, the whole thing had been done two hours ago.

"Here's the report of the one critic who _did_ witness the launch of the campaign:

"The bus arrived at 14.00, there was a mini-speech. Miss Holland '93 let some balloons fly away and uttered some 'the best of success' things. At best, there were thirty people. A big yellow bus, the 'Dianetics Roadshow'; on top it had space for a live band who played 'It's now or never' and more such evergreens; they were dressed in red Dianetics shirts. On the side of the bus were texts such as: 'Come inside for a free video and a free personality test'"

Message-ID: <31f961ec.459312836@news.xs4all.nl>

#####

Barkmarket

"L.Ron is a strange title for a CD. Upon enquiry, the L. is meant to be short for Lafayette, Ron is for Ron and the surname that's supposed to go with it, is Hubbard.

"And this Hubbard is not just anybody. He's the guy who died in 1986 and who has founded the Scientology Church, a cult that has quite a big amount of followers in the USA and that's gaining in the Netherlands, too (I doubt that - KS). Barkmarket, from Brooklyn, New York isn't very fond of this man, who they think was a charlatan and trickster. Says singer David Sardy: 'The title L.Ron is meant as a sarcastic joke and aimed at the Scientology Church. They pretend to help people to accept and improve themselves - but these people have to pay a lot of money in order to get access to these services. And everybody who dares to criticize this 'church' is dragged before court. By naming the record 'L.Ron', we hope to receive the same treatment.'"

Message-ID: <31ef7959.12707625@news.xs4all.nl>

#####

New Web Sites

"Their goal is to rid all school systems of the current system based on 'psychiatrists and psychologists', and they are using a Fred A. Baughman, Jr. M.D. to attack the A.D.D. programs and other LD programs being used in the schools.

"Of course their answer to all the problems of learning in schools is the Basic Study Manual (BSM) and other LRH Tech. But they are very good at being evasive until the trap is laid or they already have a handhold. This is why it is important to add this new front group being pushed and funded by Applied Scholastics, (which is a front group itself pushed and funded by Co$) to all lists available and make it known just exactly who one is dealing with when they are approached by the International Association for Effective Education.

"International Association for Effective Education http://www.christmasgifts.com/wlc/iaee.htm http://www.appliedscholastics.org/html/aps24.htm

"World Literacy Crusade http://www.christmasgifts.com/wlc/wlc.htm

Also new on the web, the Battlefield Earth web site: http://www.battlefieldearth.com

Message-ID: <31f3ce14.9660483@news.snafu.de>
Message-ID: <31f65870.902692@news.snafu.de>