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hhistory 5/10
By Deana HolmesSun, 7 May 1995 19:55:36 -0600 (MDT)
But the long and the short of it was that the CoS was going to rely on screening Dennis Erlich's posts to enforce its copyright. As many pointed out, this is an impermissible prior restraint under the U.S. Constitution.
On March 13, several persons from a.r.s went out to their local Scientology orgs and protested the actions of the CoS on the Net and elsewhere. Jeff Jacobsen was interviewed by a local paper in his home state of Arizona, and there were protests in Australia as well.
A lurker posted the following excerpts from an article in the Mesa Tribune, on Jeff Jacobsen's protest at his local org.
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"Scientologists, Internet users square off over computer missives." It can be found in the Mesa/Tempe/Chandler/Scottsdale Tribune, on the first page of the Religion section of the March 18 edition. There is also a picture of some protestors who were picketing in front of the local COSI location. Dennis Erlich's suit was also mentioned in passing. And a new line by a Lisa Goodman, media relations director for the main office of COSI. <quote from article by Tribune Religion editor Kelly Ettenborough to follow>
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.
Just thought you folks would like to know what may be the COSI's next Internet attack format may be.
Returning to lurk mode!
-- -------------------------- Wishing I had a Virtual Shotgun to take care of all these Internet CackleDemons. BOOM!!!! shick-shuck <grin> --------------------------
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Also on March 13, Diane Richardson, a librarian, posted her results of an OCLC search in the Library of Congress on "Snake" Thompson, the man who the CoS said tutored LRH in psychoanalysis one summer when LRH was a teenager. The results revealed that while Thompson was a herpetologist and had indeed composed a 10-page bibliography of works on psychoanalysis, he was not the expert the CoS claimed he was. Diane also has continued to post long excerpts from court cases involving the CoS. Particularly interesting is Judge Gesell's condemnation of the e-meter back in 1971. (Thank you Diane!)
On March 17, Dennis Erlich posted very good news to a.r.s . He had finally gotten very high-powered legal representation, and based on their work on his behalf, the Scientology push to judgment was sidetracked. This despite the fact that the Scientologists wanted the contempt hearing to take place as scheduled, on March 17th.
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* updated update *
+---------------------------------+
Faithful Reader,
With the help of the mighty MoFo (Morrison and Foerester), Judge Whyte has taken everything off the RTC v Internet calendar. He will issue a revised schedule for the case in the coming weeks.
This means:
1) There will be no contempt hearing tomorrow morning at 9 AM in San Jose. So those of you who planned the Pilgrimage to the Presence of That Person [tm] can stay home and play parcheezee instead. (Those who don't get this message in time will at least be able to see the courtroom where the drama takes place.)
2) My MoFo lawyers have succeeded in taking the momentum out of the scieno's preposterous pleading-paper pounding of Judge White. We now have time to respond with a full-blown defense of law.
3) The scienos are gonna be feeling like the dung they are for quite a while.
So ... the ticket now is sit back and wait for their best laid plans to be exposed.
I understand that the scienos have (or are considering) subpoena'd a tape of a radio interview I did with KQED (public radio) in SF. The station may or may not submit to their demands, I'm told.
Anyway .... enough chit-chat. Fasten your seat-belts and prepare for a long haul.
Next stop ... crosstown.
+---------------------------------------+ Rev. Dennis L Erlich * * the inFormer * * <dennis.l.erlich@support.com> that person (tm)
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************************************************************************** PART III THE CoS REFOCUSES ON THE NET **************************************************************************
After failing to ram through their contempt petition in Judge Whyte's court, the CoS redoubled their efforts on the Net. For the most part, this meant continuing to post redundant and off-topic posts to a.r.s while avoiding pointed questions from critics of the CoS. But there was also an element of harassment there as well.
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David C Smith began keeping a killfile count of milne and other CoS posters who were flooding a.r.s on March 18th.
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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Well folks, after reading a couple of posts about our infamous robo-poster spam-agent milne actually *responding* to postings, I took him out of my killfile. I figured he'd gotten a clue. Then comes today. I killfiled our new clueless robo-posters (recent grads of the OSA sponsored "Milne School of Netiquitte", and then came upon more spam. From Milne. sigh.
Well, yesterday we hit 156 of milne@delphi.com's posts ignored
thanks to my killfile. Milne's goal is 200 by today. The OSA will
NOT be pleased if he does not reach 200. :-)
- ------------------- trn log -----------------
>/milne@delphi.com/f:j
>43587 Junked
>43588 Junked
[bobbit]
>43647 Junked
>43943 Junked
>
> Killed 42 articles.
- ---------------- end log --------------------
Wow! Did he make it? Huh?
<drumroll>
The milne kill count is... 198!!!
awwwwwwwwww.. you didn't make 200...
<checking watch>
Well you still have time... you only need 2 more garbage
propaganda posts to do it! Hurry! Hurry!
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--
David C. Smith dcs@starbase.neosoft.com |
Finger or email for PGP Public Key |
"Don't play with the dead, boy. They have eerie powers.." |
- Homer Simpson |
Tony McClelland posted the following about the protests which were held in Australia on March 18th.
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A very small number of Australians demonstrated outside Orgs in Brisbane Sydney Canberra Melbourne Adelaide.
The demonstration and after thoughts.
The demonstration was initiated to protest the action taken against Dennis Erlich in the USA and leveraged following the CofS investigation of my past from birth - after my release of the Gosford Kidnapping story on the Internet.
The number of demonstrators ranged from 1 to 6.
The small number of demonstrators was not sufficient to attract significant media coverage.
A demonstration with one person is worth while. The resulting awareness is effective.
I was very surprised at the large number of people who advised they did not want a leaflet because they (strongly) agreed with us.
The positive response to the demonstration was approximately 80%+ nonchalant say 19% and negative 1%.
The Sydney team handed out 500 leaflets.
Somebody stole 100 leaflets in a rubber band from my bag. I like it! Good one! Yes - I do have a sense of humour.
The only criticism we received, apart from members of the CofS was --- why have you not demonstrated before????
AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE DEMONSTRATION TWO YOUNG AUSTRALIANS NOW HAVE THEIR FUTURE IN THEIR OWN HANDS. This was the bonus for the day.
Demonstration problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the sandwich boards hanging from our necks were something like Scientology ]Scientology ]Scientology ]Scientology is ] is ] ] a ] a ] ] Wealth ]Health ]Cult of ]Free test Hazard ]Hazard ]Greed ]$us 380,000.00 A small but significant number of people were initially hostile to us because they read Scientology and thought we were supporters of Scientology. Suggestions for improvements ---Please!!! Must not have Scientology at the top --- must be approximately 4 words or less.
Conclusion. The result was worth the effort. The legal action to be taken against me has to be measured against the need to inform the public so citizens are able to make an informed decision about the CofS BEFORE joining.
Regards
Tony McClelland CultAware Australia
===
From: Tony McClelland <tonym@mpx.com.au> Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: CofS to sues McClelland Date: 19 Mar 1995 07:52:40 GMT Message-ID: <3kgns8$1t0@inferno.mpx.com.au>
Australians demonstrated outside Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide Orgs.
Adelaide demonstration was closed down after the CofS called the Council who removed the demonstrator.
The Law Officer from the Sydney Council declined to removed me when he arrived at the scene to investigate the complaint by the CofS.
Mrs V Hanna the Australian manager of the CofS spent approximately an hour on the street talking with me and later my wife. Mrs Hanna objected to the leaflet we were distributing She advised that the claim that Scientologists are paid $40.00 per week is inaccurate. She did not dispute any other facts on the leaflet. (the information for the claim I made came from a recent court case. The statement was made by the CofS solicitor. They lost - vexatious and frivolous. Mrs Hanna said the Scientologist was only paid $40.00 that week and in addition the Scn received food and board. I asked if she would advise the court that they had lied yet again. She advised no. I asked why the Scientologist had not paid her judgement. Mrs Hanna advised that she did not agree with the decision. It seems the CofS uses courts and law if it suits or they win - if they do not - poor decision, CofS does not obey)
Obviously I read checked and re-checked the document before distribution. Since yesterday with a further check the only error I could find was the inaccurate spelling of Dennis Erlich name (apologies Dennis).
Mrs Hanna advised the CofS will take legal action against me.
I guess the good news is -- this will be a good public forum to air the full facts about the Gosford Kidnapping under court oath. The Gosford case was referred to on the leaflet.
Regards
Tony McClelland CultAware Australia
===
From: Tony McClelland <tonym@mpx.com.au> Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: CofS Aust kidnap - facts in court Date: 19 Mar 1995 07:55:41 GMT Message-ID: <3kgo1t$1t0@inferno.mpx.com.au>
Now the CofS has decided to sue me I will be able to discover the facts relating to the Gosford kidnap.
Can anyone assist me now with a copy of the Introspection rundown?
Regards
Tony McClelland CultAware Australia
===
From: Tony McClelland <tonym@mpx.com.au> Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: Demonstrators required - apply here Date: 19 Mar 1995 08:01:38 GMT Message-ID: <3kgod2$1t0@inferno.mpx.com.au>
Demonstrators required - apply here
I have a rate card - for every summons the CofS serves on me I will provide 100 demonstrations outside their premises.
If you wish to volunteer please advise me.
Regards
Tony McClelland CultAware Australia
===
From: Tony McClelland <tonym@mpx.com.au> Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: Should educate 1.5m in Australia Date: 19 Mar 1995 08:13:08 GMT Message-ID: <3kgp2k$1t0@inferno.mpx.com.au>
One Scientologist same to me protesting my use of the word exploitive cult.
He insisted that nothing in the CofS was dynamite.
After several minutes I was still explaining the difference between explosion (bang) and exploitive (take advantage)
Regards
Tony McClelland CultAware Australia
===
From: Tony McClelland <tonym@mpx.com.au> Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: Adelaide heroine!!! Date: 19 Mar 1995 08:08:41 GMT Message-ID: <3kgoq9$1t0@inferno.mpx.com.au>
Sue Page is my heroine.
She demonstrated solo in Adelaide until ordered off the track by the Adelaide Council
Congratulations for your courage Sue.
Regards
Tony McClelland CultAware Australia
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On March 19, jet@aloha.com, another Scientologist, came on and asserted the following, thus exposing his virtual lack of knowledge of how the Net works:
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>a.r.s is not fucking moderated.
a.r.s. WAS moderated up until recently. Get that through
your illogical ideas.
>A.R.S. isn't fucking *capable* of violating anything.
OK, you win. ARS isn't. It's moderators and squirrels are.
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On March 19th, Daniel Davidson informed the readers of a.r.s that he was in danger of losing his internet access because he had forwarded posts from alt.activism.
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March 19, 1995
As you probably know, the Church of Scientology is apparently pursuing legal action against me, probably for my alleged act of cross-posting a previously extant post, posted by another party, from alt.activism to alt.religion.scientology.
In fact I did not post anything *to the Internet*. I did see a post on another user group, alt.activism, that was previously posted by another party not know to me, titled Secrets of Scientology (long)), and thought it would contribute to the conversation on alt.religion.scientology, discussions largely having to do with Scientology's past and and possibly present criminal behavior.
The post from alt.activism begins with a commentary written by an ex-member and critic of the church, discussing the Church of Scientology's effort to control the exchange of ideas and information on the Internet.
The content seemed relevant to alt.religion.scientology, where enormous heat, and quite a lot of light as well, has been generated in response to Scientology's behavior.
So, I hit "x", then "return", and "p" ... And the article was cross-posted to alt.religion.scientology.
This, I believe, is the offense for which I am accused.
Again, I did not in fact post this article *to the Internet*. Actually, I don't even know with real certainty this is the text the church seeks to suppress, as the church has not stipulated exactly which specific text(s) attributed to me they are referring to. The post from alt.activism titled Secrets of Scientology (long) may in fact be the post in question. This post -- which I canceled from a.r.s upon receiving Helen Kobrin's email, is *still*, as of today, present on alt.activism.
This identical post has been present on the Internet on one user group or another for some time.
Anyway, I thought to ask if you have any addresses for people or institutions/affinity groups in Australia who may be interested to hear of the details of this case...
And I'd be most appreciative for letters to the systems administrator at San Francisco State, John True at jtrue@sfsu.edu, offering him your thoughts on all this. If you could send me a copy, I will take it with me to my meeting with the Director of Student Affairs, where I have been called to a meeting about the church's complaint against me, which is scheduled for the afternoon of Friday, the 24th of March.
Evidence indicates that the Church of Scientology is in fact making a serious, well financed attempt to assert a limiting control over the content of public discussions on the Internet. If they succeed, it may well constitute a grave threat to the nature of the Internet itself: the free flow of ideas and information.
If access to material *already present* and in the public domain on Usenet and the Internet can be restricted, I believe this would constitute a serious threat to the future of communication within the Internet. The necessity for unimpeded communication between people is a critical requirement for a free society. To protect the free exchange of ideas, asserting the fundamental nature of Usenet as part of the public domain is, in my view, critical.
Thanks for your attention...
Very best,
Daniel Davidson
(Background material in a following post)
-- = Daniel Davidson = davidson@sfsu.edu
When seeing someone lying unconscious on a city street, it is considered appropriate to continue walking, essentially unaffected.
===
From: davidson@sfsu.edu (Daniel Davidson) Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: Chronology of events/Background texts Date: 19 Mar 1995 14:23:04 GMT Message-ID: <3kheo8$7gl@news.csus.edu>
March 19, 1995
Background Material / San Francisco State University, Daniel Davidson and Church of Scientology
Background material on the Church of Scientology's pressuring of San Francisco State University and Daniel Davidson over the alleged cross-posting of a news article from the Internet Usenet group alt.activism to the Usenet group alt.religion.scientology.
**************************************** Sequence of events
On about 1 March 1995, while reading a Usenet usergroup on the Internet, I noticed a post titled Secrets of Scientology (long). I pressed the return key to see the post, and read a commentary critical of the behavior of the Church of Scientology, and some science-fiction like acounts of space men and volcanos.
Having been participating in another Usenet usergroup, alt.religion.scientology, where conversations largely concern the church's proven past and possibly present criminal actions. I thought that the post from alt.activism might be relevant to the discussions. I then, allegedly, cross-posted an article from alt.activism to alt.religion.scientology.
On 14 March I noted a post on a.r.s claiming that this post may contain copyrighted material. I immediately posted a new thread titled Copyright violation?, where I said that if I was informed of any copyright violation, I would remove the cross-post from alt.religion.scientology.
On Friday 17 March, I received an email from hkk@netcom.com, Helena Kobrin (who appears to be representing the Church of Scientology). The full text of this email is found below.
**************************************** Contents:
* Text one: The first pages of the post from alt.activism titled Scientology Secrets (long). These were the pages I read, and thought relevant to the discussions on a.r.s. I did read past page three.
** Text two: My offer to remove the post, when another party in the discussions on a.r.s suggested that there may be copyrighted material contained in it.
*** Text three: The letter to me from Helen Kobrin <hkk@netcom.com>, representing the Church of Scientology.
**** Text four: The letter to me from John True <jtrue@sfsu.edu>, Computing Services, San Francisco State University.
***** Text five: My letter to Helen Kobrin <hkk@netcom.com>
------------------------------------------------------ * One * The first pages of the post from alt.activism ------------------------------------------------------
[begin quoted post * One *]
From csus.edu!csulb.edu!library.ucla.edu!agate!spool.mu.edu!cass.ma02.bull.com!replay.COM!no body Fri Mar 17 14:34:01 1995 Path: csus.edu!csulb.edu!library.ucla.edu!agate!spool.mu.edu!cass.ma02.bull.com!replay.COM!no body From: nobody@replay.COM (Name withheld by request) Newsgroups: alt.activism Subject: Scientology Secrets (long) Date: 11 Mar 1995 22:29:39 -0000 Organization: Replay and Company UnLimited. Lines: 3744 Sender: daemon@cass.ma02.bull.com Distribution: world Message-ID: <199503112227.AA28493@xs1.xs4all.nl> NNTP-Posting-Host: cass.ma02.bull.com
The Church of Scientology is taking illegal steps to hound its critics, and threatening the internet by its use of forged cancels of USENET posts which it alleges contain violations of its copyright and trade secrets.
In recent months, posts detailing serious abuses by Scientologists have been posted to alt.religion.scientology, a newsgroup set up for that purpose. Some posts have been delivered to the net, purporting to describe ludicrous "courses" which the cult is using to gull the susceptible.
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One such course describes a tyrant named Xenu who, 70 million years ago, it is claimed, kidnapped people in spacecraft resembling mid-20th century DC-8 airliners, dropped them in volcanoes and nuked them. An average Scientologist could pay many thousands of dollars, and be subject to months or even years of softening his critical faculties, to prepare him to hear this crap. *************************************************************************
The Scientologists have been issuing illegal forged cancels from netcom accounts. As usual, netcom is doing very little about it. This is stopping some vital information getting through, but some is still making it.
Now the Scientologists have obtained warrants and mounted a fishing expedition on one person, and seem set to do the same to at least two more. The information they get from these raids allows them to threaten and silence critics of the cult's many abuses. The scientologists excel in "Dead Agent" tactics--using lies and distortions of the truth to invalidate someone's arguments.
In another development, the Scientologists have breached the integrity of the anon.penet.fi server, making the administrator hand over records identifying one of the posters.
It is imperative that more people spread the news about this case, and spread the bad news about the cult's evil activities.
The freedom of all people is threatened by these abuses.
********************************************************************** Subscribe to alt.religion.scientology. Find out what is happening. Get active. **********************************************************************
Netcom users: ask your sys admin why they are not stopping the illegal cancels being issued by the Church of Scientology's tame poodles.
Day of Protest on March 13th, L Ron Hubbard's Birthday.
World Wide Web Site <a href="http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~sloth/sci/sci_index.html">http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~sloth/sci/sci_index.html</a>
Book on the founder of Scientology, L Ron Hubbard.
AUTHOR: Miller, Russell. TITLE: Bare-faced messiah : the true story of L. Ron Hubbard / EDITION: 1st American ed. PLACE: New York : PUBLISHER: H. Holt, YEAR: 1988 PUB TYPE: Book FORMAT: x, 390 p., [8] p. of plates : ill. ; 24 cm. NOTES: Includes index. Bibliography: p. [382]-383. ISBN: 0805006540 SUBJECT: Hubbard, L. Ron -- (La Fayette Ron), -- 1911- Scientologists -- Biography.
-- "The most horrible thing they have done is to put out hundreds of messages all over the net that say "free phone sex", with the scientologists' toll-free phone number on it: 1-800-367-8788" --an211810@anon.penet.fi "Poor little clams - snap! snap! snap!" --SubGenius Pope Charles of Houston