BBC's The Net on the Dennis Erlich/scientology case.

I've just watched my recording of _The Net_, the issue on the church of scientology v. Dennis Erlich & NetCom & Support.Com BBS. case. It's great to see and hear Dennis, Shari, Tom, and (yeah!) Helena.

The story was told fairly completely, but the nastier parts of the case were not touched upon. The personal harrassment against Dennis was not mentioned--this was more about the copyright issues. What it lost in the "shock horror" factor, it gained in focus.

The story of the raid was told by Dennis himself. Particularly shocking was the fact that Dennis was denied his request to inventory the materials that were taken.

alt.religion.scientology got a mention! It's "a thorn in the side" of the cult.

Shari Steele on freedom of speech: "This is a case of 'do we shut up people who say things that we don't like what they're saying, _because_ we don't like what they're saying, and do we go after system operators who have no control over the content of the messages that their users are putting out there, in order to shut up detractors?'"

Particularly effective was Tom Klemesrud of Support.Com on the question of how Helena expected him to censor Erlich's posts.

Tom: "If we had followed that restraining order to the full letter of the, law, Netcom would have had to shut down and I would have had to turn the power off on the system."

To me, Tom looks like a youngish version of the actor who played Madonna's father in Papa Don't Preach [yes, Tom, that means I want to have your baby]

Shari Steele: "This is a test case on law as it pertains to the internet. This is 'The Sysop liability Case.' [I could hear the capitals, Shari!] This is going to the heart of network communications. Are System Operators going to be held liable for the posts of users? If they _are_ held liable in a case like this, it means that System Operators are going to start engaging in censorship."

Helena Kobrin: "it's not a freedom of speech issue--at least unless that means the freedom to create intellectually and to have intellectual property, because that for many people is not only their speech, it's the way they support themselves." Only it didn't come out as glibly as it looks on the screen.

That was followed by the last word from Dennis: "If they win, it will mean that every group that does not want its doctrine exposed, every criminal agency that doesn't want its internal documents exposed, will be able to come in and tell _you_ what you can have on your hard disk--virtually--because that's what they've done to me."

This is what the series editor said in a post to alt.religion.scientology last week:

> I'm flattered by the advance attention that our item is receiving.
> And engaged by the debate about copyright that it has provoked.
> Although it is not quite the same thing, there will be a full
> transcript of the piece on our show's Web site from 8.30pm on Monday
> May 15, UK time
> http://www.bbcnc.org.uk/bbctv/the_net/
> We will also be interested in engaging in debate here, and in
> receiving e-mail in response
> the_net@bbcnc.org.uk
>
> John Wyver
> Series Editor, The Net
[The background Helena Kobrin: Attorney for RTC, a church of scientology entity which is suing Dennis Erlich, Support.Com and NetCom for alleged copyright violations relating to posts made to alt.religion.scientology. Tom Klemesrud: SysOp of Support.Com BBS, which supplies internet services to Dennis Erlich. NetCom supplies the connection to Support.Com. Dennis Erlich was a member of the church of scientology for fifteen years, and was personally appointed Chief Crammer by the cult's late founder L. Ron Hubbard at Flag (church HQ), before being excommunicated in 1983 because he had become disaffected with the practices he witnessed within the cult. Shari Steele: spokesperson for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The raid: executed on a "Writ of Civil Seizure" signed by a judge of the State of California. Was carried out by church people assisted by off-duty police. A full-time cop was present at the start. The church people had the free run of Dennis's computer and his home for six hours, while Dennis could only sit and watch.

It's hard to believe that such powers could be granted to civilians against a person without probable cause of a criminal offence being shown. All they had to do was convince a judge that there was prima facie evidence that he had committed a legal tort. ]

Want to help Dennis? Read my sig file.

-- Tony Sidaway SUPPORT DENNIS ERLICH, CRITIC SUED BY SCIENTOLOGISTS

Checks drawn in foreign currency on foreign banks ARE accepted. Send checks to Electronic Frontier Foundation, 1667 K Street, NW, Suite 801, Washington, DC 20006, USA. MAKE SURE YOU LABEL YOUR CHECK "DENNIS ERLICH DEFENSE FUND". Checks should be made out to Electronic Frontier Foundation. For verification of this info, email ssteele@eff.org (Shari Steele)