Newsgroups: alt.clearing.technology,
This is a call to all Scientologists, active churchmembers and
Freezoners alike, to unite and stand against the deplorable behavior
of the men who control the Church of Scientology. Please pass this
letter on to anyone you know who was ever involved with Scientology.
Here is a brief synopsis of Safe's situation.
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Now he may be facing legal trouble. The Church of Scientology has
subpoenaed AT&T Worldnet, Safe's Internet Service Provider, demanding
that they reveal his identity. The church alleges that Safe has
violated its copyrights by quoting Scientology scripture in the
messages that he posted. Safe contends that he did not violate
copyright law because he stayed within the "Fair Use" clause.
Safe has retained Dan Liepold, an attorney familiar with the tactics
of the Church of Scientology, in order to fight the subpoena and keep
his identity a secret. However, it seems likely that Safe's identity
will be revealed because in order for a judge to decide whether Safe
has infringed the church's copyrights or not, Safe must appear in
court to argue his case. A Catch-22.
Safe wishes to remain anonymous because once the Church of Scientology
finds out who he is, it will most likely expel him from the church, on
top of any legal action it may bring against him. The Church of
Scientology is well known for harrassing and attacking anyone who is
critical of the church. This is called "Fair Gaming" and "Dead
Agenting" within the church.
Safe's story, which is just unfolding, has been documented on Wired
News and CNET. Hopefully other news organizations will pick it up as
the events progress.
For those who are not familiar with the Church of Scientology -
doesn't it strike you odd that a church would behave this way? Using
copyright law to sue and harrass people who criticise it by quoting
the church's own scripture to document their criticism? Punishing and
expelling its own members who dare disagree with its actions, however
unjust and inane they may be?
Yet the true victims of Church of Scientology's copyright terror are
the non-conforming Scientologists. People like Safe, who believe in
the religious writings of L. Ron Hubbard, yet disagree with the bad
behavior and policies of the Church of Scientology. They cannot openly
practice their Scientology beliefs outside of the Church. The Church
has copyrighted all of Hubbard's religious writings and obtained
trademarks on the name Scientology and many other related items, and
the Church sues anyone who uses these materials outside of its
control. Yet they cannot bear to stay in the church and put up with
the lies, the super-high prices (what other church charges $300 an
hour for religious confession?) and the draconian rules known as
"ethics". They cannot try to reform the church or complain to the
church management because "ethics" does not permit any criticism of
the church.
There exists a group known as "Freezone", which is made up of expelled
church members and non-conforming Scientologists who left the church
on their own. They still believe in the spiritual "tech" of
Scientology as developed by L. Ron Hubbard. Most of these Freezoners
practice Scientology quietly by themselves, being careful not to
attract attention, almost in an underground fashion. Why? Because in
the past some of these Freezoners have started their own churches to
deliver Scientology services, only to be attacked and squashed out of
existence by the Church of Scientology on the basis of copyright
infringement. If this isn't religious suppression, what is?
The Church of Scientology likes to use the term "religious freedom".
Whenever it is under government investigation or media criticism, it
crys out "religious freedom!" in its own defense, meaning that the
attacking party should leave them alone because Scientology has a
right to exist and practice its beliefs under the idea of religious
freedom. Yet when it comes to Freezoners and others who wish to
practice Scientology outside of its control, religious freedom goes
out the window and copyright litigation takes over.
The Church of Scientology contends that Scientology is a religion. The
United States recognizes it as a religion and has given it a
tax-exempt status. Yet this so-called church does not behave like a
religious group ought to. It behaves more like a greedy monopolistic
corporation that uses copyright, trademark, and trade-secret laws to
protect its profits and stamp out any competition.
If Scientology is a religion, then the writings of L. Ron Hubbard that
form Scientology beliefs are religious scripture in the same manner as
the Bible and the Koran. Anyone who wishes to study these scriptures
and copy them for their own practice should be protected under the
First Amendment and the idea of religious freedom. For the Church of
Scientology to attack and suppress them on the basis of copyright
protection is simply wrong. Isn't the whole idea of copyright about
protecting an author's intellectual property for him to profit from
his work? Well, L. Ron Hubbard is dead, his family gets nothing from
Scientology, and the profits from the copyrights go straight to the
Church of Scientology, a religious organization that is supposed to be
non-profit.
WE MUST BREAK THE COPYRIGHTS AND PLACE THEM IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
Only then can Scientologists be free to practice their religion in the
manner they see fit. Only then can Scientology become a true religion
in the same sense as Christianity and Buddhism.
I would like to urge all thinking Scientologists, Freezoners, and
supporters of religious freedom to join together in a crusade against
the Church of Scientology's reign of copyright terror.
I'm not a lawyer so I may be way off base here, but it seems to me
that a class-action lawsuit can be filed against the Church,
challenging its copyrights on the basis of religious freedom. Also
from data I've seen on the Net, Hubbard's transfer of copyright
ownership to RTC in 1982-83 seems fishy and it could've been
improperly done by Miscavige. We may be able to attack it this way.
What we need is lots of MEDIA COVERAGE. Stories on Scientology have
been done before, but never from the religious freedom angle. Once a
class-action lawsuit is filed, the press will jump all over it. The
time is right. In the past year Scientology has been in the spotlight
with the Lisa McPherson indictment, Bob Minton Dateline show, 20/20
and A&E stories, the recent Amazon footbullet. Our cause can finally
be heard.
THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW! Please spread the word.
Thank you for listening.
Yours in religious freedom,
-The Crusader
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Subject: Scientologists Unite - Support Safe!
From: giliad@mailexcite.com (The Crusader)
Date: Fri, 04 Jun 1999 09:40:18 GMT
"Safe", a Scientologist, has been posting messages criticizing the
Church of Scientology management to the internet newsgroup
alt.religion.scientology.
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