"Dutch A.G. Supports Scientology v. Spaink Verdict
from the been-spainked dept.
posted by timothy on Sunday March 20, @03:22 (The Courts)
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/19/1845256
[0]bbc writes 'ISP XS4All reports that the [1]Dutch Attorney-General advises against reversal of the last verdict in the Scientology vs. Karin Spaink case (part of Scientology's War on the Internet). A series of court battles between writer [2]Spaink and the [3]Church of Scientology has changed the copyright landscape of the internet in the Netherlands. In an early case, linking to infringing documents was considered infringement itself. Later this was reversed, although by then several unrelated cases (notably [4]Deutsche Bahn v. Indymedia) had been decided on the basis of this judgement. On appeals, the court held that free speech sometimes trumps copyright: even though Spaink may have infringed on the Church's copyright, she was allowed to do so to bring to light the doings of what she considers an evil sect. According to the XS4All document, not only did the Attorney-General uphold the decision that Free Speech can trump Copyright, but concluded also that there may not have been infringement. The Attorney-General feels a work can be considered published even if publication happened against the will of the author. In the Netherlands, the Supreme Court can only reverse previous decisions by lower courts. Before it renders a verdict, it asks the Attorney-General for advice.'
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=05/03/19/1845256
Links:
0. http://www.tekstadventure.nl/branko/blog/
1. http://www.xs4all.nl/nieuws/bericht.php?id=625&taal=en
2. http://www.spaink.net/
3. http://www.scientology.org/
4. [long link]"
and The Register's report from [long link]
"Dutch AG upholds decision in Scientology case
by Jan Libbenga
The Dutch Attorney-General has endorsed a verdict seen as backing free speech over copyright in the controversial case between the Church of Scientology and writer Karin Spaink, Dutch ISP Xs4all reports. The Dutch Supreme Court, which will rule on this case on 8 July, had asked the Attorney-General for advice.
The Church of Scientology sued Karin Spaink and her internet service provider Xs4all Internet BV after Spaink posted Scientology documents on her website. In the early 1990s, former Scientologist Steven Fishman, who was brought to court because he had committed several crimes in order to get money to pay for Scientology courses, had used these documents to support his claims that he had been brainwashed. Dutch writer Spaink was one of many to publish these documents as early as 1995.
In September 1995 a bailiff raided the Amsterdam premises of ISP Xs4all to seize material posted by subscribers which the Church of Scientology claimed violated its copyright. The organisation also initiated exhaustive judicial proceedings, but each time the court decided in favour of Spaink. In 2003, the Court of Appeal in The Hague rejected all of the Church of Scientology's claims against Xs4all, writer Spaink and ten other internet providers. The court also overturned two lower court rulings, one of which stated that linking to material that infringed a copyright was itself actionable.
Dutch Attorney-General DWF Verkade has now published an 82 page opinion to the Dutch Supreme Court, in which he upholds the decision that free speech can trump copyright. 'Although copyright resides under Article 1 of the First Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights and can therefore be regarded as a human right, this does not exempt copyright from being balanced against the right to freedom of information,' Verkade concludes. It is expected that the Supreme Court will adhere to his advice."
Message-IDs: 200320052145270912%skippress@earthlink.net, 9675-423EE417-422@storefull-3338.bay.webtv.net
from [long link]
"Narconon program: truth in drug education is relative
By Curran Dobson
According to an anti-drug program taught in Sacramento, California's public school system called Narconon Drug Prevention and Education, drugs produce a colored ooze as they exit the body. This anti-drug program also states that drugs can be sweated out in high temperatures, such as in a sauna, and can also store themselves in a person's body fat and cause repeated flashbacks of previous highs.
Narconon is a secular program based on the research and writings of L. Ron Hubbard, who also founded the Scientology religion, but the program has been criticized for teaching students a variety of inaccuracies about drug abuse. Other misinformation included incorrectly explaining that the amount of a drug that a person took determined whether the drug acted as a depressant or a stimulant. Some proponents even described drugs as ruining a person's creativity and dulling a person's senses.
[...]
Members of the Sacramento public school system may have thought that hiring a group of people to teach students anything about drug prevention was better than students knowing nothing about drugs. However, in this case, teaching a student inaccuracies about something as serious as drug abuse can have serious ramifications. Students may wind up discrediting information they learn about drug abuse from their schools or elders if they are exposed to information so blatantly untrue. While it is important for students to become knowledgeable about drug prevention and abuse, they will not benefit at all if they are taught lies."
Message-ID: 9677-423EE031-26@storefull-3338.bay.webtv.net
"St. Petersburg lawyer came to defend Boris Shalimov.
The Amursky regional prosecutor sent a criminal case to court with regard to Boris Shalimov, a regional council deputy and head of the Skovorodinsky district administration. Shalimov is accused of misappropriating the property of another, exceeding official authority, and illegal participation in business activity, Judge Andrei Ilinykh is assigned to lead the court proceedings. One more lawyer has come to the aid of the accused, Vladimir Garnin, of the Naryshkin law offices in St. Petersburg.
As 'Tvyordnyy Znak' wrote, in March 2004, the prosecutor filed a criminal case against Boris Shalimov, the head of the Skovorodinsky district administration, on a specification of illegal distribution of financial resources. Mr. Shalimov was free on bail, and his case left the district and became a federal investigation in November. On February 4, 2005, the accused was detained in Saint Petersburg, and after four days a special escort delivered him to the Blagoveshchensk correctional institution, the first time in the modern history of the Amursky region for a highly placed government detainee. Shalimov is presently in the company of two cell-mates in a special cell with a carpet and television set.
According to the prosecutor's version of the story, the district chief used more than 700,000 rubles of the local budget for purposes other than they were intended (150,000 for personal purposes, and 600,000 to train district administration staff in Scientology at a center that distributed the doctrine of Ron Hubbard.) According to the indictment, Shalimov is accused of using an official post to misappropriate property of others with which he was entrusted, exceeding official authority and illegal participation in business activities (arts. 160, 285 and 289 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code). On the last specification in this criminal case a local company was involved, 'Nika,' whose founders include Boris Shalimov. Yesterday the regional prosecutor announced the investigation was complete and so he was giving the case to the Skovorodinsky district court. As 'Tvyordnyy Znak' managed to find out, the judge examining the case will be Andrei Ilinykh.
As Shalimov's Blagoveshchensk lawyer, Gennadiy Samodurov, told 'Tvyordnyy Znak' yesterday, the defense is not going to submit anything new to the court, but intends to call attention to the error and incorrect interpretation of the separate incidents during the preliminary investigation. So, Mr. Samodurov has doubts about the investigator's assertions that 'Shalimov, with criminal intent to misappropriate funds, prepared and assigned the Skovorodinsky district budget in a district council project.' Besides that, the defense was outraged by the selected measure of suppression. 'There's no sense in keeping him under guard now,' said Gennadiy Samodurov. 'The inquiry has not even answered the question of whether the investigation stopped when it left the region. Just the approach of the law enforcement agency to this case carries an electoral character.'
In the opinion of local political experts, the criminal prosecution of the Skovorodinsky district chief is connected to his fairly strained relationship with governor Leonid Korotkov of the Amursky region. For example, investigatory actions with regard to Boris Shalimov began after he started telling everyone about his achievements. The head of the Vdobavok district criticized Leonid Korotkov's actions, and even sent a letter to the RF president and informed him about 'significant breaches of legislation' in the region. Mr. Shalimov's advocate said he did not really agree with that sort of opinion, and he preferred not to answer a question about the presumed role of the governor in the criminal investigation. Yesterday Boris Shalimov's defense received one more reinforcement when attorney Vladimir Garnin, of the Naryshkin law offices in St. Petersburg, came to his aid.
Ivan Kvashnin, Blagoveshchensk.
http://www.kommersant.ru
March 17, 2005
--
Region gets the old governor.
On Thursday the list of appointed governors empowered Amursky regional head Leonid Korotkov, who became the fifth regional leader, as the country's president confirmed his post in local parliament. The sixth on the list to be selected according to the new plan of regional chiefs was the head of Khanta-Mansiysky autonomous district Alexander Filipenko. The people's deputy in the Council of Amursky Regional Deputies for this session on Thursday was Leonid Korotkov, in his position of regional governor, who the President of Russia selected as candidate to act as head of the region. According to an Interfax correspondent, 21 deputies expressed support for his candidacy in the secret ballot, seven were against, and one abstained. In all, 29 of the 30 deputies of the regional council took part in the ballot. Korotkov's candidacy at the regional council session was proposed by the deputy plenipotentiary of the president in the Far Eastern Federal District Konstantin Pulinkovskiy. The one who was not able to take part in the election of the regional governor according to the new plan was Boris Shalimov, the deputy who was arrested. [...]
http://izvestiya.ru
February 25, 2005"
Message-ID: 42439005$0$32091$626a14ce@news.free.fr
"HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CONCLUDES REVIEW OF REPORT BY GREECE
Experts Welcome Creation of New Laws, Institutions to Ensure Fundamental Freedoms but Voice Concerns over Rights of Minorities, Foreigners
[...]
Mr. KHALIL, expert from Egypt, said the written answers supplied by the delegation had been indicative of substantial improvements in the country in the past 10 years. He had understood that Scientology was not accepted as a religion by the Greek Government, but were not scientologists prevented from pursuing their activities? he asked, adding that he was very grateful the delegation had clarified the meaning of 'unknown' and 'known' religions ..."
but noted that the corresponding release in French was quite different. The French release, in an enhanced google translation, said in part:
from [long link]
"the practice of any religion or dogma does not require the approval of the State or the Orthodox Church. A religion is considered 'not known' if it goes against morals or law and order. The allegations according to which certain dogmas can be regarded as heretic are not relevant. The delegation added that the Church of the scientology had created a center which was dissolved in 1996, in accordance with the decision of the Court of Appeal of Athens. The following year, the same [Scientologists] created a non-profit association which gradually became a religious organization. In 2002, the request submitted to the Ministry for education to function as a place of worship was rejected. [...]"
Message-ID: 42426d01$0$32570$626a14ce@news.free.fr
"Life Magazine overviews Scientology in 1968 in an informative article. Author of this article, Alan Levy, shares his shattering experience with Scientology that began in New York and ended at Hubbard's St. Hill Organization in Sussex, London". A growing cult reaches dangerously into the mind - SCIENTOLOGY."
"Follow-up letters in Life Magazine including one from L Ron hubbard and Scientology's internal published extraordinary response to this article to their own staff members:"
Hubbard's letter was posted:
"Letters to the Editor
(Life magazine Dec 6, 1968)
SCIENTOLOGY
Sirs:
Those attacking Scientology run mental institutions. They make millions out of it. They advocate brutal, murderous actions against the insane. They are terrified of losing the avalanches of money gouged out of governments. They see Scientology taking it all away with kind, effective measures. There is no question in their minds but that Scientology works. That's why they are attacking it.
A thousand other philosophies and religions arise every year with no outcry from the madmen in charge. The hundreds of thousands of victims of the enemy, as in all fascist actions, cannot complain. They cannot even talk.
They're dead.
L. Ron Hubbard
New York, N.Y."
Message-IDs: cd2341hrmrgenvj2jejda0ul7oi82saanf@4ax.com, 0iu241t99pkbo94g5loo7l96q4n04cf00a@4ax.com, amo541dlsvrh777sa333oolvuplaae9utj@4ax.com
"Andreas Heldal-Lund i send you best wishes.
My friend, forget me if my english is bad.
I saw your page almost 4 years ago, sience then I must reed and reed again your page, the book piece of the sky.... and finaly I'm free.
Free from the dianetic's claws.
I was staff in scienciology in [XXXXXXXXX].
Belive me is hard to accept words suchs a:
Brainwashed...Cult....Hypnotism....etc, with the subject
Scientiology, but is thru.
The way that their manipulate is with our will, our spiritual emptiness and of corse our ingnorance, because the world wants everithing easy, formal... and the blame is the people who is educate with monotony, oprhession... and the imagination and creativity dies.
When creativity dies a good way to dream is things like sciencielogy.
For me is good to send my greetings to you and to people who you love.
Thanks again, and good luck. I hope be part of the solution.
Andreas you can use my information, in the way you want.
Take care."
Message-ID: 5gl1415hoevinuhtqdk1rlgcs7rjnjk48h@4ax.com
"I reported a lady who was in the Admin Courses course room at Int Training Org, in summer 1989, she was a devout Catholic and because she insisted on going to mass on Sunday, I knew the LRH policy saying dual religions are completely okay, and I thus let her go to mass, even though all other Int Training Org students study 24/7 basically. I let her go to mass each week, but I also sent a despatch to OSA Int, her seniors were OSA Int since she was the Dept of Special Affairs exec trainee for the Berlin Org, and Berlin hadn't realized that she might not be a completely satisfactory candidate for the DSA (Director of Special Affairs position) for Berlin org. She really was a strong Catholic, and a very green Scientologist, far greener as a Scientologist than as a devout Catholic. Which is fine, staff may be such. My thoughts were that she might not be suitable for the DSA position is all, so I alerted OSA Int about this.
I believe she was then decided to be fine for other staff positions but not the DSA post, although I don't recall the actual outcome. In my years of training, this was the only time I had a student so devout about their original faith, that they wished to practise it simultaneously while engaged in Scn training. She thanked me for letting her go to mass, as other course sups in Int Training Org had given her a hard time and hadn't allowed her. (Shows you also where I was headed, one of the long ago indicators of my 'reasonableness' as a Sea Org member, because normally no regular Sea Org sup would allow a DSA trainee to go to mass, that was just too obviously a major outpoint!)
But also from this, my understanding was that being another religion did not preclude one from Scn org staff. But only might preclude one from certain posts, like the DSA area. But maybe not. This lady might today be the DSA Berlin, and she might be weekly going to mass. I don't think so though."
Message-ID: 1111563398.593318.110140@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com
"Here's what I remember about the film:
It starts with Isaac Hayes standing on this platform in space [that the Int RPF built at the ranch]. He is talking about the book, THE DYNAMICS OF LIFE, and how it contains basics that Scientologists need to know and understand for the future.
The key ideas are TRs and that pc plus auditor are greater than the bank.
It shows problems that early Dn auditors had with getting restimulated by their pcs and how TRs solve that difficulty. I.e. with TRs, one can audit with no liability. I seem to remember graphics of how the bank of the pc can enturbulate the auditor and how pc minus auditor is less than the bank.
At some point Isaac Hayes looks through this special lens to view a sci-fi kind of planet. [I was always disappointed that the lens that we RPFers worked so hard on doesn't get a close up shot of it, it is just a background object, a lot of RPF work for not much of a shot!] The civilization on that planet was a remnant from an earlier high-tech space opera society. The surviving people on it were relatively primitive and were just learning about mest technology, trying to figure out how things left over from the space opera civilization.
[We also made huge paper mache rocks and stone slabs for that film, the Int RPF made virtually all the sets for this film, and we shipped the sets by truck from the Happy Valley ranch to the new Gold filming studio nicknamed the castle, since it looks like a huge castle, where they did the actual filming.]
The people on the planet were getting to the point where they could build an Emeter. LRH indicated that future societies would be able to overcome difficulties associated with manufacturing meters, implying that a meter would be necessary.
On the planet was a kid, who had been a Scientologist at some point earlier on the track, remembered it and was trying to teach it to the people on that planet.
One thing that was interesting to me is that the kid became Source on that planet.
Anyway, he was trying to get the people to audit dianetics but the sessions would fall apart because the auditor would get restimulated. So he realilzed that he had to put them all on a TRs course. On the course it was all smiles and the people talked, in a made-up language, about their wins.
Hence, the title, 'Why TRs?'
The kid was sort of deified on that planet, or became a kind of king. To me that is also a key part of LRH's vision.
As you point out, Dn and Scn, nor LRH's writing, are still not generally accepted after 55 years. So much for becoming adored by the general populace.
In moments of doubt before I left Scn, I wondered if it would take a few hundred years, like it did for Christianity, for Scn to get a mass following. At this stage of the game, this does not seem likely to me. In my private world, though, I thought it might be like the freemen in DUNE (if you have read that).
Anyway, that's what I can remember about the film right now."
Message-ID: 1111567268.439979.241660@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com
"I've been told that national state television will be airing a show about cults on the program "Special Report" Sunday, March 20 'in prime time.'
Russia has 11 time zones, so if you turn your dish to somewhere north, you should be able to get the program every hour between 0600 GMT and 1600 GMT. Or you can watch it 11 times.
The State TV crew filmed me for the show in Moscow last November.
It should have several million viewers."
Message-ID: 42po31psc9aelioj8s5c73vqc4jn4ilpqp@4ax.com
"Friday, March 18, 2005
How I Was 'Handled' by Scientology
[...]
Today I finally got the guts to do something I had been planning on doing a long time ago, actually visit a Church of Scientology (Don't worry, I have no intention of joining their 'cult'). What triggered this was that I talked to a friend briefly about it after class, and he brought up the topic of the source of Xenu.net. I told him that the person who writes it doesn't claim to be any official source on the subject nor any educational credentials. I wanted to find out if Xenu.net was legit. I figured, well if Scientology has nothing to hide, then what could hurt by going and asking questions? I already knew that there was a location near me, but needed to check the exact address.
[...]
This whole event creeped me out even more when I got home and read on xenu.net 'How to talk to a scientologist.' The first thing she says in that section is not to mention the weird stuff (ie. Xenu) because most scientologists probably haven't been trained in that yet, but are trained to believe that if they learn about it to early they will die.
Whoa... now I think by just saying the word 'Xenu' around that guy I may have caused a serious problem in his life. He asked two of his superiors, so they know, and a 'report' with RTC (rtc.org) will most likely be filed. Will he have to talk about this next time he is audited? I didn't expect there to be such a big reaction just by mentioning one word, Xenu.
Heres a question. Why did all three people I asked about the Church of Scientology location in Upland all reply exactly the same way, including the woman I saw in the hallway (I did not see what door she came from)? 'I think they moved.' Hmm..."
Message-ID: n7do3158c8abr9ve8s6jdf1i3v7ph1m9na@4ax.com
A.r.s. Week in Review is put together for your benefit.
This collection is organised for WWW by Andreas Heldal-Lund.
Only edits done by me is replacing word encapsuled in * or _ with bold and underscore, and made links into HTML.
