Volume 0, Issue vom 22. 07. 1995

Contents

1. Big Story Backlash
2. Canadian Libel Award Upheld
3. Helena's Pen Pals
4. Prosperity Article
5. Erlich Defense
6. Finnish Police Report
7. OSA Against Psychiatry

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. 

A.r.s Week in Review is available free, by e-mail and is archived at:
          http://amazing.cinenet.net/scientology.html
          http://users.aimnet.com/~jdiver
          http://www.thur.de/religio/publik/arsfaq.html

#####

Big Story Backlash

The Tonbridge Courier, in Kent England reported this week that harassment
of people who cooperated with the producers of The Big Story expose on
Scientology. 


"Legal investigators acting for the cult have twice been to the [Richard
and Judy] Price's house - the last time at nearly midnight when a letter
was pushed through the door and a man was heard running away. The couple
reported the incidents to police. 

"'It was very frightening - I don't want unsolicited people at the house
late at night,' Judy said. 'I couldn't sleep because of it and I now feel
very insecure. I know that we are opposed to Scientology but this is a
free country and we have a right to speak our minds. We have done nothing
unlawful - we have just tried to get Richard's sister out of it.'" 

Peter Mansell, church spokesman, made this chilling response. 

"'I don't think it was anything personal,' he said. 'It was probably just
a warning for the benefit of those that had been interviewed.'" 

Warning of what, and how the Price's benefited was not explored in the
article. 

The staff of The Big Story were also victims of cos intimidation this
week. An article from the Observer was posted describing the physical and
legal harassment techniques. 

"Unknown attackers smashed windscreens and lights of three cars belonging
to Twenty Twenty employees shortly before the programme was broadcast. A
fourth car, which did not belong to a Twenty Twenty employee, was also
vandalised. 

"The 'cloned' mobile phone belonged to Alison Braund, the reporter in the
programme, who attended a course at the church's headquarters at East
Grinstead, West Sussex, last month. 

"Police are investigating and have not ruled out a connection with the
Church of Scientology. 

"The church said Ms Braund attended the East Grinstead course under false
pretences, claiming she was there solely for religious and spiritual
purposes.  Twenty Twenty says Ms Braund - who had a camera concealed in
her glasses - did not breach Independent Television Commission guidelines. 

"The church alleges she was caught on film taking documents from the
interviewer's desk after he left the room. Police were called and Ms
Braund was arrested, but released without charge. The church may prosecute
privately." 

Message-ID: 124332Z17071995@anon.penet.fi>
            152322Z16071995@anon.penet.fi>

#####

 Canadian Libel Award Upheld

Canada's Supreme Court this week upheld the libel award against the cos,
as posted in a.r.s this week from a Reuters article. 

"Canada's Supreme Court Thursday upheld a million-dollar libel award
against the Church of Scientology in a case that saw writers and news
organizations siding with the church. 

"Casey Hill, a former Ontario prosecutor, sued the Church of Scientology
for accusing him of acting improperly in connection with a raid on church
offices in Toronto in 1983. 

"Journalists, writers and newspaper groups pressing for free speech had
backed the church in arguing for laxer rules on defamation, but the court
upheld the $1.6 million Canadian ($1.2 million U.S.) award in favor of
Hill. It is believed to be the largest libel award ever made in Canada." 

The response of the cos, also posted this week, included this explanation. 

"The complex case, which began in 1984, dealt with matters arising from a
1983 search and seizure conducted against the Church of Scientology of
Toronto's premises by the Ontario Provincial Police. The Ontario Court
General Division in 1991 found this search and seizure to be
unconstitutional and illegal, ruling as well that the police had not acted
in good faith." 

And finally, from the decision announcement itself. 

"The allegations [by the cos] against Hill were found to be totally false
and without foundation. The contempt charges [again, filed by the cos]
were dismissed on a motion for non-suit and Hill commenced an action for
damages for libel. The action was allowed and Manning and the Church were
found jointly liable for general damages in the amount of $300,000, and
the Church alone liable for aggravated damages of $500,000 and punitive
damages of $800,000.00." 

Message-ID: 3uo5gl$hcm@utopia.hacktic.nl>
            3un827$nr3@cmcl2.NYU.EDU>
            3un34u$1v1@crl2.crl.com>

#####

 Helena's Pen Pals

Charles Oriez and Henry became the latest to hear from the cos' chief
legal harassment official, Helena Kobrin. 

Charles writes: 

"BTW - her letter claims that I posted OT II, OT III, and OT VII. Anyone
remember any posts from me referencing II or III stuff? OT III is xenu and
the volcanoes, right? Would the Xenu House of Clams T-shirt I just bought
be a trade secret infringement? Should I wear it to court as respondent's
exhibit A?" 

And from Henry: 

"I posted this for the purpose of criticizing the practices and beliefs of
a criminal cult, eleven of whose members were convicted of federal
offenses and imprisoned for wiretapping government offices, stealing
documents from government offices, forging documents and other crimes. 

"This quotation is 'fair use' as recognized under US law, is only six
lines, and was quoted for the purposes of review and public information,
and as such this threat is without grounds and baseless." 

William Barwell received a response from Helena from his last letter. She
apparently thinks this part is a zinger. 
 
"In the case against Dennis Erlich, Judge Whyte issued a Temporary
Restraining Order prohibiting him from engaging in certain acts related to
Church materials. The order states in part: 
 
"Defendant Dennis Erlich and his agents, servants, and employees, and all
persons acting or purporting to act under his authority, direction or
control, and all persons acting in concert or in participation with any of
them who receive notice of this Order, shall be and are restrained and
enjoined pending further court order." 

It would be amusing to see her claim that all a.r.s participants are
servants of Dennis. The Pope made this comment to the letter. 

"The cult is playing hardball. I am wiping my hard disks of anything that
could get me sued after a raid, and I am going to also be writing my
Senators, and my Congressman." 

Message-ID: 3uhkpk$ijm@ixnews5.ix.netcom.com>
            3uk34u$lcc@nyx.cs.du.edu>
            3uf19l$kin@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM>

#####

 Prosperity Article

Ron Newman posted highlights from Prosperity, a magazine published by the
World Institute of Scientology Enterprises (WISE). Details like this have
been difficult to verify.

"WISE members have assisted the largest government bank in Mexico, the
National Finance Bank, by delivering vitally needed HUBBARD administrative
technology to their staff as well as their clients, which include some of
the most powerful government agencies and companies in the country... 

"Due to the success of L. Ron Hubbard's organizational technology among
major corporations in Mexico, the Mexican Government has now officially
recognized that HUBBARD administrative courses are fully certified as a
government-endorsed training program! 

"WISE member Henry Ospitia has been making great inroads in the
disseminating L. Ron Hubbard's administrative works in Columbia. One of
the key officials he has been working with the former Secretary General of
the State of El Valle in Columbia, Sigifredo Holguin. 

"Over the past couple of years, WISE member Bernhard Schmidt has been
disseminating LRH admin tech into the Czech Republic... 'I started my own
company here in July 1993, from scratch, without anything other than my
knowledge of LRH admin tech.'

"As a result of Benhard's work, over 100 managers or owners of businesses
in the Czech Republic have now received a major LRH admin tech training
course over the past year. In fact, Bernard's consulting company has grown
so fast that it is now listed in the top 20 consultants in the country,
and has gotten two large articles in the Czech press." 

Message-ID: rnewman-1507950039390001@dial1-22.cybercom.net>

#####

 Erlich Defense

A large number of documents filed by Morrison & Foerster in an attempt to
lift the Temporary Restraining Order on Dennis Erlich were posted to a.r.s
this week. I've selected paragraphs from several of the documents that
describe how MoFo will be pursuing the case, and likely challenging the
RTC's copyrights. 

"In seeking emergency ex parte relief, plaintiffs failed to advise the
Court that most of the items identified as alleged trade secrets either
have been found by the Ninth Circuit to have been widely publicized, or
were publicly deposited in the United States Copyright Office. Plaintiffs
also failed to advise the Court of the actual status and ownership of
various copyrights that are the basis of their claims. 

"In light of the myriad defects and inconsistencies in plaintiffs'
copyright and trade secret claims, plaintiffs are not likely to succeed on
the merits of this action. All of the other factors that underlie
injunctive relief weigh in Mr.  Erlich's favor as well. He therefore
requests an order dissolving the Amended TRO. 

"Plaintiffs cannot establish a likelihood of success as to their copyright
claims due to the many defects in the claims themselves, the numerous
inconsistencies that pervade the registrations and the absence of an
automatic presumption of copyright validity or ownership. 

"For works in which copyright was secured prior to 1964, however, a
copyright claimant must have filed an application for renewal registration
prior to expiration of the initial copyright term in order to prevent the
work from entering the public domain. 

"Based on these rules, Item 4 of Exhibit A is not entitled to copyright
protection because it was first published in 1961 and its initial 28-year
copyright term expired in 1989 upon the failure to renew the copyright. 

"With respect to Items 1, 5 and 7 of Exhibit A, for which renewal was
automatic, plaintiffs have not established any right to the copyright
interests because the rights, if any, vested automatically in LRH's
statutory successors (his wife and children), not LRH's estate. 

"Copyright terms expire on December 31 of the last year of the term. Thus,
the original terms for works first published in 1965 or 1966 expired as of
December 31, 1993 and 1994, respectively. 

"Plaintiffs have not, however, established that LRH's wife and children
transferred to either of them rights in these various documents. No rights
have been transferred to RTC. Thus, it is unlikely that plaintiffs have
the requisite standing as to these works. 

"A valid copyright registration is a statutory prerequisite for filing a
claim of infringement. Where the allegedly infringed work is incorporated
into a compilation or derivative work, it is not sufficient to have
obtained a registration simply for the compilation or derivative work. 

"Aside from various legal defects in plaintiffs' copyright claims, there
are numerous inconsistencies throughout the copyright registrations relied
upon by plaintiffs that support the conclusion that plaintiffs are not
likely to succeed on their claims. 

Message-ID: 3u5m1n$3u6@news.dgsys.com>
            3u5m6k$3u6@news.dgsys.com>
            CKAUN.95Jul21112230@deimos.ads.com>

#####

 Finnish Police Report

Pekka Aakko posted a translation of a Helsinki Police document to a.r.s
this week. It concerns the Penet anonymous server raid in January. The
events described in these excerpts are apparently the "Miss Bloodybutt"
affair, involving an attempt to frame Tom Klemesrud for sexual assault,
and the posting of the cos' documents to a.r.s by the anonymous poster
-AB-. It's amazing to me that the cos was able to fool the Finnish Police
so easily. 

"Documents have been published in Internet in electric form [binary form]
(electronic mail), which are from CSI's computer systems and can be proven
to originate from that source. 

"The documents published develop from a rapport written in January 21st
1995, which handles a insignificant matter, but very private occurrence
between two private persons in Los Angeles (appendix 1). 

"There had been discussion before January 21st 1995 in Internet newsgroups
concerning this event/occurrence. The reason for the discussion is unclear
to the plaintiff. The discussion was formed from different rumors, which
got the attention of the readers of the newsgroup in so great extent, that
the occurrence became a 'news subject' on that area. The discussion
happened in a very general and inaccurate level. 

"Also CSI became informed of the discussion and decided to find out about
the occurrence, as the occurrence was claimed to have ties to the
scientology church and it's members. 

"CSI gave an assignment to private eye Gene Ingram to find out what had
happened. The private eye interviewed the female participator of the
occurrence, and made notes about the subject. Based on these notes the
private eye gave a report about the things he had found out. 

"The report was written into CSI's computer system based on the verbal
presentation given by the private eye. The report was written by a member
of staff of CSI thus the report in the CSI computer systems was given its
original form. 

"The information published in the Internet is 100% sure from the report in
CSI's computer systems. The document was never printed or given any
physical form before its illegal publishing. 

"The information within the CSI computer system is classified information
[classified as industrial secrets]. The information thus published is also
classified "lawyer information" 

"The plaintiff demands a punishment to the person who illegally broke into
CSI's computer system, the person who used it without authorization, and
to the person who stole the information classified as industrial secrets
from the crimes mentioned in paragraph 1. 

"The matter is very urgent. Because of the crime that happened the
plaintiff has been forced to take very large actions to stop the criminal
activities.  However it is possible that the crimes are still being made
at least the information might be published illegally. 

"This far there has been also noticeable financial damages to the
plaintiff. 

Message-ID: 3un68b$s1d@myntti.helsinki.fi>

#####

 OSA Against Psychiatry

The following flyer was posted to a.r.s this week.

"Find Out About The Exact Steps That Will Be Taken To WIPE PSYCHIATRY OFF
THE FACE OF THE EARTH In Our Lifetime

"Speaker: Mr. Mike Rinder Commanding Officer, Office of Special Affairs
International

"Friday 21 July, 8:00 P.M. Pasadena Civic Auditorium 300 Green Street,
Pasadena, Ca

Message-ID: 3umfh2$2l6@ixnews4.ix.netcom.com>