Trouw (a major Dutch newspaper), Wednesday, September 13, 1995

Scientology-church wages war against the Internet

by Koert van der Velde

AMSTERDAM - The Church of Scientology is engaged in a worldwide war
with its critics. Scene of the action: the Internet. Opponents managed
to publish the best-kept secrets of the cult on this international
computer-network. Now, everyone can read them almost for free.

The Internet war started when the cult continually infiltrated the
newsgroup for critics of Scientology and destroyed the information it
didn't want the public to see. The conflict escalated when the so-called
Fishman-documents appeared on the Internet. Fishman, an American former
cult-member, presented these documents in his defense before the court
of Los Angeles, Ca. He was on trial for crimes he had supposedly been
ordered by the church to commit. The accusations varied from harassing
renegades by mail to attempted murder.
As usual, all the documents concerning the trial were made public after
the verdict. Everyone could ask for them at the court's library. But in
the end, anonymous posters published them on the Internet. And as soon
as Scientology destroys these electronic documents, other anonymous
posters publish them again.
This is a true disaster for the scientologists. Now everybody can read
their most bizarre and secret myths, like the one about the battle of
Prince Xenu's galactic federation, who solved overpopulation 95 million
years by using an H-bomb. The documents Fishman provided, also give
instructions on how to intimidate the churches' critics. There are
manuals about  Control through Lying' and  Hating the witnesses', that
describe strategies to silence all critics. One example that the church
considers very useful when dealing with critics that live in the USA:
take them to court in several states at the same time, in order to
render them bankrupt. Lower Scientologists can now get acquainted with
the higher levels of initiation through the Internet. Fromerly, they
were supposed to read the material under surveillance, when they were
ready for it and could afford to pay the fee. The Internet helps them to
save thousands of dollars - it might even help them to decide to leave
the church.
In The USA and Finland, the church took Internet-providers to court
because it held them responsible for making the information available.
Some time ago, the church categorically denied the authenticity of the
texts, but nowadays it has changed its strategy. It cries blue murder
about copyright-violations.

Last week, the Church of Scientology tried to right itself in Amsterdam.
Under the command of two high-ranked American scientologists and aided
by the Amsterdam police, the bailiff forced his way into the office of
Internet-provider XS4ALL (Access for All). He seized all
computer-equipment.

XS4ALL-manager F. Rodriquez: "They came to the wrong adress. An
Internet-provider is like a landlord: he can't check everything his
tenants do, let alone be held responsible for such actions. It is
impossible to screen the immense ammount of information that my 6000
tenants' offer on the Internet. Rodriquez also considers it a matter of
principle. "I didn't hold anything against Scientology. That is, until
they started to become a nuisance and showed their true face - that of a
totalitarian organization. I strongly feel that people should have the
right to know what Scientology is really like. Prohibition of such in
formation not only violates the right to freely express your opinion. It
also strongly violates a social interest: scientology-novites should
have the chance to learn about the organization before committing
themselves to it."

Both parties are now waiting for a court-decision about the question
whether or not to cooperate in the protection of the churches'
copyright.  The XS4AL-computers are still running. But will be removed
if the foundation loses the trial and is sentenced to pay a
compensation. There is hardly any legal precedent in this matter.

Rodriquez about the raid: "While the scientology computer-experts were
writing down the serial numbers of the computers they were seizing,
other scientologists walked around casually. After they had left, I
missed the letter of a scientology-critic I had just opened. I suspect
them of having stolen it. Lawyer Bakker-Schut is considering legal
action. An hour after the raid, the person who wrote the letter received
a telephone-call from scientology staff-member Julia Rijnvis. She denies
every connection and refers to M. Weightman from Brussels, who was
present at the raid. "Of course we didn't steal that letter", Weightman
says, "we are only protecting our copyrights." But in the texts of which
the copyright is claimed by Scientology, can be read that annoying
situations can be controlled by lying. Can someone who writes this be
trusted? Weightman: "Scientologists never lie, on the contrary: we
uphold high moral standards." When confronted with publications on the
Internet that claim te opposite, he answers: "I am not familiar with
that material. For that information, you'd better contact the USA."

THE CHURCH CAN'T WIN

Rodriquez: "Scientology misunderstood one thing: they can't win the war
on the Internet. If a Dutch judge would rule that the texts can't be
distributed on the Internet through the Netherlands, than tomorrow they
will appear through China, and the next day through India. They'll have
to sue the whole world, right up to the day the church itself is
bankrupt. And if there is a country where a judge doesn't prohibit the
distribution of their texts on the Internet, they will have lost the
battle. Distance isn't important on the Internet. It's as easy to get a
text from Oelanbator as it is to make a connection with the city of
Groningen."