Merry Christmas to you, OSA!!!

St. Petersburg Times newspaper article from August 3, 1994 about a.r.s.

This is the first known newspaper article about a.r.s.

Written 5 months prior to Scientology's infamous RMGROUP attempt, it vaulted a.r.s. to world-wide attention.

OSA's Elaine Siegel said, "... imagine 40-50 Scientologists posting on the Internet every few days, we'll just run the SPs (suppressive persons) right off the system. It will be quite simple, actually."

Siegel added: "Basically, as a group, we will NO longer put up with our religion being criticized, harassed and denigrated on the Internet. There will also be some legal actions, which you will be further briefed on."

OSA's Elaine Siegel called critics "jerks".

Dear OSA - Regarding a.r.s., thanks for not making your "postulates stick". Thanks for one of your greatest gifts of all: failing to "make it go right". Thanks for helping bring more attention to a.r.s. And thanks for stating and demonstrating that you are intolerant of criticism.

Warrior - Sunshine disinfects http://warrior.xenu.ca

===

A battle of beliefs waged in megabytes

St. Petersburg Times Wednesday, August 3, 1994, page 1A

Scientologists and their critics are colliding in cyberspace.

The critics started the fight, creating an electronic bulletin board dubbed alt.religion.scientology on the Internet, a worldwide web of computer networks with an audience pushing 25-million.

Then they downloaded their knowledge and opinions in e-mail messages that just about anyone with a computer, a little money and a modem can view.

"As you will see, Scientology is astronomically prohibitive," one anonymous writer said on a.r.s in a message that reprinted the church's price list for counseling and training. "If you're not a celebrity or a very rich businessman, you'll be in for a few surprises."

Another, code-named "The Squirrel," chimed in: "I am plotting, for the umpteenth time, how I can reveal that yet another `Scientology Truth' is just one of the many strange and somewhat stupid utterances that came from the lying lips of L. Ron Hubbard."

Scientologists were appalled when they found out about this bashfest three months ago. A church staff member in Los Angeles electronically deputized a posse of the faithful to counter the naysayers. Within days, the Internet was flooded with testimonials praising Scientology and with texts written by Hubbard, the late science fiction writer who founded Scientology in the 1950s.

Hundreds of pages of dogma hit the computer screens, including a chapter-by-chapter serialization of an 863-page Scientology book. From Largo, the manager of a software company threw in glowing weekly accounts of goings-on at the Fort Harrison in Clearwater, Scientology's international spiritual headquarters.

The message throughout: Try Scientology, it works.

Watching from afar, and laughing at both sides, is a splinter group calling itself the Free Zone. Its members love Hubbard's teachings and technology but reject the organization that is the church.

It's no surprise that Scientology is a hit on the Internet. For many religions, computer networks have become a place to pray, debate dogma, study the Bible, read the Koran and recruit new members.

But Scientology's niche is busier than most, and certainly more entertaining, say some of the 77,000 Internet "surfers" a month who run across the Scientology-related bulletin boards, called newsgroups.

The explosive growth of the Internet - and Scientology's presence on it - caught church officials by surprise. Scientology has always met its critics head on and spent time and money dealing with dissent. That was easier when the critics were earthbound, warm bodies with identifiable faces.

In the world of computer networking, the critics float unfettered, as anonymous as they want to be, connected to millions of others at the push of a button, disconnected and hidden just as easily.

Kurt Weiland, who heads Scientology's legal and public affairs branch, dismissed much of the Internet traffic as irrelevant and a waste of time. In the next breath, though, he acknowledged that "we asked our law firm to look into what was going on."

A private investigator working for Scientology posed as a journalist to quiz a computer user in Bloomington, Ind., who is believed to have started the anti-Scientology newsgroup.

"These people are welcome to speak their minds," Weiland said. But he added a caveat: "It is clear that some of this is written to be derisive of and libel the church."

And, as Weiland acknowledged, the Church of Scientology doesn't stand still in the face of what it believes is derisive, incorrect data.

The Elaine Siegel briefing

Every few days, someone posts a message on the Internet asking, "Where is Elaine Siegel?"

They worry that Siegel, a staff worker in Scientology's Office of Special Affairs in Los Angeles, has been punished for letting a copy of her now infamous letter fall into the wrong hands - the critics' quick hands.

They have not received a response from her.

Siegel's letter has been posted more than a dozen times on Internet. It details a plan for Scientologists to counter their cybercritics.

"If you imagine 40-50 Scientologists posting on the Internet every few days, we'll just run the SPs (suppressive persons) right off the system," Siegel wrote. "It will be quite simple, actually."

She added: "Basically, as a group, we will NO longer put up with our religion being criticized, harassed and denigrated on the Internet. There will also be some legal actions, which you will be further briefed on."

Scientology is going to get its own link to Internet, Siegel said. She called the critics "jerks."

The critics went ballistic, half-upset at the takeover attempt, half-tickled at the impossibility of such a task. They began the "Where is Elaine Siegel?" e-mail campaign, its sinister-sounding question about her fate sure to tweak Scientology officials.

Weiland said Siegel's letter was distributed without her superior's approval and doesn't represent an official position. She has not been punished, he said. Weiland said he agreed with her basic message of countering negative news with positive but denied wanting to push anyone off the Internet, saying the critics' response suggests it is they who want to dominate the medium.

"That just shows that these people wanted a free-for-all on a forum that is meant for everyone," Weiland said.

Through Weiland, Siegel declined to talk to the Times for this story.

The man who exposed Siegel's private letter to the Internet is Chris Schafmeister, a third-year biophysics graduate student at the University of California in San Francisco. He posted the Siegel letter after receiving it from a Scientologist whom he said he befriended on Internet. Before tripping across the Scientology newsgroup, he had no experience with the organization. He is now a caustic critic.

"My role is to make sure they're never going to be comfortable on the Net," Schafmeister said.

Now, he is the one getting uncomfortable. After being interviewed for this story, Schafmeister said, he learned that someone claiming to be a reporter from Orange County, Calif., was checking up on him with other computer users. The "reporter" refused to identify his newspaper. In a second incident, someone claiming to be a parcel delivery worker phoned Schafmeister to get his home address. Schafmeister never got a delivery.

Weiland said he doesn't know of any Scientology inquiry into Schafmeister but acknowledged that a private investigator did pose as a reporter and question the Bloomington man who is believed to have founded the anti-Scientology bulletin board. Weiland said that was done because the person who started the board used the name of David Miscavige, the current leader of Scientology.

Scientologists on the Net

Stu Sjouwerman is vice president of a software company in Largo. The Dutch native has been a Scientologist for 12 years and is known to Internet users for his "Warm Regards" Stu closing on his weekly reports about what's happening in Clearwater Scientology.

Sjouwerman (pronounced Shauw-er-min) uses his Internet time to spread the word from Scientology's Clearwater-based Flag Service Organization, mainly detailed accounts of the speeches given at the Friday night graduation ceremonies at the Fort Harrison Hotel.

Sjouwerman, 38, also guides people on Internet to Clearwater, where the top Scientology courses and processing are available.

Sjouwerman said his motivation is to tell how Scientology has helped his life, how it keeps his marriage alive, how it helped him get the best job he has ever had.

". . . I'd like my fellow beings on this planet to experience this same absolutely wonderful feeling of spiritual freedom," Sjouwerman said in a written statement. "That is why I am here on the Net."

Others get similarly involved, posting lengthy passages from Scientology books, a list of every Scientology organization in the world and lists of available books and tapes. On the Internet, they describe how Scientology has helped them become better people.

"Ever wonder why the critics can't just let you do Scientology, while they simply not do it, since it's obviously not for them?" wrote one person who identified himself as a Scientologist. "What would be wrong with people getting better?"

Weiland said the Scientologists on Internet are individuals, not part of any church plan. Scientology's marketing branch, he added, is looking at the possibility of using the Internet.

The Free Zone lives

All the benefits of Scientology at a fraction of the cost. That is the promise of the Free Zone, located on an Internet bulletin board called alt.clearing.technology.

Neither fish nor fowl, not Scientologist or basher, the United Free Zone Alliance and its estimated 3,000 adherents trade variations on Hubbard's theme, and some continue his research, an idea that is blasphemous to the Church of Scientology.

It also attracts believers in alternative mind-clearing technologies or religions outside of Scientology, people who practice processes aimed at ridding the mind of harmful, painful memories.

That kind of dissension and continued research, coupled with the freedom of choice to learn mind-clearing outside official channels, makes the Free Zone Scientology's "worst nightmare," said alt.clearing.technology founder Homer Wilson Smith, a computer artist from upstate New York.

"Scientifically this is very fertile ground," said Smith, 43. "Dogmatically, it sows the seeds of war."

Some even use the medium to discuss auditing techniques and tips, Scientology's confessional process that is used to locate and discharge areas of mental strife. The most expensive Scientology auditing costs $1,000 an hour. Free Zoners are doing it for nothing, or next to nothing.

Weiland called the Free Zoners "squirrels," a term for those who take Hubbard's teachings and use them outside the officials channels of the church or who alter them into something else. Scientology has pursued countless lawsuits against squirrels, aimed at ridding the religion of squirrel tech, as they call it.

Scientology has known about the Free Zone for years, long before it went on the Internet. As long as no Scientology copyrights or trademarks are violated, Weiland said, no legal action will be taken.

But what the Free Zone is doing is wrong nonetheless, he said. "We are not tolerant of any alterations or deviations from the standard technology. If you alter it, you may get some benefit, but it won't be the benefit you could get by following it."

Out in cyberspace, the skirmish for souls continues.

A man who identifies himself as a Russian writes: "My name is Alexander. I live in Moscow and I'm interested in Scientology very much. I'd like to know if it is possible to have your information in Russian?"

A Scientologist responds that most of the literature has been translated and that there are even several Scientology organizations in Russia. He offers to mail him more information.

That's too tempting for a critic in Arizona, who posts the last word.

"My critique of Scientology has been translated into Russian," Jeff Jacobsen writes, "in case you want a copy of that."

(Times researchers Kitty Bennett and Debbie Wolfe contributed to this report.)

=== [Sidebar] Network gives voice to former Scientologists By WAYNE GARCIA

St. Petersburg Times, August 3, 1994, page 12A

Computers have done what years of opposition couldn't do, uniting the handful of former Scientologists who have waged war against the Church of Scientology .

These dissidents are now gathered under the rubric of the Fight Against Coercive Tactics (FACT) network, or FACTnet, a free data base and electronic bulletin board available to the public.

The network, based in Golden, Colo., electronically stockpiles information critical of Scientology , from affidavits to court rulings to federal investigations.

Although fewer than 150 people now use the computer network, Scientology officials have responded to FACTnet's existence with a blitz of legal threats and reams of allegations about its founders.

The church also has tried to derail publicity about FACTnet. The Church of Scientology sent two high-ranking officials from Los Angeles to St. Petersburg to lodge a protest when the Times asked about FACTnet.

Kurt Weiland, who heads Scientology 's legal and public relations branch, said FACTnet merely hopes to become a big enough annoyance to force Scientology into a multimillion-dollar settlement.

Linda Simmons Hight, a top church spokeswoman, added: "They have no educational function whatsoever."

Hight and Weiland brought notebooks containing allegations about FACTnet's co-founder, Lawrence Wollersheim, as well as refutations of a FACTnet investigation into suicides and psychoses that FACT members claim could be caused by Scientology counseling.

Scientology officials say that assertion is crazy; they say the members died under normal circumstances or in accidents. FACTnet officials acknowledge making errors in their first listing of the deaths but say many suspicious cases remain.

Since FACTnet's formation last year, Scientology lawyers have threatened a civil lawsuit against the group three times. Scientology has asked local and federal law-enforcement officials in Colorado to investigate FACT for hate crimes and fraud.

- WAYNE GARCIA

From: Reposter <Reposter@Reposter.Org>
Subject: A Documentary History of Scientology and the Net
Date: 24 Dec 2002 20:05:25 -0800
Message-ID: <aubaq5030a3@drn.newsguy.com>

Reposted:

A Documentary History of the Church of Scientology and the Net by Deana M. Holmes

[Part 1 of 10]

Usenet: alt.religion.scientology April 1995

========================================================================== A Documentary History of the Church of Scientology and the Net VERSION 1.0 / April 17, 1995 Compiled by Deana M. Holmes (mirele@xmission.com) ==========================================================================

************************************************************************** PART I--THE EARLY DAYS OF A.R.S (from the creation to the raid on Dennis) **************************************************************************

IN the beginning, God created the heavens...

oops, wrong beginning.

In the beginning, alt.religion.scientology was newgrouped by "David Miscaviage." This was a forgery; the perpetrator of the forgery appeared later to claim his fame.

> From miscaviage@flag.sea.org Wed Jul 17 12:46:28 1991
>Path:
>rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!ai-lab!flag!miscaviage
> From: miscaviage@flag.sea.org (David Miscaviage)
> Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology.ctl
> Subject: newgroup alt.religion.scientology
> Message-ID: <80235@flag>
> Date: 17 Jul 91 08:06:31 GMT
> Control: newgroup alt.religion.scientology
> Sender: news@ai.mit.edu
> Lines: 0
> Approved: miscaviage@flag.sea.org

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I first came on the Net in May 1993. Before that, I had been on GEnie, where Bob (Da Sloth) Bingham made a point of countering the local Scientologists on the Religion & Ethics BB. However, when prices went up for the pay services in the spring of 1993, I, like so many other refugees, emigrated to the Internet. A.r.s has been in my .newsrc since that time, if only because I had worked down the street from the local Church of Scientology in Austin, Texas, and after ten years of being asked to take a personality test, I wanted to understand the persistence of these people.

For the first year or so (mid 1993-1994), the action on a.r.s was pretty desultory. Brian Wenger would post the "official" Scientology FAQs on a regular basis, and there were discussions about e-meters, with Chris Schafmeister playing a prominent role in asking the Scienos probing questions about the device's inner workings. Homer Wilson Smith showed up towards the end of that period, the first Zonie I noticed who posted to a.r.s on a regular basis.

One thing that those new to a.r.s should keep in mind is that the daily volume in a.r.s was low--most days it was less than 20 posts. And the signal to noise ratio was pretty high.

Last summer, however, things began to heat up considerably. The following document was passed to Chris Schafmeister from a anonymous source: it indicated that the Church of Scientology had found out about a.r.s and was now going to attempt to "handle a.r.s".

[ed. note--can someone please provide me with an approximate date for this document?]

BRIEFING TO ALL SCIENTOLOGISTS ON THE INTERNET FROM THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY INTERNATIONAL (NOTE: If you know any other Scientologists on Internet or America Online, please e-mail this briefing to them).

Dear Scientologist,

As you know, there has been quite a bit of false and derogatory information going out over the Internet by a few detractors, squirrels etc.

The Church fired a project to collect up all this information, and we have been in comm with some of you already. We have obtained legal input on some of the messages that individuals have posted that could be libelous or in violation of copyright laws.

We have a plan of action that we are taking, to simply outcreate the entheta on these newsgroups (alt.religion.scientology and alt.clearing.technology), and get positive information to the general public on what Scientology is, our activities around the world, successes stories and LRH writings. There will also be some legal actions, which you will be further briefed on. Basically, as a group we will NO longer put up with our religion being criticized, harrassed and denigrated on the Internet.

As a first step, I want to thank those who have posted positive material and handled some of the entheta that has been posted. This is very much appreciated! Secondly, I would like to ask your assistance in getting each one of you to post positive messages on the Internet (at least once a week, more if you like), about Scientology.

We want to make these messages "high ground". In other words, don't get tempted into a two way comm with some l.1 jerk on the Internet. Ack him and continue to post POSITIVE and HIGH TONED messages that really explain what Scientology IS doing, how it helped you or a friend, community activities of the Church, Church expansion. It is easy to get into an opp term situation with the detractors over this system, but this doesn't necessarily communicate very well to the broad public who may read this.

There is an excellent issue by LRH which is PR Series 27, THE ENEMY LINE. In here, LRH says that you never forward an enemy line, nor do you get into just attacking. YOU COME UP WITH A BETTER CAMPAIGN OF YOUR OWN.

This should be applied whenever you post a message on Scientology, as we want to keep this on a theta, dissemination comm line to the broad public.

The Church of Scientology International is getting our own site onto Internet, and we'll also be posting messages regularly in there, so if you feel you are getting attacked by some detractor or jerk, let us know right away, and we can get you material to counter whatever is being said.

If you imagine 40-50 Scientologists posting on the Internet every few days, we'll just run the SP's right off the system. It will be quite simple, actually.

CSI will be e-mailing around various briefings and good news messages to individuals for posting also, so that you are getting new material to post. If you need material or want to get your material cross-checked with us for content, e-mail it (to this address for now, until CSI gets our own), and we'll get you the material you need.

The two newsgroups on the Internet are "alt.religion.scientology", and also "alt.clearing.technology" (which was set up by Homer Smith, a squirrel and declared SP). We need to fill up both of these newsgroups with positive information on the Church.

For those of you with access to America Online, you know there is a similar situation with Scientology being attacked on that system. So this would apply to this newsgroup as well (posting positive messages on Scientology).

The Planetary Dissemination Org (PDO) will be getting their own site onto Internet, which will be for the dissemination of LRH's works, WIS book, and other materials and campaigns. We intend to put these works onto laser discs, and utilize all the tools of the Internet to disseminate Scientology internationally.

This is very exciting, and will be a new era for computer users as regards the subject of Scientology.

Look for CSI's first posting very shortly. We WILL outcreate anything that is on there.

I would like to hear from you on your ideas to make the Internet a safe space for Scientology to expand into.

Thanks.

ML, Elaine Siegel Office of Special Affairs International

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Elaine Siegel, the writer of this document, mysteriously disappeared from view not long after this. Her disappearance was noted here on a.r.s, as well as in an article in the _St. Petersburg Times_ dated August 3, 1994. It's likely this article is the first mention of what would later be called the War between Scienotology and the Net.

After Elaine ceased to be a factor in a.r.s, Stu Sjouwerman came on the Net. He was quickly exposed as a "Field Staff Member," that is, a recruiter who receives a 15% commission from the fees paid by every person that he recruited into Scientology. After that exposure, and the needling pressure that came from CoS detractors, Stu disappeared (although he occasionally puts in an appearance now and then), but not before he posted the following to a.r.s:

Subject: For Scientologist: Black Hats on a.r.s.
Message-ID: <9407140828591.DLITE.stus@delphi.com>
From: stus@delphi.com (Stu Sjouwerman)
Date: 14 Jul 1994 12:30:55 GMT

File: Black Hats

For Scientologists who want to know who are the purely negative, destructive posters & detractors, and/or so called "FreeZone" (who have taken Scientology-technology without authorization and started their own group) in this newsgroup, so that you can choose what to read and what not:

Abbreviations:

AS = Rabid Anti-Scientologist. Posts horrendous lies and negativity DA = Disaffected, is very critical SQ = Freezone, nickname "Squirrel", has taken Scientology tech and ran off on their own. Doomed to fail. CAN = Cult Awareness Network member or supporter. Posts extremely negative and slanted disinformation, 99% proven false. MUD= Some one who believes "Man came from Mud", critical.

The Gang of Black Hats in a.r.s. (not in any order)

1) rkeller@nyx.cs.du.edu: - AS, CAN - Rod Keller 2) schaf@socrates.ucsf.edu - MUD - Chris Schafmeister 3) rogue@ccs.neu.edu - AS - Rogue Agent 4) 40880@freenet.victoria.bc.ca - AS, CAN - Martin Hunt 5) homer@crl.com - SQ - DA - Homer Wilson Smith 6) jost@itd.itd.nrl.navy.mil - DA 7) mkdewolf@aol.com - DA - Mike de Wolf. 8) cultexprt@indirect.com - AS - CAN - Jeff Jacobson. 9) speaker@netcom.com - SQ - Allen 10) ladyv@crash.cts.com - SQ - DA Enid Vien 11) sloth@falcon.cc.ukans.edu - DA - Bob Bingham 12) an105662@anon.penet.fi - AS - DA - CAN The Squirrel 13) lindsay+@cs.cmu.edu - AS - Don Lindsay

I'm sorry if you expected to find yourself on this infamous list and you're not... :-) You can always send me a request to be put on...

stus@delphi.com

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Dennis Erlich said that he appeared on a.r.s in August, 1994. Like many others, I don't think I realized the threat that Dennis posed to the CoS until after his house was raided in February, so I didn't pay that much attention to him. However, I do remember saving the original copy of Dennis' "Body Raisins" article because it struck me as being both humourous and, at the same time, almost unbelievable. Dennis has reposted "Body Raisins" recently, so I will not do so here.

"Body Raisins," however, was a sign that things were changing on a.r.s. Instead of desultory chat on e-meters, Erlich's presence was animating things and opening up new areas of discourse. We were now discussing the affidavits that various people had filed in court cases, as well as past criminal acts (such as Operation Snow White) perpetrated by the highest levels of the Church in earlier years. Another item that detractors would needle CoS defenders on was a claim made in CoS literature that they had educated 1.5 million children in South Africa. Tony McClelland made a point of checking this story out, writing to persons in South Africa who would know about this, and basically debunked the story to the satisfaction of all save the Scienos.

All this entheta was not going unnoticed by the CoS. In the middle of September, 1994, an anonymous Scientologist posted the following to a.r.s. The liberal use of Scientology jargon screamed authenticity, and considering the current course of certain Scientology posters, in some respects this policy is still being followed:

From: an95242@anon.penet.fi
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 1994 04:01:17 UTC
Subject: COVERT ARS OP

********************* Conspiracy to Handle ARS ************************** This religion I've been suckered into has gon far enough. I believe what they are conspiring to do is illegal, and I don't know what to do, because I'm scared:

Wednesday, September 14, 1994

HANDLING A.R.S.

Situation: The Internet is a potentially highly effective Planetary Dissemination tool. A particular section of the Internet (Usenet Newsgroup alt.religion.Scientology) was begun by an enemy of Scientology. Currently many CAN connected deprogrammer types and disaffected Scientologists, about 15 individuals, have made this Internet bulletin board a place to spread entheta about Scientology. They have vowed to take this false information and put it all over the Internet which according to latest estimates has over 20 million participants and is growing by 1 million people per month.

Data: Some public Scientologists, in their attempts to handle the entheta, have engaged in debates with the deprogrammers, in violation of policy. There are random efforts but no coordinated actions to terminate the a.r.s. situation. An on policy solution is needed to properly handle.

Policy: " THE DEFENSE OF ANYTHING IS UNTENABLE. The only way to defend anything is to ATTACK." LRH Ability Mag Article (page 47 Tech Vol. III)

References: 1.) HCOPl 5 April 1965, Issue I, HANDLING THE SUPPRESSIVE PERSON, THE BASIS OF INSANITY (OEC Vol. I page 990 through page 991 the first 6 paragraphs, page 993 #10, and page 995 the first 5 paragraphs)

2.) HCOPl 27 October 1964R, POLICIES ON PHYSICAL HEALING, INSANITY AND SOURCES OF TROUBLE (OEC Vol. I page 987 last 2 paragraphs)

3.) HCOPl 9 June 1975, PR SERIES 27, THE ENEMY LINE

4.) HCOPl 21 November 1972, PR SERIES 18, HOW TO HANDLE BLACK PROPAGANDA

PRIMARY TARGETS

1.) Someone to be responsible for the execution of this program

2.) Design a project Org Board.

3.) Read and understand this program.

4.) All project personnel to read and study the above references

VITAL TARGETS

1.) Arrange financing for this project .

2.) Ensure the use of debug tech to handle bugged targets.

3.) Get a sidecheck from Church terminals on this program.

4.) Ensure LRH Policy is followed in executing this program.

5.) Report bugs or security problems immediately.

" A VT would have to be to keep in the basic rule of not e*mailing [ie TNX] anything that you would be unwilling to have show up anywhere. Although this might be a nuisance at times, it is VITAL." Lee Holtzinger [sic - Holzinger]

OPERATING TARGETS

1.) Project I/C to arrange for a personnel I/C who will obtain volunteers 1A.) Establish a record of phone address and E*Mail address for each project member.

2.) Project I/C to appoint an operations I/C.

2A.) Project I/C to appoint a Legal I/C 2B.) Project I/C to appoint a Security Officer/EO

3.) Operations I/C to appoint 5 "posting I/C's".

A.) Success Posting I/C

B) BPI Issues Posting I/C

C.) D/A Posting I/C D.) Satire/Humor Posting I/C E.) A.R.S. Board Reader I/C (Must be OT V or above)

e.) I.) Ensure that A.R.S. Readers are rotated monthly

4.) Each I/C to gather or receive from personnel I/C from 3-5 section members.

5.) Each I/C to hat section members on the program and LRH Policies.

5a.) Each member to write sample posts for a pass before posting

6.) Each I/C to hat "posters" on Copyright and TM Scientology Policy Directive of 26 August 1982 Revised 17 February 1994 "UNDERSTANDING TRADEMARKSAND THE USE AND PROTECTION OF"SCIENTOLOGY AND DIANETICS.

7.) Personnel I/C to get the names of the Moderated Board Project Personnel.

8.) Moderated Board Project I/C to liaise with A.R.S. Project I/C.

9.) I/C to write an analysis of the project effectiveness after the first week of operation.

10.) Establish a "computer tech" I/C to make access to electronic libraries easy and to facilitate information flow.

PRODUCTION TARGETS

1.) By September 25th. to have a minimum of 80 posts to a.r.s. all at once.

2.) To have no less than 50 posts per day to a.r.s. for the next month.

Stats: Number of on policy posts per day to a.r.s.

Gimmick: Let's get out the TRUTH about Scientology *******

(End planned Operation)

This kind of trickery must stop by the management.

-Scared ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To find out more about the anon service, send mail to help@anon.penet.fi. Due to the double-blind, any mail replies to this message will be anonymized, and an anonymous id will be allocated automatically. You have been warned. Please report any problems, inappropriate use etc. to admin@anon.penet.fi.

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In late fall, Homer Wilson Smith, who runs a remailer from rahul.net, was contacted by the lawyers for Scientology and asked to remove a publicly-accessible archive of posts from a.r.s. The reason given by the lawyers was that materials copyrighted by the CoS were being archived by Homer. After some hemming and hawing around, Homer capitulated.

However, allegedly copyrighted materials continued to appear on a.r.s. Additionally discussion was getting a bit more pointed, and the few Scienos who had been online pretty much withdrew from the scene, in the face of the uncomfortable postings being made by detractors. It appeared to me that the CoS was going to abandon attempts to "handle" a.r.s, but that proved to be false.

Around Christmas 1994, the first forged cancels appeared. They came from Netcom accounts, and for the first time the a.r.s "problem" became a Net problem. In the past, there had been the occasional forged cancel, but nothing like what was happening now. The forger was first called the Cancelbunny because the activity kept "going and going and going...," resembled in name only the actions of the famous CancelMoose, and was not resolved by Netcom for a long time. The detractors of a.r.s who cared about cancels later began to call it the Cancelpoodle, in honour of David Miscavige, the putative head of the CoS, who was often referred to as "the poodle" by CoS dissenters.

One effect of the Cancelbunny/Cancelpoodle was that it finally forced Netcom to change the way it handled cancellations. However, many people on the Net, especially in a.r.s and alt.current-events.net-abuse were disturbed at the length of time it took Netcom to deal with this problem. (Contrast this with the very timely response from Delta Internet Services, below.) Because Netcom was so slow to respond, Homer Wilson Smith rigged up "Lazarus", a program that reported to a.r.s if an article previously posted to a.r.s had been cancelled and by whom. Lazarus was instrumental in alerting people to the problem of cancelled posts.

The following is a post typical of Lazarus.

From: homer@rahul.net (Lazarus Early Warning System)
Subject: Cancel Message-ID: <199502151437.AA20098@xs1.xs4all.nl>
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 1995 12:33:32 +0000
Message-ID: <199502160433.AA12526@bolero.rahul.net>

A LAZARUS EARLY WARNING ALERT v1.3 ftp.rahul.net/pub/homer/lazarus/lazarus.log Wed Feb 15 20:33:32 PST 1995

The following post was canceled:

From: anonymous-remailer@xs4all.nl (Name withheld on request) Date: Wed, 15 Feb 1995 14:40:15 +0000 Subject: THE SECRET IS OUT 5 Message-ID: <199502151437.AA20098@xs1.xs4all.nl>

by this cancel message found in control:

rahul.net/news/news/control/462697

> Control: cancel <199502151437.AA20098@xs1.xs4all.nl>
> Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
>Path:
>rahul.net!a2i!olivea!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netcom.com!news.rain.org!news5.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!peernews.demon.co.uk!xs4all.nl!anonymous-remailer
> From: maco@netcom.com
> Subject: cmsg cancel <199502151437.AA20098@xs1.xs4all.nl>
> Message-ID: <cancel.199502151437.AA20098@xs1.xs4all.nl>
> Sender: mako@netcom19.netcom.com
> Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
> Date: Wed, 15 Feb 1995 14:40:15 GMT
> Lines: 3
>
> This message has been cancelled due to copyright violations.
>
> --

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The appearance of the Cancelpoodle was a sign of the kind of desperation that had seized those in authority at the CoS, in that they were willing to resort to bad netiquette to try and censor dissenting opinions. It was a precursor of actions to come.

The Cancelpoodle hall of fame includes (in order of first appearance):

harryj@netcom.com (Harry Jones) robocanceller@netcom.com mako@netcom.com (Michael Clark) student@netcom.com (John Palmer) bettyj@netcom.com (Elizabeth Jones)

The following is a typical cancel from the Cancelpoodle. This was a cancel of a post by Martin Hunt. The assertion that materials in the post were copyrighted were for the most part, false. Posts were being cancelled that contained uncomfortable assertions on the part of the writer, or discussions of allegedly copyrighted posts, but it wasn't until the blasting of "SCAMIZDAT" on a.r.s and elsewhere in early April that the Cancelpoodle was used to cancel posts that allegedly contained CoS copyrighted materials. Even so, persons on a.r.s wished that the CoS would prove their copyrights in court rather than use the Cancelpoodle to stifle discussion.

> Control: cancel <D4DqDM.4At@freenet.carleton.ca>
> Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
>Path:
>rahul.net!a2i!olivea!charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu!csusac!csus.edu!netcom.com!ix.netcom.com!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!utnut!nott!cunews!freenet.carleton.ca!FreeNet.Carleton.CA!av282
> From: student@netcom.com
> Subject: cmsg cancel <D4DqDM.4At@freenet.carleton.ca>
> Message-ID: <cancel.D4DqDM.4At@freenet.carleton.ca>
> Sender: student@netcom20.netcom.com
> Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
> Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 02:17:46 GMT
> Lines: 1
> This posting has been cancelled because it contains copyrighted materials

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Just after the Cancelpoodle showed up, the CoS lawyers were turned loose on the Net. The following letter was received by members of the cypherpunks remailer list on January 4, 1995 from Thomas Small, one of the house lawyers retained by the CoS. The purpose of the letter was to try and get the remailers to stop anonymous posters to a.r.s from using their services.

Subject: Warning letter from Co$. [any comments ?]
Date: Wed, 4 Jan 1995 17:00:38 +0100
To: cypherpunks@toad.com From: nobody@replay.com (Name withheld on request)

January 3, 1995

TO: INTERNET REMAILER OPERATORS

FROM: THOMAS M. SMALL COUNSEL FOR RELIGIOUS TECHNOLOGY CENTER AND BRIDGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.

I represent Religious Technology Center ("RTC"), which owns the unpublished, confidential Advanced Technology of the religion of Scientology, and holds exclusive rights under the copyrights applicable to the Advanced Technology materials. I also represent Bridge Publications, Inc., which holds the exclusive right to print, publish and sell various non-confidential works by the founder of the Scientology religion, L. Ron Hubbard, and to make and publish compilations and derivative works of and from those works and to enforce all rights in them.

It has come to my attention that there are two alternate newsgroups on the Internet to which individuals have been annonymously posting certain of my clients' published and unpublished copyrighted materials, including certain of the confidential Advanced Technology materials. These confidential materials being posted were stolen from my client. There is reason to believe that the materials which are uploaded by these users may also be downloaded by other users, and that these activities may be occurring through the systems which are linked into the Internet. The two newsgroups into which these materials are being copied are alt.technology.clearing and alt.religion. Scientology.

We request your assistance in dealing with the problem. The spread of infringements and misappropriations by the users will be lessened if you lock out from your systems the two newsgroups involved, alt.religion.scientology and alt.technology.clearing, limiting the potential for reposting and downloading. It will then be easier to deal with the intentional infringers through appropriate channels.

Both the uploading and downloading of these materials constitute unauthorized copying and distribution of the materials in violation of our clients' rights under United States copyright laws and the law of other countries, where applicable. Damages and an injunction against further unauthorized copying and distribution may be obtained against infringers and, all unauthorized copies and all materials and equipment by which the unauthorized copies may be reproduced can be impounded. Unauthorized disclosure of the confidential Advanced Technology materials also violates applicable trade secrets laws.

Action is being taken directly with the systems users who we know are primarily responsible for these violations of my clients' rights. We hope those actions will put an end to the infringements by these users. We do {not} wish to involve others in litigation. Unfortunately, however, such actions will be unavoidable where there is contributory infringement by those who knowingly induce or contribute to the infringing conduct of these users by providing facilities or systems that enable the direct infringers to infringe, because we legally must take all actions to protect our clients' property rights. Courts are holding such contributory infringers liable. Two examples are: Sega Enterprises Ltd. v. Maphia BBS, 30 U.S.P.Q. 2d 1921 (N.D. Cal. 1994) and Playboy Enterprises v. Frena, 839 F. Supp. 1152 (M.D. Fla. 1993).

Recent proposed legislation regarding potential liability of systems operators and others who provide facilities or services, such as annonymous remailers, for information passing through their systems has understandably created concern on the part of systems operators as a potential liability. We ask your voluntary assistance in dealing with these known wilful infringers so that we can both deal with the problem without legal hassles, and legal liability can be confined to those who intend to create the situation.

We ask that you confirm that you have blocked access to these newsgroups through your remailer. If you are unwilling to do so, we ask that you inform us as to the reasons for your position.

Sincerely,

Thomas M. Small

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Apparently, the attempt to control the remailers was deemed to not be enough for the Scientologists. The next appearance a CoS attorney was in the Control group, when Helena Kobrin attempted to rmgroup a.r.s.

> Control: rmgroup alt.religion.scientology
> Newsgroups: alt.config,alt.lotto.players,alt.lotto.players.ctl
> Path: uunet!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netcom.com!hkk
> From: hkk@netcom
> Subject: cmsg rmgroup alt.religion.scientology
> Message-ID: <hkkD29JJB.1GA@netcom.com>
> Followup-To: alt.config
> Sender: hkk@netcom.com (Helena Kobrin)
> Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
> Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 22:52:23 GMT
> Lines: 17
> Xref: uunet control:1568915

We request that you remove the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup from your site. The reasons for requesting its removal are: (1) It was started with a forged message; (2) not discussed on alt.config; (3) it has the name "scientology" in its title which is a trademark and is misleading, as a.r.s. is mainly used for flamers to attack the Scientology religion; (4) it has been and continues to be heavily abused with copyright and trade secret violations and serves no purpose other than condoning these illegal practices.

Please confirm that you have removed this newsgroup from your system.

Helena K. Kobrin Counsel for trademark and copyright owner

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

Most sysadmins laughed at Helena Kobrin; indeed, her botched attempt to rmgroup a.r.s may have actually caused some sysadmins to subscribe to the group to see what was going on.

From: dbd@panacea.phys.utk.edu (David DeLaney)
Subject: cmsg newgroup alt.religion.scientology
Date: 12 Jan 1995 02:20:37 GMT
Organization: Formerly U. Tenn. Knoxville/Physics Dept.; presently
extremely dis Message-ID: <3f23ll$ii4@martha.utk.edu>

Sorry, kids; please carry out your harassment campaign against the a.r.s newsgroup by other means. Cancellation is bad enough; rmgrouping out of spite is Not A Good Idea, thanks. And while you're there, hkk, tell us please who the person at Netcom that's cancelling other people's messages in a.r.s is, why don't ya?

For your newsgroups file:

alt.religion.scientology He's dead, Jim

(alternatively: alt.religion.scientology Discussion of the belief-system Scientology)

In article <hkkD29JJB.1GA@netcom.com> hkk@netcom writes: > We request that you remove the alt.religion.scientology
> newsgroup from your site. The reasons for requesting its
> removal are: (1) It was started with a forged message; (2)
> not discussed on alt.config;

Nonsense. One doesn't rmgroup active thriving groups simply because they were "not discussed on alt.config", *especially* not several years *after* they were newgrouped. You've got the wrong alt.* hierarchy here, methinks.

(3) it has the name > "scientology" in its title which is a trademark and is
> misleading, as a.r.s. is mainly used for flamers to attack
> the Scientology religion;

So what's your point? Are you maintaining that nobody can use a trademarked word? Are you maintaining that nobody can attack the Scientology religion? Again, I think you have quite the wrong alt.* hierarchy here...

(4) it has been and continues to be > heavily abused with copyright and trade secret violations and
> serves no purpose other than condoning these illegal practices.

Um, I think you're seriously confused; this is alt.religion.scientology, not alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.scientologists . "Trade secret violations"? For a *religion*? I think you have the wrong United States of America here...

Dave "And next I suppose they'll say they've copyrighted the word 'Scientology' - L. Ron would be furious!" DeLaney -- \/David DeLaney dbd@panacea.phys.utk.edu "It's not the pot that grows the flower It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. Disclaimer: IMHO; VRbeableWIKTHLC http://enigma.phys.utk.edu/~dbd/ - net.legends FAQ / CanterSiegelKibozeBait!!

-------------- From: davidg@netcom.com (David Guntner)
Subject: cmsg newgroup alt.religion.scientology
Message-ID: <davidgD29wzp.23v@netcom.com>
Organization: What a concept! :-)
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 1995 03:43:00 GMT

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

This was very likely a forgery. The From: line is botched, and a Sender: line is present.

netcom:$ egrep alt.religion.scientology /usr/lib/news/active alt.religion.scientology 0000027549 07508 y

Judging from 27,000+ articles received since it was created, this is not a newly created group; it's been around a while. The reasons he gives for requesting a rmgroup are most likely as bogus as the "address" he was posting from.

The orignal article was: > Xref: netcom.com control:923876
> Control: rmgroup alt.religion.scientology
> Newsgroups: alt.config,alt.lotto.players,alt.lotto.players.ctl
> Path: netcom.com!hkk
> From: hkk@netcom
> Subject: cmsg rmgroup alt.religion.scientology
> Message-ID: <hkkD29JJB.1GA@netcom.com>
> Followup-To: alt.config
> Sender: hkk@netcom.com (Helena Kobrin)
> Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
> Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 22:52:23 GMT
> Lines: 17
>
> We request that you remove the alt.religion.scientology
> newsgroup from your site. The reasons for requesting its
> removal are: (1) It was started with a forged message; (2)
> not discussed on alt.config; (3) it has the name
> "scientology" in its title which is a trademark and is
> misleading, as a.r.s. is mainly used for flamers to attack
> the Scientology religion; (4) it has been and continues to be
> heavily abused with copyright and trade secret violations and
> serves no purpose other than condoning these illegal
> practices.
>
> Please confirm that you have removed this newsgroup from
> your system.
>
> Helena K. Kobrin
> Counsel for trademark
> and copyright owner

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6

iQCVAgUBLxSlPA0Aj0bAuAXFAQHprwQAz7QL9BTNArhsUX2UsuAb+yx+LZyMBoBx KCqv81RcuTrYxSLiAV43D1QiIPKvQ4fbm21T7XDxzWGkEfPzoX0yZLrCTqHlrVO9 +EdIKG//LeXVmpu9Vho8NdXjkL4pVRhqn13XaWZi7B5l1gButjwye2393/Pz4OPm PDn+oS6tol4= =ok59 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- Concerned about your message security? Read alt.security.pgp! // David Guntner Internet: davidg@netcom.com Finger or key server \X/ Vicksburg, MS GEnie: Just say NO! for PGP Public key GO d? H s:+ !g p0 au a w+(+++) v C++(++++) US(++) P+ L 3 E- N++(+++)@ K W--- M-- !V po Y+ t+ 5++ !j R G? tv b+ !D B--- e/* u+ h f r-->++ !n(-) y+(*)

---------------- From: twpierce@quads.uchicago.edu (Tim Pierce)
Subject: newgroup alt.religion.scientology
Message-ID: <1995Jan12.215244.22093@midway.uchicago.edu>
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 1995 21:52:44 GMT

This newgroup message for alt.religion.scientology is a response to the Church of Scientology's recent rmgroup.

-- Searching for: WWW repositories for Deaf and/or ASL information

----------------- From: caj@tower.stc.housing.washington.edu (Craig A. Johnston)
Subject: cmsg newgroup alt.religion.scientology
Date: 16 Jan 1995 16:58:14 GMT
Organization: University of Washington
Message-ID: <3fe8j6$5nv@news.u.washington.edu>

In article <hkkD29JJB.1GA@netcom.com>, <hkk@netcom> wrote: > We request that you remove the alt.religion.scientology
> newsgroup from your site. The reasons for requesting its
> removal are: (1) It was started with a forged message; (2)
> not discussed on alt.config; (3) it has the name
> "scientology" in its title which is a trademark and is
> misleading, as a.r.s. is mainly used for flamers to attack
> the Scientology religion; (4) it has been and continues to be
> heavily abused with copyright and trade secret violations and
> serves no purpose other than condoning these illegal
> practices.
>
> Please confirm that you have removed this newsgroup from
> your system.
>
> Helena K. Kobrin
> Counsel for trademark
> and copyright owner

Get lost.

------------ From: smj@smudge.oro.net (Scott Jennings)
Subject: cmsg newgroup alt.religion.scientology
Date: 17 Jan 1995 03:53:56 GMT
Message-ID: <3fff0k$33n@ag.oro.net>

This is in response to an attempt to remove this very active and time honored newsgroup.

For your newsgroups file: alt.religion.scientology L. Ron Hubbard's Church of Scientology

Or alternatively...

For your newsgroups file: alt.religion.scientology He's dead, Jim

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In the midst of the activities by the Cancelpoodle and the lawyers, Jeff Jacobsen posted the following:

From: cultxpt@primenet.com (Jeff Jacobsen)
Subject: Interesting AOL post
Date: 11 Feb 1995 09:36:07 GMT
Message-ID: <3hi0e7$s8b@news.primenet.com>

I decided to utilize the free 10 hours on America Online to see what it's like. It's pretty easy to use, but I don't see any advantage over the internet from a quick tour. Anyway, while on the Scientology (apparently moderated by Koreen?) newsgroup, I read a post by Mark Pope, in which he states; "Theres a really great handling in progress for the a.r.s. newsgroup and it will be a relief to see that snake pit disappear." This was dated 1/18/95. What is this "handling", do you suppose? Does he mean the Cancelpoodle, Kobrin and Small, or what? Has anyone else seen discussions about what the church is doing to "handle" a.r.s.? And there's *another* one for your sig file, Rod - "snake" Hey Russ, are you part of this "handling?"

-- ------------ cultxpt@primenet.com for interesting stuff about Scientology(tm) Jeff Jacobsen anonymous ftp to ftp.primenet.com PO Box 3541 /users/c/cultxpt OR Scottsdale AZ 85271 http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~sloth/sci/sci_index.html

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The original post from AOL follows. It was found in the Religion area, in the section entitled Other Religions, on a board about the wins of Scientology. (Downloaded by me, 4/15/95.)

Subj: Re:Hello Go Clear Date: 95-01-18 22:01:45 EDT
From: MarkP10

Dear GoClear,

GREAT screen name!! Theres a really great handling in progress for the a.r.s. newsgroup and it will be a relief to see that snake pit disappear. In the meantime, please continue your great posts to this folder.

Best, Mark P.

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Another Scientologist posted the following on January 28. It appears that this tactic was tried for awhile in March.

Message-ID: <950128063857_2181642@aol.com>
Date: Sat, 28 Jan 1995 06:38:59 -0500
From: WONDERFULR@aol.com
Subject: GOOD NEWS ON ARS

GOOD NEWS ON ARS

I think I may have a solution that can work for everybody.

When I asked for help in getting the graffiti spraying to stop, you guys held back. One even posted that you folks *knew* a way to stop it, but would not tell me.

Now, I understand that I am a net newbie, but let me run this idea by you.

I want the graffiti to stop. You have your free speech rights. If you were doing what you are doing in private e-mail, I would not know (or care). I just don't like the endless stuff that gets repeated here that is vile and false.

Solution: I send a request uplines in the church for an official worldwide Call to Arms. We want each Scientologist with a computer and a modem to post their success stories to *every* newsgroup that has any sizeable amount of black PR being posted.

The Scientologists would need to be notified of which newsgroups and their net address. The Scientologists would not need to read any of the existing posts on those newsgroups, as they can see all the success stories they like, at their local org.

Now, I'm not talking about paltry 100-200 posts a day. I'm talking about ENOUGH of the success stories to really "paint over" all of the graffiti. If a particular newsgroup had 100 negative posts a day going to it, then we would need to post at *least* 2000-3000 success stories a day to that newsgroup.

To make sure that *our* stuff is on an "equal footing" with the black pr stuff, each Scientologist posting would need the names of the current threads and only use those names for their subject headers. These would change from month to month, so there is a bit of admin involved, but I'm certain it can be done.

To ensure that a negative sysop does not kill file the theta posts, the success story posters could post from anonymous remailers. They might need to change the anonymous remailer site they posted from once in a while to ensure that their posts got through, but this could be handled (again, with a bit of organization)

What I envision is that every newsgroup that has significant entheta posts getting ENOUGH theta posts to completely cancel out the negative.

I could be way off on the numbers. It might take 9000-10,000 posts a day to some newsgroups to do the job. But if that is what it takes, then that is what it takes.

This would be a real opportunity for Scientologists everywhere to contribute, without really spending a lot of time. When I consider how much Scientologists like to help and how little of their time this would take, I see real possibilities. There are probably enough Scientologists in Los Angles alone to do this, but I see it as a world wide cooperative effort amongst the group. Plus, I like the international idea.

What is now ars (or other similar newsgroups) could become large e- mail groups. You guys can enjoy your free speech, and I get the graffiti to stop.

Naturally, this is just my idea at this point, and there may be something I have not considered.

If the church did endorse the idea, it would be a great PR move too. The broad press releases about how Scientology success stories (and selected texts like What is Scientology) were available at no charge on the internet.

There are details of course; , like someone to monitor all net newsgroups for selected words (Scn, C of S, Hubbard, etc.) to see if there were new places that needed some success stories.

This is just a rough outline of my plan, and I know it needs a lot of polishing. As there are a lot of people here who know considerably more about computers and the internet than I, please feel free to post your input on this idea.

I welcome the assistance. I want to work this out.

Sincerely,

Russell Shaw

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====================Deana M. Holmes================================ mirele@xmission.com================ Compiler of History of a.r.s == ========You can get anything you want at Xenu's Restaurant========= ================Practicing encheferation since 1995================

-- Marina Chong <*> SP4+, KoX, GGBC#13, KBM#5, Joker/Degrader ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The criminal cult $cientology was largely responsible for the demise of: Noah Lottick Richard Collins Albert Jaquier John Buchanan Patrice Vic Lisa McPherson anon.penet.fi utopia.hacktic.nl http://www.entheta.net/ Marina's Manor: http://www.best.com/~mchong/

From: Reposter <Reposter@Reposter.Org>
Subject: Dennis Erlich's Jan. 11, 1996 post & irc log
Date: 24 Dec 2002 20:14:02 -0800
Message-ID: <aubbaa019d@drn.newsguy.com>

Reposted:

Who is Dennis Erlich, and why did Scientology conduct a raid at his home on his computer files?

From: dennis.l.erlich@support.com
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 96

Dear New Reader,

Hello. My name is Dennis Erlich, and I would like to welcome you to the wacky world of alt.religion.scientology. I extend this welcome despite the fact that I hold no "official" position in the newsgroup, exactly in the same way that you don't. The only difference between us is that I got on-line here a bit earlier than you, or tuned into this newsgroup sooner than you did. And I know a bit about the subject of the newsgroup: scienotology. Er...I mean diaherretics. Or whatever is being discussed here.

Perhaps you heard that this particular newsgroup is like no other on the internet. It's true. For that reason it might take you a little while to get "up to speed" on the controversy, the jargon, and the medium. Stick with it, though.

It might be some kind of group adventure into a new community the internet is creating. Or like some really heavy cosmic-consciousness kind of universal "happening". Then again, maybe not. But you might actually be participating in human history here. God only knows.

What a concept for us little people, huh? (no offense to my vertically- impaired friends)

I kinda "know the ropes" in this newsgroup to some extent, and so my friend (whom I've never met irl <in real life>), Martin, asked me to give you the quick tour. So you can grab your Free Clue about what's up around here, and decide if you want to lurk, post or move on. Martin asked me to do it in three screens, so I'm sure this particular piece of throw-away journalism has too much of something you didn't want, and not enough of something you did.

Sorry.

The reason I know so much about the scienos (that's what I call us/them) is that I was one myself from 1968 to 1982. I was very highly placed in the organization by the man we can thank for the specimen of mental excrement known as scientology: El Ron Hubbard - who is now, thankfully, an UTTERLY DECEASED madman.

My position in the cult <may I call it that?> was Chief Cramming Officer. My job, according the the Phatman (as we like to call him), was "FORCE- FEEDING DATA". I was the Chief Quality Control Engineer in the world's most profitable mind-control factory, which the scienos plopped down in the sleepy little retirement and vacation community of Clearwater, Florida.

I watched the cult take over that town, discredit the Mayor, intimidate the Fire Marshal, and refuse to pay taxes on millions of dollars of property, and hundreds of millions in cash that flowed through the Clearwater operation.

My position involved seeing to it that Hubbard's voluminous directives regarding the absolutely correct procedure to use to mess with the inside of another person's head were correctly taught and exactly applied to each and every person who fell for the scam. My job was to fix it if mark wasn't made to believe he'd been helped by the mind-f*cking he'd paid so much of his hard-earned cash to receive. It was my responsiblity to *make* the techniques work and get others to do the same.

I know all their techniques. I went all the way to the top of the training and processing levels, and taught others how to teach them.

I left my billion year contracted position (deal with the devil?) in 1982 and have spent the last (what is it?) 13 or 14 years, putting my head back on after the experience. S'not so easy.

But alas, I found alt.religion.scientology in July of '94 and since then I have had a place to tell others of my experiences and continue my recovery from the effects of my 28 year encounter with the cult.

It is, by the way, my belief that any of the ex-scientology posters you may read on ars, or on the newsgroup that discusses supposedly practical uses of scieno tek (alt.clearing.technology), are involved in some some sort of recovery from their scientology experience. But what do I know.

In the summer of '94 I began posting internal documents which I had been given to train on as (please excuse the expression) a minister of scientology, to this newsgroup.

These documents exposed the fraudulent and vicious nature of the scieno scam. I posted them based on the firm belief that the public had a right to know.

I posted them because in school I had read the highest law in the land, the United States Constitution, I believed (perhaps in in vast ignorance) that I had the right.

I posted these things under my own name, not anonymously, to prove to myself and to the scienos, that neither they, nor their twisted ideas, have control over me any longer. To prove that I control *my own* mind, and the actions that result from those thoughts.

The cult (I will be kind) bamboozled a Federal Judge in San Jose into thinking I was some kind of info-bootlegger, selling computer disks out of some dusty garage. This judge ordered a Civil Writ of Seizure (different from a criminal search warrant where probable cause is required). The judge allowed the scienos, without any Law Enforcement Officials present to conduct or even monitor the raid, to ransack my home; examine contents of every drawer, cabinet, closet and room; examine and copy the entire contents of my computers' hard drives; delete whatever they wanted to off my hard drives, pack up hundreds of my legally obtained disks, books and research papers; and take them without any inventory.

The rape of my privacy commenced at 7:30 in the morning of February 13th of last year (1995), and lasted seven hours with cult personnel in complete physical control of my home and person. I have still not had the property they stole during that raid returned to me, despite the fact that the judge has ruled that the raid violated my Constitutional Rights under the First and Fourth Amendments, vacated the Writ, and ordered them to return it.

I now face a long, drawn out legal battle with the cult for having dared to warn the public about the scam techniques. Fortunately I have support of many wonderful people around the world on the net, the backing of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the good wishes of the Cult Awareness Network, and the best pro bono (that means for the public good, freely given) legal representation from Morrison & Foerster (the Mighty MoFo, as they are known in these parts).

It is only hard costs - xeroxing, phones, depositions - that are not covered by MoFo's generous offer of legal protection. For that reason, others have set up a legal defense fund for me. Perhaps its purpose is, more correctly, to defend the public's right to know.

Ask questions of the regulars here (not necessarily me, please, til you've gotten up to speed). Get your web browser set up and read some of the many wonderfully designed world wide web sites about the cult and its attempt to stifle free speech on the internet. Ron Newman's page is often recommended as the place to start.

Lurk and learn. Dismiss the matter as trivial or foolish. Join in the amazing adventure free speech in this new medium provides.

Or just scratch your head and say, WTF.

But whatever role you play or walk away from, try to enjoy yourself and not get too worked up. Leave that to the professionals. Good reading!

And kids ... don't try this at home.

Rev. Dennis L Erlich * * the inFormer * * <dennis.l.erlich@support.com> <inForm@primenet.com> <tarbaby @ irc>

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And here's an example of the harassment Dennis received on the IRC channel #scientology at the hands of Yermo, an active Scientologist. Attacks like this coming from Scientologists can be see as more than idle threats on the net; all too often, Scientologists have backed up such threats with action.

Tarbaby, or tar for short, is Dennis Erlich's nickname on IRC; see his .sig file above. Dennis knows Yermo in real life; take a look at Yermo's comments about assassinating Dennis.

*** on channels: #scientology <cultxpt> luxx; what's new in Chilacco? <Luxx> tell me? <Luxx> I haven't a clue <Luxx> clueless <Luxx> Knew a guy in the Org about ten years ago <Luxx> Know the name Ron Loving <Luxx> England <Luxx> Was in the states as well <Yermo> tar if you take the stage you will probably be assinated <Yermo> i hope tyou have your will made out <tarbaby> I'm up for it, Yer. <Luxx> All the bru-ha-ha about the new is really simmering <Luxx> net <tarbaby> Nothing to leave. Nobody to leave it to. <Yermo> i guess youve taKEN A FEW BULLETS AND IT DIDNT KILL YOU *** Mode change "+o tarbaby" on channel #scientology by Apteryx <Apteryx> bye folks *** Signoff: Apteryx () <tarbaby> I laugh at death, hahaha. <Yermo> CAN WE SAY THAT I WAS THE FIRST TO CALL IT?? <tarbaby> Take whatever credit you need. <Luxx> One of the "ex'es" compared the Net war to Vietnam <Yermo> i wast o <Yermo> ti want to take odds on how manny bullets you take <Yermo> you will live on in ars heaven <Yermo> the first martyr <cultxpt> yermo; you are a putz <tarbaby> I can hardly wait. <Luxx> Been a few others <Luxx> real ones * tarbaby laughs at Jeff. *** dianer (~referen@slip166-72-251-82.oh.us.ibm.net) has joined channel +#scientology <Yermo> my bet they get you coming down the walkway from the airplane <dianer> hi, folks. <Yermo> like aquino <tarbaby> Hi di. *** Yermo has been kicked off channel #scientology by cultxpt (cultxpt) *** Luxx has left channel #scientology *** Yermo (vircuser@host6.net1.directnet.com) has joined channel #scientology *** Signoff: tarbaby (Later, my friends. Forward any quesions to +dennis.l.erlich@support.com. I'm ou) *** Yermo has been kicked off channel #scientology by Holistic (my turn!) *** Yermo (vircuser@host6.net1.directnet.com) has joined channel #scientology <cultxpt> somebody ban him *** Yermo has been kicked off channel #scientology by Stomps (Stomps) *** tarbaby (~dennis.l.@ip239.lax.primenet.com) has joined channel +#scientology *** Yermo (vircuser@host6.net1.directnet.com) has joined channel #scientology *** Yermo has been kicked off channel #scientology by Stomps (Stomps) <dianer> what's yermo up to? *** Yermo (vircuser@host6.net1.directnet.com) has joined channel #scientology *** Yermo has been kicked off channel #scientology by Stomps (Stomps) <tarbaby> Don't kick yermo. *** Yermo (vircuser@host6.net1.directnet.com) has joined channel #scientology *** Yermo has been kicked off channel #scientology by Stomps (Stomps) *** Yermo (vircuser@host6.net1.directnet.com) has joined channel #scientology *** Mode change "+b yermo!*@*" on channel #scientology by Holistic *** Yermo has been kicked off channel #scientology by Stomps (Stomps) <tarbaby> Jeeze, don't I get a say? <cultxpt> thanks. no, we dont tolerate crap here, tar. <dianer> what did I miss? <tarbaby> Well, I'm the newby. Whatever you all say. *** Mode change "+b *!vircuser@*.directnet.com" on channel #scientology by +Stomps * dianer thinks she always arrives after the fire's been put out. <Stomps> Does that work better? <cultxpt> dianer; yermo was talking a bit too strongly about someone getting +shot. <tarbaby> I'd rather have the threats than know things were happening behind +the scenes. <Holistic> stomps: yeah, i just did a ban on his nick to stop his auto-join <tarbaby> YHN <dianer> oops! <dianer> tarbaby: isn't Yermo your old buddy Andy's ex-roommate? <tarbaby> Not my buddy. <tarbaby> Rosa's brother. <dianer> tarbaby: well, I meant that in the *nasty* way <grin> <dianer> Wasn't he also mxxvi? <tarbaby> I knew that, di. <tarbaby> Yes, he was. <cultxpt> I don't suppose anyone was saving that? *** aspasia (aspasia@pipe4.nyc.pipeline.com) has joined channel #scientology <dianer> maybe someone can remember mxxvi's address and ban that, too. <tarbaby> Not me, Jeff. <dianer> also, appeared here as Dan, didn't he? * aspasia and bivalve wave <tarbaby> I don't know why he's being banned. <dianer> hi, aspasia! hi, bivalve! <tarbaby> And I don't vote for it. <Holistic> saving what jeff? a log og what yermo was sayin? <cultxpt> holi yes. <aspasia> problems with dan/dayun/mxxki/yermo? <Holistic> i can dump my buffer to a file, hold on <cultxpt> yermo was wishing a bullet for tarbaby <aspasia> Jeez <andii> that was nice of him. <tarbaby> I told him I was ready for a lead injection. *** mxxki (vircuser@pm4-22.pacificnet.net) has joined channel #scientology <aspasia> Was s/he not talking nicely about old time w/ dennis last night? *** skaplin (~skaplin@dial060.skypoint.net) has joined channel #scientology <dianer> tarbaby: at least you've got some witnesses to the enmity towards +you. <dianer> hi, slap. <skaplin> slap??? <skaplin> :) <tarbaby> How could someone not like me? <dianer> well, hey, that's close enough. <grin> *** Mode change "+b *!vircuser@*.pacificnet.net" on channel #scientology by +Stomps *** mxxki has been kicked off channel #scientology by cultxpt (cultxpt) * dianer thinks she'll add to the violent tone of the channel tonight. <andii> violent? <tarbaby> I wish you wouldn't, di. * skaplin will watch himself because Diane's Freudian slip is showing! <dianer> tarbaby: shape up, or I'll get out the steamroller. * dianer doesn't have a Freudian slip. <tarbaby> So what's the deal on kicking the dude. I needed him on the channel +to take temprature. <cultxpt> tar; you can email him <dianer> tarbaby: is he still on-lines? <cultxpt> :) <tarbaby> ? <Stomps> he knows how to msg people if he needs to get back <cultxpt> yes, he's still on irc <tarbaby> Right, Jeff. <skaplin> Who got kicked? Dan? <cultxpt> vircuser <tarbaby> Just because he was betting on my death, why ban him? <Stomps> yes, kicked and banned from two sites <tarbaby> It doesn't seem fair. He was just be a realist. <aspasia> dan/dayun/mxxki/yermo > wow, I was away and just read all the action from the log. who's this
+Yermo? <cultxpt> rn; you've got it? Can you save it? <Stomps> Dan, who says he's OT5, not onlines, not in agreement with the +current rulers <Holistic> jeff: i'm working on prettying the log up <tarbaby> Where's a lawman when you need him? <cultxpt> holi; ok > hold on.

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