I am pleased to announce that the files temporarily removed from the Truth About Scientology statistics project -

http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/stats/

have all been restored.

My web hosting provider did not receive notice that Scientology had filed a lawsuit by close of business today. Under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act), my host can now restore those files without violating the law's "safe harbor" provisions - and they have done so.

(Just to be clear: as I understand it, Scientology can still sue me. They can sue me anytime, anywhere, over any bogus complaint that seizes their fancy. The issue here is the DMCA provisions, which state that, if the host hasn't received notice within 10 business days that a suit HAS been filed, then the files can be restored.)

I'd like to take a moment to offer the highest praise to my hosting provider, NPS Internet Solutions (npsis.com). I noticed a comment or two suggesting that they should have restored the files as soon as I filed my counter-notice, two weeks ago. I have read the law carefully, and I concur with their understanding of it - under the (badly flawed and problematic) law, they needed to wait those two weeks in order to have the full protection of the safe harbor provisions. From my perspective, they have acted with great promptness in all cases where it was required - both in removing the files as directed by the law, and in restoring them as soon as the law let them safely do so. Throughout this episode, they have been consistently courteous and professional toward me, and I continue to be a big fan of theirs.

While I am pleased that the files have been restored, I am even more delighted to be able to announce extensive new features enhancing these pages. These enhancements fall into three general categories:

* Links on Completion List Pages: Most information on the pages is now linked to related information - so in a listing of completions from Source magazine, each name is a link taking you to a page summarizing database entries for that individual. In addition, each of these enhanced completion lists now has tallies next to each service name, so you can see at a glance how many completions were listed for that service. (I'm hoping to create stat summary pages for each service, and I'd love to have short summaries describing those services. If you can help me write those summaries, please let me know!)

* Individual Summary Pages: There are now summary pages for each individual. More than 75,000 new pages provide one-click summaries of the records for each individual in my database. The new summary pages include information from my Clear List database and the 2001 and 2004 WISE directories; I'm hoping to add Scientologist Online information (which is there now, but needs serious improvement) and IAS information soon.

* Individual Search: Most stats pages now include a search box, making it easy to search for the individual summary pages that interest you.

As a result of the new features, it's now easy to link to a summary for a particular individual - especially handy if you're tracking the progress of your favorite celebrity, and also, I hope, useful for those who are keeping up with the lives of Scientologist family members and friends who have disconnected.

Here are some sample individual summary pages for you to explore:

http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/stats/by-name/g/gabriel-williams.html
http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/stats/by-name/t/tony-strawn.html

http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/stats/by-name/r/ron-rakow.html
http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/stats/by-name/j/jack-dirmann.html

http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/stats/by-name/b/bennetta-slaughter.html
http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/stats/by-name/k/kurt-paine.html (Lisa McPherson's boyfriend)

http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/stats/by-name/j/john-travolta.html
http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/stats/by-name/b/beck-campbell.html
http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/stats/by-name/c/chick-corea.html

I am quite pleased that Wog Tech (especially Open Source Tech) has enabled me to accomplish all this in a mere two weeks, but I have much more in the works, and I know there are some bugs to fix as well. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. (If you see some pages that do not have hyperlinks, it's probably just because there's a small glitch in the database I need to fix - no need to report those to me for now.)

To all who have offered support in the past two weeks, I'd like to extend my sincere appreciation.

And to all those who have contributed completion lists, proofreading skills, suggestions, and assistance with the stats project, I offer all the gratitude I have to give. I believe this project is important, and it wouldn't exist without your help.

Thank you!

Kristi

P.S. Yes, that's right - over 75,000 new pages.

--
Kristi Wachter
the activist formerly known as "Jour" (before $cientology outed me)

If I am not who you say I am, then you are not who you think you are. - James Baldwin

I think $cientology is hurting people and breaking the law, and I want them to stop it. See http://www.scientology-lies.com for more.

KSW: http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/alteringtech.htm

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