Raising new issues about anonymity on the Net, the Church of Scientology is invoking a law passed last year to force AT&T to disclose the identity of an Internet service subscriber who allegedly infringed the church's copyrights online. Scientology's Bridge Publications, which four years ago helped to forge new law when it sued Internet service provider Netcom, claims the anonymous author "made two unauthorized, verbatim Internet postings" of the church's copyrighted works on the "alt.religion.scientology" Usenet group. Invoking a provision in ...

A book removed from Amazon's site because of alleged legal troubles is now among the top 150 books sold by the online bookstore. The book, a controversial exposé of the Church of Scientology, languished deep in Amazon's list of 4.5 million titles before being dropped in February. A Wired News report on that decision prompted Amazon to reinstate the book late last week. The book jumped to No. 700 before hitting a high of 148 on Tuesday. Author Jon Atack, reached ...

SEATTLE — Responding to e-mail complaints, Amazon.com says it will restore a book critical of the Scientology movement to its online catalog. The book, "A Piece of Blue Sky," by British writer Jon Atack, was banned by a British court following a successful 1995 defamation lawsuit against Atack. Amazon.com pulled the book in February, but said this week that it would reinstate it. "While the decision in February seemed the right thing to do at the time, we thought we could ...

Amazon.com has removed a controversial book from its listings, a book well known for angering the Church of Scientology. A Piece of Blue Sky, by UK writer Jon Atack, is an exposé of the Scientology movement from its creation in 1959 until the death of founder L. Ron Hubbard in 1986. The book disappeared from Amazon's site only recently. On alt.religion.scientology newsgroups, participants are questioning Amazon's decision, angrily pointing out that it is still legal to sell the book in United ...

Responding to customer criticism, Amazon.com today said it will restore a book critical of Scientology to its list of available titles. Amazon spokesman Bill Curry said Amazon removed Jon Atack's A Piece of Blue Sky from its virtual bookshelves in February after being advised that sales of the book were subject to a cease-and-desist order in the United Kingdom. Curry said the order stemmed from a ruling barring distribution of the book in that country because of defamatory language. Amazon has ...

The Church of Scientology in Clearwater says it is immune from criminal prosecution in the death of Lisa McPherson and wants the felony charges against it dismissed. In lengthy motions filed this week, Scientology's lawyers argue that the charges filed against the church last November "are both unnecessary and impermissible." Church staffers gave "spiritual assistance" to McPherson, a fellow Scientologist, in the days before she died, thus their actions were protected under the First Amendment and the state's new Religious Freedom ...

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Toronto — If you've ever called or written to the Chicago-based Cult Awareness Network (CAN) for help, or subscribed to the group's newsletter, a dirty little secret or two of yours may soon be in the hot little hands of the notorious Church of Scientology. CAN was sued out of existence and taken over by Scientology after the church launched 53 lawsuits against the cult information network. Files belonging to the original board of CAN have been in legal limbo since. ...

A school district committee says the program, based on teachings by Scientology's founder, is not in line with district and federal guidelines A Pinellas school district committee has refused to allow students to hear an anti-drug program based on the teachings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. The program is a product of Narconon International, a drug rehabilitation and education organization based in Los Angeles. Despite the reliance on Hubbard's principles, Narconon officials say it is a secular group that is ...

The Church of Scientology International has settled a long-standing legal battle to repossess about 2,000 unpublished and copyrighted documents and keep them from being accessed by computer users in the future. Under a settlement reached in a U.S. district court earlier this month, a Colorado-based nonprofit group called FACTNet is permanently enjoined to pay the church $1 million if FACTNet is found guilty of future violations of church copyrights. FACTNet, started by former Scientologist Lawrence Wollersheim, also promised to return all ...

Scientology leaders say they want peace. They say they want to stay out of court. But with both foes at home and foes abroad, that goal may be elusive. The spiritual home of the Church of Scientology is in Clearwater, but for many years now its leaders have had worldwide ambitions. But as disciples have carried L. Ron Hubbard's teachings away from America's shore, the reception has been almost universally chilly at best – and at times openly hostile. At one ...

Scientology leaders say they want peace. They say they want to stay out of court. But with both foes at home and foes abroad, that goal may be elusive. Leaders of the Clearwater-based Church of Scientology say they hope the years of heavy legal expenses are over. That may not be a realistic hope. While the number of cases Scientology is currently pursuing is down in the United States, a survey of the cases still under way shows a persistence and ...

Around the clock, from Norway, the Netherlands, Australia and every corner of the United States, the critics of Scientology discuss the controversial organization and its practices. A court decision in Sweden is quickly posted to the news group, followed quickly by a full translation. Daily transcripts of a trial in Northern California are up before daybreak the next day, and news accounts from all over the world are quickly translated and reproduced. Many of those who post messages to the central ...

http://www.scientology.org – Church of Scientology's official Web site with links to related sites. http://www.cchr.org – Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a Scientology organization that fights psychiatry and certain drugs. http://www.lronhubbard.org – The life and times of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. http://www.freedommag.org – Home of Freedom magazine, a Scientology publication that includes an issue on Clearwater. http://on-line.scientology.org – An introduction to 13,000 Scientologists on line. Anti-Scientology Web sites http://www.xenu.net – A Web site in Norway called Operation Clambake that contains the ...

NEW PORT RICHEY – Two members of the state physician's board are questioning whether a health-food store with ties to Scientology is practicing medicine illegally by offering a church-sanctioned vitamin regimen. The treatment, called "purification rundown," is one of the first steps Scientologists take upon joining the church. Church members tout the rundown as a purifying routine that enables people to kick drug abuse and "think more clearly and have more energy." Some physicians, and a former Scientologist interviewed by the ...

CLEARWATER — Two of the top candidates for mayor differed sharply on what traditionally has been a major issue in Clearwater, but it never came up during the recent campaign. Brian Aungst and Rita Garvey never discussed the Church of Scientology, which is expanding its downtown presence as never before and trying to shed its controversial image. Garvey, a longtime Scientology critic, made it a habit through the years never to speak with the church, which moved its "spiritual headquarters" to ...

Harold J. McElhinny (Bar No. 66781) Rachel Krevans (Bar No. 116421) Stephen P. Freccero (Bar No. 131093) Ronald P. Flynn (Bar No. 184 186) Jason A. Crotty (Bar No. 196036) MORRISON & FOERSTER LLP 425 Market Street San Francisco, California 94105-2482 Telephone: (415) 268-7000 Facsimile: (415) 268-7522 Jana G. Gold (Bar No. 154246) MORRISON & FOERSTER LLP 755 Page Mill Road Palo Alto, California 94304-1018 Telephone: (650) 8 13-5600 Facsimile: (650) 494-0792 Attorneys for Defendant DENNIS ERLICH UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT ...