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2 Rutgers J. L. & Religion 1 (2001)

handle is hein.journals/rjlr2 and id is 1 raw text is: SCIENTOLOGY OR CENSORSHIP: YOU DECIDE An Examination of the Church of Scientology, Its Recent Battles with Individual Internet Users and Service Providers, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and the Implications for Free Speech on the Web Theresa A. Lyons* Ideas, and not battles, mark the forward progress of mankind.' I. INTRODUCTION This is a story of long drawn-out battles fought between numerous controversial entities, all of which use weapons of conflicting legal paradigms in an uncertain space. On one side is the Church of Scientology.2 On the other, former disgruntled Scientologists,3 Internet Service Providers (hereinafter ISPs)4 and the news media.5 * J.D. and M.S.W. expected May 2001, Rutgers University School of Law - Camden and Rutgers University Graduate School of Social Work - New Brunswick. Ms. Lyons would like to thank the editorial staff of the Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion and also Professor Rod Dixon for their help and contributions to this article. 1 This quote, attributed to L. Ron Hubbard, is posted on the boardroom wall at the Religious Technology Center (RTC) in Los Angeles. See Jim Lippard & Jeff Jacobsen, Scientology v. the Internet: Free Speech & Copyright Infringement on the Information Super-Highway, 3 SKEPTIC 3, 40 (1995), at http://www.sleptic.con 03.3.il-ii-scientology.ht (update to original article) (on file with the Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion). The RTC is one of the formal entities constituting the Church of Scientology and is known for being a watch dog of sorts, actively pursuing those who publish or disseminate controversial Church materials without permission. According to the Church of Scientology, its official purpose is to protect the public from misapplication of the technology and to see that the religious technologies of Dianetics and Scientology remain in proper hands and are properly ministered. CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY INTERNATIONAL, WHAT IS SCIENTOLOGY? 305 (1998). 2 L. Ron Hubbard founded the first Church of Scientology in 1954. CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY INTERNATIONAL, WHAT IS SCIENTOLOGY? 48 (1998). Despite its relative youth, the Scientology movement currently boasts over 8 million members worldwide. Natalie Hanlon-Leh, Lessons from Cyberspace & Outerspace: The Scientology Cases, 27 A.B.A. SUM. BRIEF 48, 49 (1998). See also The Church of Scientology International, Church of Scientology, at http://www.scientologynr ghomehtml (official home page of the Church). In addition to authoring the aforementioned piece, Ms. Hanlon-Leh also served as the counsel of record for the defendant in R. T. C. v. F.A. C. T.Net, Inc., one of the cases discussed in this article. See Religious Tech. Ctr. v. F.A.C.T.Net, Inc., 901 F. Supp. 1519, 1521 (D. Colo. 1995). 3 The three cases examined in this paper all stem from the actions of disgruntled Scientologists. In each of these cases, former Church members disseminated secret Church materials via the Internet in order to publicly criticize Scientology. The Church then responded with litigation, alleging copyright and trademark infringement against not only the disgruntled Scientologists, but also against a number of Internet Service Providers and publishers of various kinds. See Religious Tech. Ctr. v. Lerma, 908 F. Supp. 1

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