[...] In 1995, the Church of Scientology began a legal campaign to remove what it held were copyright infringements and trade secrets from the Internet; see Scientology vs. the Internet. Spaink was one of the first famous Dutch Internet personalities and was one of about a hundred Dutch people to put up pages containing the Fishman Affidavit in protest against the actions of the church.

The Church of Scientology responded by suing Karin Spaink and a large number of Internet providers, including XS4ALL, for copyright infringement. Part of the Fishman Affidavit were documents that Fishman had asserted to be the official teachings of Scientology. The defendants responded by challenging the church to prove it was actually the copyright holder of the disputed documents. [...]

The Church of Scientology (or: CoS; or: Co$, as some of their opponents call it) sells its followers expensive courses which, if students study them carefully, are supposed to set them free ('clear' them). A former Scientology member, Steven Fishman, was brought before court because he committed several crimes in order to get the money to pay for these courses. Scientology urged him to get the money any which way he could. According to Fishman, they also assigned him to kill somebody, and failing that, ordered him to commit suicide. In an interview for Time Magazine, Fishman relayed those stories and blamed Scientology for his crimes. Scientology sued him for slander.»

Concerning the argument of religious freedom: it is obvious that such a freedom is never an argument to condone practices such as 'Fair Game' (the outlawing of critics), the 'Freeloader's Debt' (signing a strangling financial contract), 'Disconnect' (ordering members to break all ties with their partner, children, parents and friends when they criticise Scientology), 'Bait and Badger' (manipulate members who want to leave by alternately offering them rewards and intimidate them verbally).

The Dutch protest started when Scientology raided XS4all over the Fishman Affidavit. Many providers and one user - me - ended up being sued by Scientology. This is a chronology of the events. For strictly legal matters, please refer to the Scientology litigation kit.

Just as the December 11, 1995 meeting was getting underway, the Dutch defendants learned that Scientology had filed for a postponement of the lawsuit, claiming that the Church not find a notary to certify that the the Dutch web pages are in fact copies of Scientology's "secret scriptures". A few hours later, Scientology decided to drop the charges altogether! Details are still sketchy, but here are two messages that Karin Spaink and Felipe Rodriquez sent the night of December 11, followed by more definite messages from Karin and Felipe on December 12.

Sources to defend oneself with when sued by Scientology. (Anyway, I used them, and won.)

My subjects are varied, but I tend to write about matters of politics, technology, privacy, media, sex, health and bodies, and especially about the areas where these subjects merge or collide. Give me a brainbreaker, a couple of good books or papers on the subject plus three months, and I will come up with an essay that bites or seduces you, and that will give you a few ideas that you never thought of before.