When computers are seized because they contain allegedly stolen intellectual property, and police pierce the security anonymous remailers,the days of the Net as a cozy, cocktail party are over. Welcome to a flame war with real bullets. When computers are seized because they contain allegedly stolen intellectual property, or the security of anonymous remailers is pierced by police, alt.scientology.war the days of the Internet as a cozy, private, intellectual cocktail party are over. Welcome to mortal combat between two alien cultures ...

The growing popularity of the Internet has spawned discussion groups that offer something for just about everyone, from lovers of Jean-Luc Picard (try alt.sexy.bald.captains) to haters of a certain children's television program (alt.barney.dinosaur.die.die.die) to obsessives consumed by politics, computer lore, comic books or the hidden messages embedded in a single rock song (alt.meter-maid.lovely.rita). Few newsgroups, though, have drawn the kind of following now evident on alt.religion.scientology (a.r.s.), an international debating circle concerning the Church of Scientology. Always controversial, in recent months ...

IN THE ONLINE BRAWL OVER SCIENTOLOGY, INTERNET USERS DISCOVER THAT VIRTUAL REALITY BITES BACK.SHOWDOWN IN CYBERSPACE THE BATTLE OVER SCIENTOLOGY'S SECRETS IGNITES A HOLY WAR ON THE INTERNET. Lawrence Wollersheim's hands shake as he reads his notes, ticking off the damage done to his computers. Surrounding the 46-year-old Boulder resident is a cluster of reporters and, beyond that, a ring of glowering, dark-suited men (and one woman wearing a clerical collar), all packed into a hallway of the federal courthouse in ...

Arnaldo Lerma, the Arlington man who took on the Church of Scientology by putting its texts on the Internet, won a partial victory yesterday when a federal judge in Alexandria ordered that the church return 58 computer disks that it seized from him. U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema also verbally slapped Scientology lawyers, saying their handling of Lerma's files went far beyond what she had authorized as part of a suit alleging copyright and trade secrecy violations. "This case is ...

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Alexandria, Va., yesterday permitted The Washington Post to retain a copy of Church of Scientology texts and to use the texts in its news reporting, saying the paper's news-gathering rights far outweigh claims that the documents are protected by copyright and trade secrecy laws. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema refused to issue a preliminary injunction against The Post, saying its excerpts of the church's texts in an Aug. 19 Style section article were brief and ...

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Church of Scientology is going to unusual lengths to protect the secrecy of copyrighted church secrets. Two weeks ago, Arnie Lerma's home office was raided by U.S. Marshal's accompanied by lawyers and officials from the Church of Scientology. While the marshal's stood by, Lermas' computer was dismantled and carried away. He left the church 17 years ago after what he calls a dispute involving his romance with the daughter of church founder L. Ron Hubbard. He's been ...

As the Church of Scientology battles a band of cyberspace dissidents - seizing computers and papers from the homes of vocal online critics in the past two weeks - local defectors charge they are being harassed for speaking out against the church. Robert Vaughn Young and Stacy Young, longtime staff members who left the Church of Scientology in 1989, complained to police that Scientologists have picketed their house in West Seattle at least five times in the past two weeks. They ...

An arm of the Church of Scientology has sued The Washington Post and two of its reporters in an attempt to prevent publication of copyrighted information that belongs to the church. In an amendment to a suit filed against an Arlington man Aug. 11 in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, the Religious Technology Center asks that the newspaper return certain documents and refrain from publishing information that the church claims is confidential scriptures protected by federal laws. The church originally sued ...

BOULDER — A computerized attack on the Church of Scientology was halted yesterday when U.S. marshals raided the homes of two church detractors. The marshals turned over the computers and documents to officials of the church. "Marshals just hauled out all kinds of public records," said detractor Lawrence Wollersheim of Boulder. " . . . attorney-client privilege documents, books legally purchased at any B Dalton bookstore. This was a Scientology cult raid to seize the confidential records of FACTNet." FACTNet is ...

The Religious Technology Center (RTC) yesterday sued The Washington Post and two of its reporters, charging they have engaged in "extensive intentional copyright infringement and trade secrets misappropriation, targeting confidential Scientology scriptures." RTC, which holds the intellectual property rights of Scientology, filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema will hold a hearing Friday on a temporary restraining order and RTC's impoundment application to retrieve its documents from the newspaper. The new ...

To reach what the Church of Scientology calls the seventh level of spirituality, the church's scriptures instruct followers to go to zoos and parks to communicate with plants and animals and go to train stations to put thoughts in the minds of strangers. Advice like that doesn't come cheap. Scientologists pay tens of thousands of dollars for such spiritual teachings. Now, to the church's dismay, they're free with an Internet account. The scriptures had been entered as an affidavit in a ...

It was 9:30 and Arnie Lerma was lounging in his living room in Arlington, drinking his Saturday morning coffee, hanging. Suddenly, a knock at the door — who could it be at this hour? — and boom, before he could force anything out of his mouth, they were pouring into his house: federal marshals, lawyers, computer technicians, cameramen. They stayed for three hours last Saturday. They inventoried and confiscated everything Lerma cherished: his computer, every disk in the place, his client ...

ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 13 — The Church of Scientology is battling a band of on-line dissidents who have used the Internet to mail out globally its secret scriptures, for which some members must pay thousands of dollars. On Saturday, as a result of a copyright infringement lawsuit, United States marshals here seized the computer of a former church employee who had electronically posted a 136-page text that he said was available in court records. The former employee, Arnaldo P. Lerma, 44, ...

U.S. marshals seized computer equipment and files Friday from an Arlington man charged with posting copyrighted materials on the Internet criticizing the Church of Scientology. The church has filed a lawsuit against Arnaldo Lerma, 44, of 6045 N. 26th Rd., and his Internet access provider, Vienna-based Digital Gateway Systems, claiming copyright infringement. The controversy which culminated in last week's raid began a year ago after church officials warned both Lerma and DGS to cease posting "confidential and unpublished" Scientology teachings. The ...