Letters

From the July 1996 issue

(Page 2 of 2)

The problem with the law is that our Advanced Technology, which makes up less than 1 percent of Scientology's materials, is not something that we want published and there really is no law that supports absolute ownership of text data. This goes beyond cyberspace law and into copyright law itself. We, as Scientologists, do not want this data disseminated beyond our doors. Any and all copies that are on the Internet are copied from physical papers that have been stolen from the church, since the church does not allow copies to leave its premises. We have our own reasons for this, but it is surely not to prevent a reasoned discussion of Scientology and the anti-Scientologists know this. I often wonder what would happen if someone created a group called

"alt.religion.judaism" effectively run by rabid anti-Semites? How long before the outcry would become deafening--to the point where Congress would overreact and pass the "Internet Big Brother Omnibus Bill of 1996" banning all discussion of religion or race on the net? It is up to us netizens to quickly develop a code of ethics that allows meaningful and free discussion while still respecting the rights of others and what others consider sacred. The anarchy of alt.religion.scientology (and other alt.* groups, for that matter) cannot continue, even in cyberspace, so we better define it now, on our own terms, rather than wait for the inevitable Big Black Boot to crush it.

Mark Patterson
Santa Clara, CA

David Post replies: I did not mean to suggest, as Leisa Goodman would have it, that "no effective solution to Internet piracy exists." I did indeed try to illustrate some of the difficulties faced by anyone trying to control the dissemination of information, "pirated" or otherwise, on the Net. But I also noted that while "cyberspace may indeed be difficult for territorially based authorities to control...we court danger, and put this remarkable experiment in political life at risk, if we assume that it is impossible to control from within the non-virtual world," and I suggested that "the inhabitants of cyberspace, too, must develop mechanisms to recognize and respect the legitimate interests of individuals outside their borders"--sentiments that I suspect Ms. Goodman shares. And I am pleased that the Church of Scientology recognizes the significant role that "self-regulation by Internet users" will play in solving the Net's problems, and also that the church is moving to "make full use of the Internet to tell people what Scientology is." The Net will be a richer marketplace of ideas when users have access to all sides of controversial questions.

As to Loren Davis's points concerning the Usenet newsgroups, I fully concur in the notion that the "alt" Usenet hierarchy is somewhat unusual, and that many, and perhaps most, of the moderated Usenet newsgroups outside this hierarchy are developing rules-- including "[d]emocratically approved moderators and group charters"--under which each individual Usenet community will operate. This is precisely what I had in mind when I wrote that the Net provides ample opportunities for new forms of community self- governance, through which "[t]he consent of the governed can move from being a theoretical construct to a real principle of governance. No longer will we need to theorize about the content of the laws that people would choose if they were free to do so; the Net will reveal those preferences for us by means of the invisible hand of a worldwide open market for laws, with communities competing for adherence." The flip side of which is illustrated by Mark Patterson's charge that alt.religion.scientology is a "bigoted cesspool." Obviously, Mr. Patterson is unhappy with the operation of this particular community. But the wonderful thing about cyberspace, as I noted in my article, is that there is "an infinite amount of space, and movement between on-line communities is entirely frictionless....Those who find the rules oppressive or unfair may simply leave and join another community (or start their own." I suspect this is precisely what Mr. Patterson has done.

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