Jamie Beckett, Chronicle South Bay Bureau
SCIENTOLOGY ATTORNEY
In a case that could put a clamp on freewheeling cyberspace, the Church of Scientology is suing a computer bulletin board and an Internet access provider for distributing secret religious texts and violating church copyrights.
The lawsuit, which also names the church critic who posted the materials, is being argued tomorrow in U.S. District Court in San Jose.
The closely watched case is one of the first to examine who is responsible for what is said on the vast network of electronic bulletin boards, forums, chat groups and other services that make up cyberspace.
``This could have a chilling effect on freedom of expression over the Internet,'' said Randy Rice, an attorney representing Netcom On- Line Communications Services, the San Jose Internet access company being sued.
Some computer professionals fear that on-line networks could be required to monitor communications if the church succeeds in its suit against Netcom and a North Hollywood-based computer bulletin board operator that transmitted postings by former Scientology minister Dennis Erlich.
Erlich, a Glendale writer who split from Scientology in 1982, began his electronic crusade against the church in August, posting critical messages and excerpting from the writings and speeches of church founder L. Ron Hubbard.
``I preach on the Internet. These are my sermons. I was quoting from their scripture (to show the evils of the church),'' said Erlich, who has been told by U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte to stop transmitting copyrighted Scientology texts on the Internet. Erlich also contends that he was using the material as a basis for satire and commentary, which is protected under copyright law.
Last month, armed with a court order, church officials raided Erlich's home to seize materials they claim are copyrighted. According to Erlich, they took 400 computer diskettes, deleted material from his hard drive and copied the hard drive, which contained such personal information as his tax records, letters to his daughter, his private e-mail and his diary.
``I can't believe this could happen in America,'' he said. In court tomorrow, Erlich will argue that the church is violating his free speech and privacy rights.
Church officials said they are only trying to protect their copyrights and argue that systems operators should not sit by idly while subscribers are breaking the law.
Helene Kobrin, an attorney who represents Scientology's publishing company and the Religious Technology Center, holder of the ``Dianetics'' and ``Scientology'' trademarks, insisted that the church does not expect on-line services to monitor everything that goes through their systems.
``We're asking that when they're notified that a user is doing something that's not OK, that they respond to that and do something about it,'' she said. According to Kobrin, Netcom was unwilling even to pass on a warning to Erlich.
The question of who owns and is responsible for copyrighted material that is posted electronically is among the most hotly debated by Internet legal experts. Copyright law is easy to break and difficult to enforce in cyberspace, in part because of the freewheeling nature of the medium but also because intellectual property law has yet to catch up with technology.
``On-line services are so big and things are happening so fast that they don't have the ability to control what is going on. But that doesn't mean that people who own copyrights aren't trying to enforce them,'' said Mark Radcliffe, a Palo Alto attorney specializing in intellectual property law.
Among the complications: Although copyright laws differ from country to country, cyberspace has no geographic boundaries.
Requiring computer networks to monitor millions of transmissions each day would be virtually impossible, prohibitively expensive -- and, say some -- as unreasonable as compelling the telephone company to screen conversations for possible violations of the law.
``If your phone conversations were monitored to make sure you're not doing any illegal acts, we'd be living in a police state,'' said Kathleen Kells, managing director of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility in Palo Alto.
DAY: THURSDAY
DATE: 3/2/95
PAGE: A3
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