Media clips regarding FACTNet and Internet Issues
"To some of us, preserving the Net for free speech is more important than anything in the free world."
--Ron Newman, netizen
"...The Internet, the electronic battlefield for the expensive and vitriolic war of words, has emerged as the chief survivor and as a force to be reckoned with. The zealous response of these so-called 'net-izens' against what they saw as an attack on unrestrained use of the Net has produced the most significant outcome in the battle so far."
--"Scientology war rages in courts, on 'Net," Boulder Planet, 8/21-27/96
"The Internet is an information age tool that empowers individuals and reduces the need for a large, authoritarian government. It empowers the poor with an unregulated world of entrepreneurial opportunity...Information and the new frontier could create a more fair, peaceful society The free flow of information is central to America's foundation, and '90s technology only enhances it. Unfortunately, it's all a big threat to those in power who rely on the control of information to secure their lofty positions. No matter what they call it, free speech is the issue."
--Wayne Laugesen, "Raiding Free Speech," Boulder Weekly editorial, 8/24/95
"Free speech advocates say the Scientology lawsuits are designed to censor discussion on the Internet, opening up 'netizens' to costly lawsuits over content, and taking away much of its unfettered appeal."
--Thomas Maier, "The Net: Copyright or 'Free Press'?" Newsday, 10/10/95
"If the church's lawsuits prevail...future providers of bulletin boards and newsgroups on the World Wide Web, as well as the companies running such subscriber services as Prodigy, Compuserve, and America Online might be forced to monitor or restrict information simply because they fear being sued...If system operators are liable for the content of the postings, it will lead to censorship...It would change the whole idea of how the Internet develops -- it's that important."
--Shari Steele, attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as quoted in "The Net: Copyright or 'Free Press'?" Newsday, 10/10/95
"This is about the ability of people to speak out...In the past, the church has harassed individuals who dared to criticize them. Now they've attacked the Internet, and they get people like me involved."
--Dick Cleek, Professor of Geography, University of Wisconsin Center in West Bend, as quoted in the Washington Post, 8/19/95
"Besides the technological curtailment of free speech, a skirmish like this one has the potential to completely disrupt the online operation not only of individual users, but also of entire networks overloaded by traffic their circuits were never designed to handle."
--Colman Jones, "Freedom Flames Out on the 'Net: Who Launched the largest-ever Sabotage of the Internet?" www.now.com/issues/15/44/News/feature.html
"...Other groups could adopt the Scientology strategy to stifle the unfettered, no-holds-barred talk that has characterized the Internet."
--Kevin Coughlin, "Scientology Posts Lead Net Activists to Mull Limiting Cherished Free Speech," New Jersey Star Ledger, 5/31/96
"Other [internet] users have reported mysterious incidents: investigators visiting their neighbors, strangers attempting to get into their telephone records, e-mail sent to their sysadmins asking that their accounts be closed down. How did we get to this, in a free country?... "It turns out that a belief in free speech and an interest in Scientology may involve you in the bitterest battle fought across the Internet to date. A fight that has burst the banks of the Net and into the real world of police, lawyers, and armed search and seizure. Ultimately, however, the drama doesn't matter: the real issues here are the boundaries of free speech and the future of copyright and intellectual property in the face of a technology that can scatter copies across the world in seconds... "Whatever the motives, when computers are seized because they contain allegedly purloined intellectual property, messages are intercepted as they traverse the network, or the security of anonymous remailers is pierced by police, the days of the Internet as a cozy, private, intellectual cocktail party are over. Welcome to real politics."
--Wendy M. Grossman, "alt.scientology.war," Wired, 8/95
A
