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Lerma on $cientology Raid:

6 Ways You Can Fight Back

Subject: LERMA ON $CIENTOLOGY RAID: 6 WAYS YOU CAN FIGHT BACK
Date: 29 Aug 1995 02:02:09 -0400
Organization: FACTNet 3 Defense Team
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Message-ID: <41uah1$4r1@light.lightlink.com>
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Fellow Netizens,

I don't know about you, but I REFUSE to be harassed by $cientology.

First Erlich was raided by their goons. Now I've been raided. 

And Co$ has threatened Internet providers with destructive nuisance 
suits. Some have yielded and dropped newsgroups or clients Co$ finds 
"controversial." The Internet and the First Amendment are under a 
devastating attack.

     Victims sit at home and blame themselves for abuse. Survivors act.

I say it's time we give Co$ the message, "HANDS OFF THE INTERNET! THE 
INTERNET IS FOR THE PEOPLE!" We must demonstrate the true power of the 
Internet. We must ACT NOW.

I ACTED as a FACTNet director when I posted the Fishman-Geertz public 
records from the FACTNet archives. FACTNet, a 501 (c) (3)-nonprofit 
electronic library and archive, has been at the front lines of this war 
for 2 years by assisting lawsuits, media outreach -- and the most 
powerful weapon of all, the TRUTH, via a secure bulletin board and 
electronic library of damning data on Co$.

That's why I became a director of FACTNet. So I could join forces with 
people with a history of successful ACTION against coercive groups.

    We must organize ourselves. FACTNet is the ONLY organization that 
    consistently fights $cientology -- and wins. 

During this crisis, I've been in constant contact with the FACTNet board 
to come up with a list of things we can all do from the grassroots level 
to stop Co$.

Here are 6 things YOU can do safely, NOW, with us to bring the war home 
to Co$:

1. Distribute this posting to every Usenet group and email address you 
   [believe would have a sincere interest. (Please avoid unjustified spamming 
   -- this will make us more  enemies than friends on the Net.)]

2. Call, write, or fax your Congressperson and demand action. If you 
   don't know how to contact him or her, we have it for you. Just point your
   browser to www.lightlink.com/factnet1.

3. Call your local paper, ask for the City Desk Editor, and demand to 
   know why they are afraid to cover this story. Give radio and tv stations a 
   shot, too.

4. GET INFORMED. Contact FACTNet's bulletins at www.lightlink.com/factnet1.
   They will be posting bulletins keeping you up-to-date during this crisis.

5. Donate your time: Become an active FACTNet Volunteer. They need 
   information-processing help, Webmaster help, Internauts to monitor the 
   Usenet groups, you name it.

6. Donate $5, $10 -- whatever you can afford -- to FACTNet. Point your Web 
   browser to www.lightlink.com/factnet1, email factnet1@lightlink.com, 
   or call (703) 241-1498 for instructions on how to contribute. If you have a
   credit card handy, FACTNet is set up to 
   receive your tax-deductible donation quickly and SECURELY. 

You've watched O.J. You know we need HEAPS of money to get "justice" in 
our system today. Your contribution will go to our defense funds and to 
giving FACTNet's amazing, 100,000-page archive of independent cult info a 
permanent home on the Internet. 

    If you can spare $25, FACTNet will send you key FBI documents -- 
    seized from Co$ headquarters -- that outline brutal Co$ techniques 
    for attacking critics, even the U.S. Government: lying, stealing, 
    breaking and entering, and more. You've never read anything like 
    these secret, internal documents. 

    If you can afford to contribute $100, we will place you on 
    FACTNet's Early Warning System and notify you personally by 
    email of emerging threats to your First Amendment freedoms. 

If you don't think this is your fight, THINK AGAIN.

First, the issue isn't just Co$. And it's bigger than cults. The issue is 
FREEDOM. Maybe you liked the movie, _The Net,_ maybe not. But when Sandra 
Bullock yells, "They did it to me, they'll do it to you" ....

    I now know EXACTLY what she means.

Second, as individuals we're sunk. That's $cientology's strategy. 
Separate us from the group and "put our heads on a pike" as an example. 

Imagine you wake to a knock on the door. They wave a warrant in your face and
grab your computer, modem, notes and files. Imagine wasting months of your 
life in court after court, as Co$ lawyers drag your family through the mud.

    That's the nightmare Dennis Erlich has lived since last February. 

Now imagine you make it your mission to inform the public about coercive 
groups. You become a board member of FACTNet. Further you dare to post 
embarrassing information about Co$ -- INFORMATION LEGALLY AND READILY 
AVAILABLE IN THE PUBLIC RECORD. Your house is "legally" ransacked by two 
US Marshals. Your records are pawed through by Co$. Strangers walk off 
with your monitor, your scanner, your notes, your dreams. Finally, you're 
forced to depend on the legal aid of strangers to slow the march of Co$. 
(Thank God, for _The Washington Post_!) 

  That's the nightmare that's just started for me.

Imagine you have no personal life left. Imagine you've had to wear 
bullet-proof vests. Imagine you gave up a handsome income and drive a 
caved-in '85 Dodge because you sacrificed your life to fighting groups 
like this brutal "church."

    That's the nightmare FACTNet's Executive Director Lawrence 
    Wollersheim has lived for 15 YEARS.

And don't think that this is the end of the war. FACTNet has proof that 
many cults are watching Co$'s "wins," sharing tactics and lawyers with 
Co$, and preparing for their own assaults on our Liberty. 

How long until other posters to Usenet groups are hauled into court? How 
long until even major services like America Online, Prodigy, and 
Microsoft Network are censored by $cientology?

Remember, alone we're easy pickings. Together, we're an amazing force. 
The more you do and contribute, the more we can fight back effectively 
against Co$. But even one action or just $5 can accomplish a tremendous 
amount -- multiplied by the efforts and contributions of tens of 
thousands of your fellow Netizens.

    NO ONE can stand alone in this fight.

So please, please, point your browser to www.lightlink.com/factnet1, email 
factnet1@lightlink.com, or call (703) 241-1498 and find out more about how 
you can help win this battle safely. 

IMHO, Arnaldo Lerma, FACTNet Director
     "I would prefer to die speaking my mind than live fearing to speak."
     "The Internet is the Liberty Tree of the '90s."

P.S. As a director of FACTNet, I go before the court NEXT WEEK -- so 
     please  act quickly. Don't let $cientology's high-powered lawyers roll 
     over all our First Amendment rights -- and destroy the Internet in the 
     process. Point your browser to www.lightlink.com/factnet1, email 
     factnet1@lightlink.com, or call (703) 241-1498 RIGHT NOW before you 
     turn back to your busy day.