The act of actually placing NOTs onto the Internet for others to download was a violation of the law, but that had not stopped people from obtaining NOTs and making use of the documents. The secret was out, and the residents of alt.religion.scientology wanted to make the information there publically available. The question was, how could this be done in a completely legal fashion?
Dave Touretzky of Carnegie-Mellon University found the answer: he created a Web page that offered a summary and synopsis of the NOTs documents. This Web page does contain quotes from NOTs; however, all of these quotes are used under the Fair Use provisions of the copyright laws of the United States. Thus, they can't be considered copyright violations. Nonetheless, because Scientology also claims that the NOTs documents are "trade secrets," the possibility exists that this page may be considered a violation of trade secret law in certain areas. Dr. Touretzky notes on his page that discussion of a trade secret is acceptable under Pennsylvania law, though this may not be the case in other states and other countries.
On August 22, 1996, a legal notice from the Church of Scientology was sent to Dave Touretzky via Federal Express. Apparently, Scientology has indeed recognized the existence of the NOTs Scholars Page, but they still want it to be taken down. It is currently unknown whether or not this page will have any effect on the "trade secret" status of the NOTs documents...if in fact the documents do indeed have any real status as "trade secrets." Here is a copy of Dr. Touretzky's reply.
Despite this threat, the NOTs Scholars Page is still up and running at this time.
Dr. Touretzky also maintains a Web page called Church of Scientology International v. Fishman and Geertz. This page contains links to additional information for those seeking information about the battle between Scientology and the Internet.
Click here to return to the NOTs on the Net main page.
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