Over a period of twelve hours, between this Thursday night and Friday morning, American Rights Counsel LLC sent out over 4000 DMCA takedown notices to YouTube, all making copyright infringement claims against videos with content critical of the Church of Scientology. Clips included footage of Australian and German news reports about Scientology, A Message to Anonymous/Scientology , and footage from a Clearwater City Commission meeting. Many accounts were suspended by YouTube in response to multiple allegations of copyright infringement.

XenuTV wasn’t the only victim of these false copyright claims.  Many anons had their own home videos removed.  Some videos not protected by the United States’ DCMA were removed.  One of mine was removed. Here is the note sitting in my inbox that I came home to:

Dear Member:

This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by American Rights Counsel LLC claiming that this material is infringing:

Tom Cruise’s love for Scientology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjuhK4b4nQM

Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to prevent this from happening, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube’s copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.

If you elect to send us a counter notice, please go to our Help Center to access the instructions.

Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability.

Sincerely,
YouTube, Inc.

As I prepared to file a counter-claim to restore my video and use the legal system to punish whomever broke US law in having it removed, I noticed my video was not down any more.  It seems the American Rights Counsel LLC was a little too overzealous in removing videos, drawing the ire of YouTube.  They subsequently restored all videos this front group had removed.

The person responsible for this little campaign has been identifed, and a message from the hivemind to this individual is in the works.  He should be concerned; he has broken US copyright law, which is practically more sacred than the US constitution.  Also in the works is a new method for tracking these false DCMA claims, which will be used in all the upcoming harassment lawsuits against the Scientology cult and its front groups.

In the meantime, digg hurr.

One news report from International.org claims Scientologist representatives lied to Nordica Engineering about the amount of asbestos on board, and that Nordica workers who occupied the ship are now in danger of developing asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma.

In addition, the Scientology organization has failed to pay Nordica the $3.5 million it owes for the work that was completed.

When Katie Holmes’ Broadway show “All My Sons” opens Oct. 16, ticket holders won’t be the only ones in attendance. The anti-Scientology group Anonymous will be on hand for Holmes’ Broadway debut as well.

The group confirms that a protest will take place opening night. “We aren’t looking to shut it (“All My Sons”) down, we don’t have the power to do that, we just want to prove a point,” one spokesperson (who remains anonymous, natch) confirmed via phone.

Also covered in The Sun (UK), San Francisco Gate, Variety and Metro.

Today I found out some very interesting, in-depth and somewhat shocking news in regards the Freewinds.

In early 2008, a contract was made between Scientology and a company out of Miami called Nordica Engineering. This contract was for approximately $18 million and was for the work of completely stripping the Freewinds, and then re-fitting with new furniture, carpets, wiring, etc.

Nordica Engineering brought in approximately 240 workers from Poland who slepts on board the Freewinds in cabins until they were moved to a camp after 1 1/2 months.

Nordica Engineering was given no warning or information in regards blue asbestos or other asbestos panelling on the Freewinds. Apparently, in addition to the blue asbestos which is sparyed on all over the Freewinds, a lot of the panelling on the Freewinds was made with asbestos. A giant container at the dock in Curacao was filled with approximately 70 tons of asbestos, whereabouts now unknown.

The work proceeded until April 2008 when the Freewinds was sealed due to asbestos contamination at the drydock in Curacao.

Nordica Engineering has apparently not been fully paid and is owed upwards of approximately $3.5 million.

A separate company was brought out from Florida to clean up the asbestos at a cost of approximately $2 million. Some of the asbesots was removed, some encapsulated, but apparently there is still loose asbestos on-board.

The ship is now in Aruba (due to Curucao drydock being booked) but will be brough back to drydock in Curacao in November to finish up work and get its DNV certification.

Nordica Engineering appears to have been misled or outright lied to in regards the asbestos situation. There are 240 workers from Poland who have apparently been following the story about the Freewinds online. They are in possession the the affidavit that my dad, Lawrence Wooodcraft wrote back in 2001 in regards the asbestos he saw on the Freewinds in 1987. They have been majorly exposed to this asbestos, sleeping on-board while the work was being done and now they are, from reports, very upset to say the least.

Nordica Engineering is apparently still negotiating with Scientology executives Sue Price and Bob Wright, hoping to receive payment but it seems unlikely.

Please re-post and distribute as appropriate.

Overpriced, of course, but I’m still impressed.

At the August 17th protest, former OSA enforcer Tommy Gorman was assaulted by a Scientologist.  A cop arrived and arrested the troublesome Scientologist.

If the video is tl;dw for you, skip ahead to 7:15 to hear the officer’s assessment of the situation.  He also mentions an Assistant District Attorney in San Francisco is a Scientologist and was suggesting ways to use the law against Tommy.