Scamizdat, a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordssamizdat Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...

, was the name coined by

Grady Ward William Grady Ward (born April 4, 1951) is an American software engineer, lexicographer, and Internet activist who has been prominent in the Scientology versus the Internet controversy. Biography Grady Ward created the Moby Project, an extensive ...

to a series of articles containing the writings of the

Church of Scientology The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a scientology as a business, bu ...

, both confidential and non-confidential, that were anonymously posted to the newsgroup

alt.religion.scientology The Usenet newsgroup alt.religion.scientology (often abbreviated a.r.s or ARS) started in 1991 to discuss the controversial beliefs of Scientology, as well as the activities of the Church of Scientology, which claims exclusive intellectual propert ...

in 1995. Scamizdat was a major feature of the

Scientology versus the Internet There are a number of disputes concerning the Church of Scientology's attempts to suppress material critical of Scientology on the Internet, utilizing various methods primarily lawsuits and legal threats, as well as front organizations. In ...

controversy, and the true identity of the person or persons responsible is still unknown. The Scamizdat articles were wholesale copies of articles, books, and confidential briefings to which the Church of Scientology claimed

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

. As the articles were posted via

anonymous remailer An anonymous remailer is a server that receives messages with embedded instructions on where to send them next, and that forwards them without revealing where they originally came from. There are cypherpunk anonymous remailers, mixmaster anonym ...

, it was not possible to determine the true identity of the poster or posters. In 1996 the

Religious Technology Center The Religious Technology Center (RTC) is an American non-profit corporation Letter by the Internal Revenue Service to Flemming Paludan, Regional Director, Danish Tax-Office, Washington, D.C., USA, December 22, 1993 that was founded in 1982 by th ...

, the arm of the Church of Scientology responsible for policing its intellectual property, sued a critic named Grady Ward, alleging that he was responsible for Scamizdat.

had been particularly vocal in taunting the Church online for its inability to stop Scamizdat, and had publicly requested that people send him confidential writings of the Church of Scientology on several occasions, although he denied any intention to use the material in a way that infringed copyright. The lawsuit was eventually settled with stipulated judgment being entered in favor of RTC, but no admission of liability by Grady Ward.

Notes

{{Scientology and the Internet Censorship Critics of Scientology Scientology and the Internet Scientology and law