existential_hobo
Patron
I've had a thought burrowing in my mind for a while ever since the raid happened on the Scientology org in Budapest. Hopefully it would at the least put unwanted pressure on the Scientology organisation and at best expose a few things they would prefer hidden. Though you may have to bear with me a little.
So back in October the Hungarian police raided the Budapest org under the suspicion that the organisation was in violation of EU data protection laws. See Tony Ortega's article on the event here.
Mostly this was based on the fact that Scientology was keeping and using information on former members/friends/family etc for lengths of time and purposes that are against current EU data protection laws. So what stands for one country in the EU should stand for (almost) all.
This made me think of the time, a few years ago, when the Catholic church in Ireland was facing a huge backlash because of all the past abuses in schools and other church run facilities came to light. Many Irish people wanted to have their names taken off the churches register of parishioners to help diminish the power the church had in the country. To declare they were no longer a member of the church.
Somebody had the great idea to create a website that would help streamline the process of leaving. All you had to do was add your name, and maybe address, and it would generate the forms needed in pdf format ready to print and send off. Sadly the website is now offline but there is an article about it here.
So, all that over with, here is the idea. Could something similar be setup for people in Europe who are worried that local Scientology orgs might be retaining information relating to the to them in breach of said EU data protection laws. The site would generate latters that could be sent to local politicians/law enforcement/European courts etc, say that they are concerned their information is being held and used illegally. Or in the least get a copy of the information from the org. At best encourage enough raids on each European org to expose some of their underhanded tactics and maybe drag the into courts.
Anyway, it has been on my brain for a while so I thought I'd share it. I'd be interested in hearing your opinions.
So back in October the Hungarian police raided the Budapest org under the suspicion that the organisation was in violation of EU data protection laws. See Tony Ortega's article on the event here.
Mostly this was based on the fact that Scientology was keeping and using information on former members/friends/family etc for lengths of time and purposes that are against current EU data protection laws. So what stands for one country in the EU should stand for (almost) all.
This made me think of the time, a few years ago, when the Catholic church in Ireland was facing a huge backlash because of all the past abuses in schools and other church run facilities came to light. Many Irish people wanted to have their names taken off the churches register of parishioners to help diminish the power the church had in the country. To declare they were no longer a member of the church.
Somebody had the great idea to create a website that would help streamline the process of leaving. All you had to do was add your name, and maybe address, and it would generate the forms needed in pdf format ready to print and send off. Sadly the website is now offline but there is an article about it here.
So, all that over with, here is the idea. Could something similar be setup for people in Europe who are worried that local Scientology orgs might be retaining information relating to the to them in breach of said EU data protection laws. The site would generate latters that could be sent to local politicians/law enforcement/European courts etc, say that they are concerned their information is being held and used illegally. Or in the least get a copy of the information from the org. At best encourage enough raids on each European org to expose some of their underhanded tactics and maybe drag the into courts.
Anyway, it has been on my brain for a while so I thought I'd share it. I'd be interested in hearing your opinions.
