Strange? Fucking brilliant, and remarkably gutsy. I bet he's having shitloads
of fun, too. I hope I ever run into him, so I can shake his hand a buy him
a beer.
"Kick ass"? And how.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2001/05/23/henson/print.html
On the run from L. Ron Hubbard
Keith Henson, Scientology gadfly turned fugitive from justice,
explains his reasons for fleeing the United States.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Damien Cave
May 23, 2001 | Keith Henson is waging a one-man crusade against
Scientology. Arguing that the church threatens to undermine the First
Amendment by suing opponents into submission, he has fought the house
that L. Ron Hubbard built at every turn. Since 1995, when the church
first angered Net users by trying to close down a newsgroup dedicated
to discussing Scientology's practices, he has posted documents that
the church considers secret on the Web, picketed the church's
headquarters and defended his actions in court.
Just last month, the California Superior Court in Riverside County
handed Henson a major defeat. Citing Henson's picketing in front of
Riverside's Golden Era Productions (a sound and film studio for the
Church of Scientology) last summer and messages he posted in a
Scientology newsgroup, the court found Henson guilty of violating the
state's hate-crimes law. His demonstrations, the court ruled,
interfered with Scientologists' constitutional right to religious
freedom.
Online critics of Scientology, and some free-speech advocates,
responded to the decision with outrage, calling Henson "an American
hero." His conviction, they said, was nothing less than a "miscarriage
of justice," as one poster at geek site Slashdot put it. Others called
Henson "a martyr."
Meanwhile, Henson's tactics have often seemed a bit quixotic -- even
his supporters say that he tends to act without thinking. They
question, for example, the wisdom of Henson's two-line contribution to
a thread in the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup about directing a
nuclear missile at church members. Henson contends that his post
implied no real threat to Scientology members and that it was merely a
response to another post in a long-running joke about "Cruise" (as in
Scientology celeb Tom) missiles.
Still, it was an odd move for someone ostensibly dedicated to serious
critique, and it brought an immediate outcry from
Scientologists. "Free speech does not protect threats of mass
destruction," said Scientology spokesman Ken Hoden. "It does not
protect threats of missile attacks. It does not protect what he
did. He's trying to hide behind the First Amendment."
David Touretzky, a Carnegie Mellon computer scientist and fellow
Scientology gadfly, says that Henson tends to incriminate himself in
his encounters with Scientologists -- often providing church officials
with legal ammunition they later use against him.
Henson's legal strategy has been criticized as well. Cindy Cohn, legal
director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says that Henson
refused to let the civil liberties nonprofit represent him, choosing
instead to have a court-appointed attorney. Henson contests Cohn's
claim -- "I've never been offered help from the EFF," he says -- but
just last week, he once again confounded his fans by failing to show
up at his sentencing hearing, where he could have been sent to jail
for a year.
So where is Keith Henson and what is he up to? In a telephone
interview from Canada -- where he's applying for political asylum --
Henson explained why he played hooky from the hearing and what he
hopes to achieve by moving his case forward from abroad.
You're now a fugitive from justice -- why?
I actually came up here for a different reason. I came up here to
picket for another cause. But while I was here, a bunch of people were
trolling on the Net, talking about my coming up here as a political
refugee. And there was so much trolling and so much interest that we
said, "Why not?" So I stayed over an extra day and we checked with
Guidy Mamann, who is apparently a top immigration lawyer in Canada. We
chatted for a while, and I filled out the paperwork. He fired up a Web
browser, found some stories and said this was a viable case. So I blew
off [the California court] and I've already paid [Mamann] a retainer
to deal with this from up here.
Why not stay and fight from the States?
Well, I would have gotten a certain amount of PR and done a certain
amount of damage to [the church] had I gone back and gone to jail
there. But there's a justification for being here. In spite of the
fact that there's more risk and that it generates even more criminal
problems for me, nonetheless, being here has the potential to generate
more heat on Scientology.
Have you been in touch with the American courts?
Oh yeah, I talked to the probation guy down there this morning
[Thursday]. I just updated him on where I was and what was going
on. He didn't have much to say.
You seem to enjoy being a martyr for the cause.
Other people hold me up as a martyr. I'm not a martyr; I just kick
ass.
But it must feel good to be in the spotlight. How much of what you're
doing has to do with the a desire for attention?
It's a minor factor. The social strokes are reward for doing good
stuff -- I wouldn't deny that. People work hard to get the Nobel
Prize. I'm not going to get the Nobel Prize. I'm not going to get any
kind of prize. But I'm a known person because I've been involved with
this stuff for a long time.
How much have you spent on your case?
I've spent about $35,000.
How long do you plan to stay in Canada?
Forever. If the U.S. government decides that what I did was not within
the framework of free speech, if the [U.S.] State Department supports
the government of Riverside County in what I'm arguing is an abuse of
human rights, then I ain't going back.
So what happens next?
Well, there's going to be a review of the situation. Because when you
apply for refugee status on the basis of human rights, your lawyer is
your advocate and the Canadian government is your opposition.
An immigration review board adjudicates this thing. And in order to do
this, by treaty and custom, the Canadian [authorities] go to the State
Department. They have to go in and investigate, and come up with the
transcripts and motions and all of that. They need it in order to
defend themselves, to prove that what went on was a fair and unbiased
problem.
So the State Department sometimes does this [itself], and at other
times [it has] the Justice Department do it. But I suspect that when
they start doing this thing -- and they realize that there were severe
violations of protocol -- what may well happen is that they may march
through Riverside County, Calif., and deal with [the church].
What's the goal of your efforts?
The ultimate goal is to reform or completely destroy Scientology.
It's completely undemocratic.
Do you feel like you're getting anywhere with this, in the big
picture?
Oh yes, yes indeed. This is the endgame. I don't know whether we're
years away or months away or even weeks away. But the problems that
Scientology has at this time are legion. Let's put it this way: a
[Scientology] event that for years had been attended at a fairly high
level had 40 percent of the people show up that they expected.
Where'd you get that number?
>From people who were there. We have spies with Scientology --
disaffected Scientologists -- all over the country.
It all sounds so cloak-and-dagger.
Oh, it's definitely that. For example, we think there's a pretty fair
chance that Scientology will try to do a snatch-and-grab situation up
here, where they come after me.
Are you saying that you're afraid you'll be kidnapped?
Sure.
So are you just staying at that same house -- the one where you're
talking from?
No. I'll be living at a number of safe houses here. I'm also taking
perhaps as [much] as a billion dollars of electronics work out of
California.
Are you talking about a business that's already established in
California?
No, it's a huge development project, a huge development and production
project. But I'm not going to go into detail about it. You'll find
out. If it works, you'll find out about it shortly.
Since when are you the kind of person who protects secrets?
OK, I'll give you this. Let's just call it a billion-dollar-scale,
cryptic stealth surveillance technology. That'll keep them guessing.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 10:00:07 MDT