Voyage Au Pays Des Nouveaux Gourous
Encyclopedia
Voyage au pays des nouveaux gourous (Voyage to the Land of the New Gurus), a controversial television-documentary
, presented an investigation of the activities of Landmark Education
. The investigative journalism
program Pièces à Conviction
[Incriminating Evidence] started filming the documentary in 2003, and the channel France 3
broadcast it in France on 24 May 2004.
(born John Paul Rosenberg), a California-based former salesman, training manager and executive in the encyclopedia business, created the Erhard Seminars Training
(est) course in 1971. est was a form of Large Group Awareness Training
, and was part of the Human Potential Movement
. est was a four-day, 60-hour self-help program given to groups of 250 people at a time. The program was very intensive: each day would contain 15–20 hours of instruction. During the training, est personnel utilized jargon to convey key concepts, and participants had to agree to certain rules which remained in effect for the duration of the course. Participants were taught that they were responsible for their life outcomes, and were promised a dramatic change in their self-perception.
est was controversial: critics characterized the training methods as brainwashing, and suggested that the program had fascistic
and narcissistic
tendencies. Proponents asserted that it had a profoundly positive impact on people's lives. By 1977 over 100,000 people completed the est training, including public figures and mental health professionals. In 1985, Werner Erhard and Associates
repackaged the course as "The Forum", a seminar focused on "goal-oriented breakthroughs". By 1988, approximately one million people had taken some form of the trainings. In the early 1990s Erhard faced family problems, as well as tax problems that were eventually resolved in his favor. A group of his associates formed the company Landmark Education
in 1991, purchasing The Forum's course "technology" from Erhard.
Part of the documentary recounts how journalists from Pièces à Conviction originally wanted to interview Roth, but that Landmark Education flew Sophie McLean from New York City to France to speak with them instead.
McLean dismisses the description of her company
as a "cult" or even as "cult-like", and disparages the view that its business
depends on brainwashing. In support of her contention, she cites three academics: Dr. Raymond Fowler
(former president of the American Psychological Association
), Prof. Dr. Norbert Nedopil (Chief, department of forensic psychiatry, University of Munich, and French psychiatrist
Jean-Marie Abgrall
. Landmark paid Abgrall to do a report on it, but later in the documentary Abgrall denies that he took a position either way on characterising Landmark as a cult or not.
, president of UNADFI, and Giles Boot, secretary general of MIVILUDES
.
works as a solicitor
with the Court of Appeal in Montpellier, France. He wrote the preface to the book Les Sectes [Cults], and founded the department of "victimology related to the sectarian
harmful effect" at the University of Lyon
.
Asked to give his expert opinion on the Landmark Forum, and to analyze why individuals did not leave the room, Jougla painted a picture of the enrollees "in a state that made it impossible to leave". He went on further to describe what he referred to as "mental manipulation", and stated that one can often accomplished brainwashing through methods that seem harmless. Methods he observed included "confining people for 3 or 4 days in a room with no windows". He went on to characterize "mental manipulation" as just that: it happens "without the victim knowing it".
Later, Jougla commented on what he called the "doctrine" inherent within Landmark Education, stating that: "What influences public opinion is only the storefront." He believes that certain cults hide behind a "religious pretense". However, he also stated that though Landmark Education lacks a religious element, an evident doctrine still exists. He went on to describe this doctrine as Landmark Education's "concept of authenticity": The basis of Landmark’s doctrine essentially rests on a philosophical concept. It’s the concept of authenticity. "We’re going to teach people to be authentic."
, M.D.
, a French psychiatrist
, criminologist, specialist in forensic medicine, and graduate in criminal law
, wrote La mécanique des sectes (Payot 1996 et 2004, ISBN 2-228-89505-9), which has appeared translated into at least ten different languages (English-language translation: Soul Snatchers: The Mechanics of Cults, published by Algora, 1999: ISBN 1-892941-04-X). He has served as an expert witness
in the Supreme Court of Appeal {Court of Cassation (France) | Cour de cassation) and in the Court for Businesses (Tribunal de commerce) in France on the subject of cults. Landmark Education paid Abgrall €
45,600 Euro
s to write a positive report on itself in 2001, and to declare the organization "not a cult".
Pièces a Conviction staff interviewed Abgrall and asked him to comment on his alleged assertion that Landmark Education is not a cult. He responded by saying "It's not true that I said it's not a cult! I neither wrote that it is a cult nor that it's not a cult." He went on to point out that "[t]here is no control of a psychologist". He continued by elaborating on his concern of the lack of training of the individuals who lead the Landmark Forum, saying: "These guys aren't trained, as if tomorrow you set up shop as a psychotherapist. I mean, that's what's shocking."
This interview also appeared in Le Parisien
. (MILS, the predecessor to MIVILUDES
, dismissed Abgrall in consequence of a conflict of interest
regarding the payment he accepted from Landmark Education.
, the deputy-mayor of Montreuil
, served as the vice-president of the Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France (Commission parlementaire sur les sectes en France) which reported its investigation on cults
in France to the French National Assembly
in 1995.
The television host Elise Lucet
asked Brard to explain why his committee had classifed Landmark Education as a cult, without performing direct empirical
research through observation. Jean-Pierre Brard
explained the position of the investigating committee on cults. He stated that there's a guru who destabilizes people to enslave them, to make them subservient, which has been said by witnesses. He also stated that features of the Landmark Forum's structure "make you relinquish critical thought, and break the person down so that they can pick up the pieces." He also referred to a "network of money", stating that "The ultimate goal is to press its power and clean out the students' wallets. And by using the students, to attempt to earn more." He summarized his position by pointing to three main criteria: "domination, a network of money, subordination and brainwashing. So it's a sect."
, a psychoanalyst, psycho-sociologist and professor at ESCP-EAP European School of Management
, has written two popular French books on human resource management
.
He appeared in the documentary and commented on why the Forum Leader, Alain Roth, brought out "fears from childhood". When questioned by host Elise Lucet
, Dr. Lujan responded: "The goal is to destabilize the individual and to negate - and I emphasize this - the notion of the subject. The individual doesn't own his own past. Only they know what's good for him. At any moment, an exercise like this can take away a person's introspection."
wrote the book Et Satan créa la secte [Satan Created the Cult: Memoirs of an escapee]. A member of Scientology
for seven years, she appears in the documentary addressing what she sees as extensive and precise similarities between Scientology and Landmark Education, especially the use of jargon
.
preferred to risk a "tiny" fine for a violation of the media's code of ethics rather than present a documentary more favorable to Landmark Education.
, and the media must publish that reply.
Landmark Education's response started by thanking France 3 for publishing the response without adding extensive sound-effects as it did in the broadcast. Landmark Education denied some of the points made in the documentary. (France 3
subsequently cancelled a scheduled rebroadcast and (according to Landmark Education) removed a transcript from its web-site. Note that the France 3 website in 2004 generally held copies, but not transcripts, of Pièces à Conviction broadcasts.)
In Landmark Education's legal right-of-reply to France 3's documentary, a woman, after having seen the broadcast, complained: "My face is hidden, but my voice is not masked. I feel betrayed by this journalist who did not respect the necessary confidentiality in this broadcast." She went on to express her dismay at the manner in which the broadcast showed only a part of her conversation. Though she characterized the conversation itself as "difficult", she maintained that it enabled her to "live better" and to have a better relationship
with her daughter.
Landmark Education responded to France 3's insinuation that Landmark Education gained large sums of money by using volunteers in France. It stated that Landmark Education lost money each year in France, but maintained its center open for its participants. France 3 estimated that the receipts of Landmark Education amounted to nearly 1.5 million euro
s per annum, whereas, according to Landmark Education's assertions, they did not exceed 590,000 euro
s per annum.
Landmark Education commented on Dr. Jean Marie Abgrall's position in its reply, stating that Dr. Abgrall had declared that, with regard to the ten elements identified by the Parliamentary Commission about Cults in France, only four "minor characteristics" applied to Landmark Education, but that "None of the six relative major elements of a cult applies to Landmark Education".
Art Schreiber, the General Counsel and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Landmark Education, commented on the France 3 broadcast in Landmark Education's subpoena
to Google in 2006. He stated that "the apparent purpose of the report was to portray Landmark Education as a harmful cult." Schreiber went on to assert that the program contained inaccurate, biased statements as well as serious unfounded accusations. He accused France 3 of operating unprofessionally, and "using tactics including lying, manipulating, using illegally obtained materials, and intentionally presenting materials out of context." He claimed that France 3 had used unauthorized confidential footage of the Landmark Forum, shot by an undercover reporter attending the course under a false name. He stated that after the broadcast of the documentary in France, "Landmark's attorney in France sent a detailed letter to TV3 in which he refuted, point by point, the gross inaccuracies and defamatory and libelous representations in their program." Schreiber claimed that after receiving the letter, France 3 removed a transcript of the broadcast from their web site.
In its reply, Landmark Education also quoted a 1995 letter from Dr. Raymond Fowler
, past President of the American Psychological Association
, which reflected his personal opinion. The Fowler letter stated that: "In my opinion, the Landmark Forum is not a cult or anything like a cult, and I do not see how any reasonable, responsible person could say that it is." Fowler went on to provide lack of evidence, stating that he did not directly witness anything in his experience of the Landmark Forum course that could be harmful to the course participants. Fowler expressed the belief that if the French government were to "look at the question more closely", they would conclude that Landmark Education appeared on the list of cults in error.
(The France 3 web-site continued to make these comments available on the web until at least the time of the archiving of the version dated 13 July 2004. By 10 October 2004 the monthly program's web-page had moved on in the normal manner of operation — to featuring more recent episodes of Pièces à Conviction.)
, "Labour Inspection") investigated labor practices regarding these volunteer workers, and sent a report to the government.
According to a report published by the Nouvel Observateur, on July 2004, Landmark Forum graduates arrived at the offices to find the doors locked. The French branch of Landmark Education had officially shut down. Semi-officially, the Landmark staff moved their operation to London and continued to recruit in France. As of May 2005, persons involved in the organization in France continued to communicate with each other via the Internet
. Graduates met together and acknowledged that they felt they had lost a "family", and expressed deep regrets that they could no longer continue "to bring transformation to people".
Coincidentally, on 27 May 2005 — a year after France 3 broadcast the documentary and many months after Landmark Education's operations in France had diminished to unofficial groups keeping in touch via the Internet — the then Prime Minister of France
Jean-Pierre Raffarin
issued a circulaire
on the ongoing fight against cults in France. The circulaire suggests that the list of specific cults appended to the report of the 1995 Parliamentary Commission 1995 had become less pertinent — because of the way in which organizations had changed and morphed and come to use the Internet — and suggested that in certain cases his civil servants should avoid depending on generic lists of groups.
The news program's bibliography listed the following works:
In October 2006 Landmark Education issued subpoena
s pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
, a piece of United States legislation which allows content-owners to issue subpoenas to identify alleged infringers — even without filing a lawsuit. Landmark Education sent subpoenas to Google Video
, YouTube
and the Internet Archive
, demanding details of the identity of the person(s) who had uploaded copies (with English-language subtitles) to these websites.
Challenges to Landmark Education's efforts arose on multiple fronts. The Internet Archive commenced fighting its subpoena from Landmark Education, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation
(EFF) filed official objections on its behalf. The EFF (operating on behalf of the anonymous entity who uploaded the video) also planned to file a motion to quash Landmark's DMCA subpoena to Google Video. Google advised Landmark that it would not produce the requested information pending a ruling on that motion. YouTube sent notification to the user about its subpoena, and planned to give the user a reasonable opportunity to move to quash it.
Art Schreiber, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Landmark Education, commented on the issue, raising issues of intellectual property
(IP) in RedHerring Magazine
in an article dated 2006-11-03. Schreiber affirmed that the Electronic Frontier Foundation had released a statement characterizing Landmark Education's copyright claims to the documentary as "bogus". He went on to portray the claim of the Electronic Frontier Foundation as "entirely inaccurate".
On 8 November 2006 the Electronic Frontier Foundation posted a Draft Motion to Quash Landmark Subpoena on their website. Independent filmmaker Enric Cirne interviewed a representative from the Electronic Frontier Foundation on Landmark Education's usage of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Cirne also interviewed another staff attorney on-camera about the Electronic Frontier Foundation's actions regarding the issuing of the DMCA subpoenas.
On 9 November 2006 the Electronic Frontier Foundation responded to Art Schreiber's commentary and raised the issue of fair use
in a post entitled "EFF and Landmark: Cards on the Table". In their statement, the Electronic Frontier Foundation argued that any use of alleged material — even if it were copyrighted — occurred "for purposes of criticism and commentary" and constituted a "non-infringing fair use". The Electronic Frontier Foundation asserted that Landmark's copyright claim remained "bogus".
On 10 November 2006, the Reuters
newsservice published an article about the dispute.The Washington Post
and many other news sources subsequently disseminated this article.
The Cult Awareness Information Centre (Australia: http://www.caic.org.au/ ) has made a non-official copy of the video available in flash video format. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has cited this location, as has an article about Landmark Education on the "Yad L'Achim website, InformationWeek
and Yahoo! News
.
On 17 November 2006, the Apologetics Index website received a "cease and desist
" letter from attorneys in Amsterdam
representing Landmark Education. The letter stated that Landmark Education demanded Apologetics Index remove their hyperlink
to the Cult Awareness Information Centres streaming video version of the documentary, due to alleged "copyright infringement" of their "Landmark Forum Leaders Manual" (TXu 1-120-461). The Apologetics Index responded on their site that after reading the responses from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, they did not intend to comply with Landmark's demands. Further information on this matter appears on the Apologetics page devoted to Landmark Education.
Within the same period of time, Landmark Education also sent a cease-and-desist letter threatening legal action to the Internet service provider
of the Cult Awareness and Information Center website, "StudioSolutions", in Australia. Landmark again used the argument of alleged copyright infringement of material from their "Landmark Forum Leader's Manual".
The Electronic Frontier Foundation issued a statement in a post on their website regarding Landmark Education's legal letters in Amsterdam and Australia, entitled: "Landmark Forum's Internet Censorship Campaign Goes Down Under". The post includes a request to Landmark's General Counsel Art Schreiber, utilizing some Landmark Education jargon (take a stand, racket, winning formula):
In an agreement reached on 30 November 2006, Landmark Education withdrew their subpoenas against Internet Archive and the anonymous poster to Google Video. The settlement included the acknowledgment that the poster of the video will not repost it to the Internet "in whole or in part."
The Centre d'Information et de Conseil des Nouvelles Spiritualités (CICNS), a French association for the defense of religious freedom and conscience, criticized the documentary for its lack of contradictory debate, stating that the program is "an undertaking of destruction of Landmark Education".
Media/Press
Television documentary
Documentary television is a genre of television programming that broadcasts documentaries.* Documentary television series, a television series which is made up of documentary episodes....
, presented an investigation of the activities of Landmark Education
Landmark Education
Landmark Education LLC is a personal training and development company which offers educational programs in approximately 115 locations in more than 20 countries worldwide....
. The investigative journalism
Investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...
program Pièces à Conviction
Pièces à Conviction
Pièces à Conviction is a monthly French investigative journalism TV program that airs on France 3. Elise Lucet has hosted the program since 2000.-In Depth News Show:...
[Incriminating Evidence] started filming the documentary in 2003, and the channel France 3
France 3
France 3 is the second largest French public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5, and France Ô....
broadcast it in France on 24 May 2004.
Background
Werner ErhardWerner Erhard
Werner Hans Erhard is an author of transformational models and applications for individuals, groups, and organizations...
(born John Paul Rosenberg), a California-based former salesman, training manager and executive in the encyclopedia business, created the Erhard Seminars Training
Erhard Seminars Training
Erhard Seminars Training, an organization founded by Werner H. Erhard, offered a two-weekend course known officially as "The est Standard Training"...
(est) course in 1971. est was a form of Large Group Awareness Training
Large Group Awareness Training
Large-group awareness training refers to activities usually offered by groups linked with the human potential movement which claim to increase self-awareness and bring about desirable transformations in individuals' personal lives...
, and was part of the Human Potential Movement
Human Potential Movement
The Human Potential Movement arose out of the social and intellectual milieu of the 1960s and formed around the concept of cultivating extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people...
. est was a four-day, 60-hour self-help program given to groups of 250 people at a time. The program was very intensive: each day would contain 15–20 hours of instruction. During the training, est personnel utilized jargon to convey key concepts, and participants had to agree to certain rules which remained in effect for the duration of the course. Participants were taught that they were responsible for their life outcomes, and were promised a dramatic change in their self-perception.
est was controversial: critics characterized the training methods as brainwashing, and suggested that the program had fascistic
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
and narcissistic
Narcissism
Narcissism is a term with a wide range of meanings, depending on whether it is used to describe a central concept of psychoanalytic theory, a mental illness, a social or cultural problem, or simply a personality trait...
tendencies. Proponents asserted that it had a profoundly positive impact on people's lives. By 1977 over 100,000 people completed the est training, including public figures and mental health professionals. In 1985, Werner Erhard and Associates
Werner Erhard and Associates
Werner Erhard and Associates, also known as WE&A or as WEA, operated as a commercial entity from February 1981 until early 1991. It replaced Erhard Seminars Training, Inc. as the vehicle for marketing, selling and imparting the content of the est training, and offered what some people refer to as...
repackaged the course as "The Forum", a seminar focused on "goal-oriented breakthroughs". By 1988, approximately one million people had taken some form of the trainings. In the early 1990s Erhard faced family problems, as well as tax problems that were eventually resolved in his favor. A group of his associates formed the company Landmark Education
Landmark Education
Landmark Education LLC is a personal training and development company which offers educational programs in approximately 115 locations in more than 20 countries worldwide....
in 1991, purchasing The Forum's course "technology" from Erhard.
Subjects of the program
The documentary included Alain Roth, a Landmark Forum leader and former head of Landmark Education's now defunct division in France.Part of the documentary recounts how journalists from Pièces à Conviction originally wanted to interview Roth, but that Landmark Education flew Sophie McLean from New York City to France to speak with them instead.
McLean dismisses the description of her company
Company
A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...
as a "cult" or even as "cult-like", and disparages the view that its business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
depends on brainwashing. In support of her contention, she cites three academics: Dr. Raymond Fowler
Raymond Fowler
Raymond D. Fowler, is an American psychologist and Professor Emeritus of the University of Alabama. He was president of the American Psychological Association and subsequently served as APA’s Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer from 1989 to 2003-Personal life:Raymond Fowler was...
(former president of the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
), Prof. Dr. Norbert Nedopil (Chief, department of forensic psychiatry, University of Munich, and French psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
Jean-Marie Abgrall
Jean-Marie Abgrall
Jean-Marie Abgrall, born April 12, 1950 in Toulon, France, is a French psychiatrist, criminologist, specialist in forensic medicine, cult consultant, and graduate in criminal law. He has been an expert witness at the Supreme Court of Appeal and Court for Businesses in France on the subject of...
. Landmark paid Abgrall to do a report on it, but later in the documentary Abgrall denies that he took a position either way on characterising Landmark as a cult or not.
On-screen commentators
France 3's Pièces à Conviction series brought in several noted French academics and authors to sit on its commentator-panel during the program. And apart from those discussed below, the program included Jocelyne Berthelot (a participant in Landmark Education and a Landmark Education volunteer); former Landmark Education participants Laurent Mournais and Brigitte Thelier; and a person using the pseudonym "Pierre". Other notable commentators included attorney Olivier Morice, politician Phillippe Vulique, Catherine PicardCatherine Picard
Catherine Picard is a French politician from the French Socialist Party. She was earlier a member of the French National Assembly.-Career:...
, president of UNADFI, and Giles Boot, secretary general of MIVILUDES
MIVILUDES
MIVILUDES , a French government agency, has the task of:* observing and analyzing movements perceived as constituting a threat to public order or that violate French law*...
.
Solicitor Jean-Pierre Jougla
Jean-Pierre JouglaJean-Pierre Jougla
Jean-Pierre Jougla is a French attorney and "anti-cult" advocate.-Career:Jougla is a Solicitor with the Court of Appeal in Montpellier...
works as a solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
with the Court of Appeal in Montpellier, France. He wrote the preface to the book Les Sectes [Cults], and founded the department of "victimology related to the sectarian
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
harmful effect" at the University of Lyon
University of Lyon
The University of Lyon , located in Lyon and Saint Etienne, France, is a center for higher education and research comprising 16 institutions of higher education...
.
Asked to give his expert opinion on the Landmark Forum, and to analyze why individuals did not leave the room, Jougla painted a picture of the enrollees "in a state that made it impossible to leave". He went on further to describe what he referred to as "mental manipulation", and stated that one can often accomplished brainwashing through methods that seem harmless. Methods he observed included "confining people for 3 or 4 days in a room with no windows". He went on to characterize "mental manipulation" as just that: it happens "without the victim knowing it".
Later, Jougla commented on what he called the "doctrine" inherent within Landmark Education, stating that: "What influences public opinion is only the storefront." He believes that certain cults hide behind a "religious pretense". However, he also stated that though Landmark Education lacks a religious element, an evident doctrine still exists. He went on to describe this doctrine as Landmark Education's "concept of authenticity": The basis of Landmark’s doctrine essentially rests on a philosophical concept. It’s the concept of authenticity. "We’re going to teach people to be authentic."
Psychiatrist Jean-Marie Abgrall
Jean-Marie AbgrallJean-Marie Abgrall
Jean-Marie Abgrall, born April 12, 1950 in Toulon, France, is a French psychiatrist, criminologist, specialist in forensic medicine, cult consultant, and graduate in criminal law. He has been an expert witness at the Supreme Court of Appeal and Court for Businesses in France on the subject of...
, M.D.
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
, a French psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
, criminologist, specialist in forensic medicine, and graduate in criminal law
Criminal law
Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...
, wrote La mécanique des sectes (Payot 1996 et 2004, ISBN 2-228-89505-9), which has appeared translated into at least ten different languages (English-language translation: Soul Snatchers: The Mechanics of Cults, published by Algora, 1999: ISBN 1-892941-04-X). He has served as an expert witness
Expert witness
An expert witness, professional witness or judicial expert is a witness, who by virtue of education, training, skill, or experience, is believed to have expertise and specialised knowledge in a particular subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that others may officially and legally...
in the Supreme Court of Appeal {Court of Cassation (France) | Cour de cassation) and in the Court for Businesses (Tribunal de commerce) in France on the subject of cults. Landmark Education paid Abgrall €
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
45,600 Euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
s to write a positive report on itself in 2001, and to declare the organization "not a cult".
Pièces a Conviction staff interviewed Abgrall and asked him to comment on his alleged assertion that Landmark Education is not a cult. He responded by saying "It's not true that I said it's not a cult! I neither wrote that it is a cult nor that it's not a cult." He went on to point out that "[t]here is no control of a psychologist". He continued by elaborating on his concern of the lack of training of the individuals who lead the Landmark Forum, saying: "These guys aren't trained, as if tomorrow you set up shop as a psychotherapist. I mean, that's what's shocking."
This interview also appeared in Le Parisien
Le Parisien
Le Parisien is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris and its suburbs. It was established as Le Parisien libéré by Émilien Amaury in 1944, and the name was changed to the current one in 1986...
. (MILS, the predecessor to MIVILUDES
MIVILUDES
MIVILUDES , a French government agency, has the task of:* observing and analyzing movements perceived as constituting a threat to public order or that violate French law*...
, dismissed Abgrall in consequence of a conflict of interest
Conflict of interest
A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....
regarding the payment he accepted from Landmark Education.
Deputy mayor Jean-Pierre Brard
Jean-Pierre BrardJean-Pierre Brard
Jean-Pierre Brard, , is a French politician.-Biography:Initially a teacher, he entered politics and was elected was deputy mayor of Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis a post he held until 1984, when he was elected mayor of the same city. He remained mayor until March 2008. He has also been a deputy to...
, the deputy-mayor of Montreuil
Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis
Montreuil is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. It is the third most populous suburb of Paris...
, served as the vice-president of the Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France (Commission parlementaire sur les sectes en France) which reported its investigation on cults
Cult (religious practice)
In traditional usage, the cult of a religion, quite apart from its sacred writings , its theology or myths, or the personal faith of its believers, is the totality of external religious practice and observance, the neglect of which is the definition of impiety. Cult in this primary sense is...
in France to the French National Assembly
French National Assembly
The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
in 1995.
The television host Elise Lucet
Élise Lucet
Élise Lucet, born 30 May 1963 in Rouen , France, is a French investigative journalist and television host. She has worked on France 3 on the prime time investigative journalism program Pieces a Conviction, and began working for France 2 on 6 September 2005, to host the program 13 heures le...
asked Brard to explain why his committee had classifed Landmark Education as a cult, without performing direct empirical
Empirical
The word empirical denotes information gained by means of observation or experimentation. Empirical data are data produced by an experiment or observation....
research through observation. Jean-Pierre Brard
Jean-Pierre Brard
Jean-Pierre Brard, , is a French politician.-Biography:Initially a teacher, he entered politics and was elected was deputy mayor of Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis a post he held until 1984, when he was elected mayor of the same city. He remained mayor until March 2008. He has also been a deputy to...
explained the position of the investigating committee on cults. He stated that there's a guru who destabilizes people to enslave them, to make them subservient, which has been said by witnesses. He also stated that features of the Landmark Forum's structure "make you relinquish critical thought, and break the person down so that they can pick up the pieces." He also referred to a "network of money", stating that "The ultimate goal is to press its power and clean out the students' wallets. And by using the students, to attempt to earn more." He summarized his position by pointing to three main criteria: "domination, a network of money, subordination and brainwashing. So it's a sect."
Psychoanalyst Christian Lujan
Dr. Christian LujanChristian Lujan
Christian Lujan, Ph.D. is a director with ICS-Interconsultants, a specialist in organizational management and professor at the ESCP-EAP European School of Management....
, a psychoanalyst, psycho-sociologist and professor at ESCP-EAP European School of Management
ESCP-EAP European School of Management
ESCP Europe is an international business school and one of the foremost Grandes Écoles in France. It is one of the oldest institution dedicated to business education in Europe, being established in 1819...
, has written two popular French books on human resource management
Human resource management
Human Resource Management is the management of an organization's employees. While human resource management is sometimes referred to as a "soft" management skill, effective practice within an organization requires a strategic focus to ensure that people resources can facilitate the achievement of...
.
He appeared in the documentary and commented on why the Forum Leader, Alain Roth, brought out "fears from childhood". When questioned by host Elise Lucet
Élise Lucet
Élise Lucet, born 30 May 1963 in Rouen , France, is a French investigative journalist and television host. She has worked on France 3 on the prime time investigative journalism program Pieces a Conviction, and began working for France 2 on 6 September 2005, to host the program 13 heures le...
, Dr. Lujan responded: "The goal is to destabilize the individual and to negate - and I emphasize this - the notion of the subject. The individual doesn't own his own past. Only they know what's good for him. At any moment, an exercise like this can take away a person's introspection."
Mona Vasquez
Mona VasquezMona Vasquez
Mona Vasquez was a Scientologist in the 1980s and active in Scientology's headquarters in Europe, in Copenhagen. She went on a hunger strike in August 1989 at Scientology's offices in Paris when she wanted to quit the program, in order to get her money back...
wrote the book Et Satan créa la secte [Satan Created the Cult: Memoirs of an escapee]. A member of Scientology
Scientology
Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...
for seven years, she appears in the documentary addressing what she sees as extensive and precise similarities between Scientology and Landmark Education, especially the use of jargon
Jargon
Jargon is terminology which is especially defined in relationship to a specific activity, profession, group, or event. The philosophe Condillac observed in 1782 that "Every science requires a special language because every science has its own ideas." As a rationalist member of the Enlightenment he...
.
Allegations concerning fine
A statement released in French by Landmark Education hints that France 3France 3
France 3 is the second largest French public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5, and France Ô....
preferred to risk a "tiny" fine for a violation of the media's code of ethics rather than present a documentary more favorable to Landmark Education.
Landmark Education's reply
Under French law, when journalists or the media mention or allude to an entity, that entity has a legal right of replyRight of reply
The right of reply is the right to defend oneself against public criticism in the same venue where it was published.In Europe there have been proposals for a legally enforceable right of reply that applies to all media, including newspapers, magazines, and other print media, along with radio,...
, and the media must publish that reply.
Landmark Education's response started by thanking France 3 for publishing the response without adding extensive sound-effects as it did in the broadcast. Landmark Education denied some of the points made in the documentary. (France 3
France 3
France 3 is the second largest French public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5, and France Ô....
subsequently cancelled a scheduled rebroadcast and (according to Landmark Education) removed a transcript from its web-site. Note that the France 3 website in 2004 generally held copies, but not transcripts, of Pièces à Conviction broadcasts.)
In Landmark Education's legal right-of-reply to France 3's documentary, a woman, after having seen the broadcast, complained: "My face is hidden, but my voice is not masked. I feel betrayed by this journalist who did not respect the necessary confidentiality in this broadcast." She went on to express her dismay at the manner in which the broadcast showed only a part of her conversation. Though she characterized the conversation itself as "difficult", she maintained that it enabled her to "live better" and to have a better relationship
Interpersonal relationship
An interpersonal relationship is an association between two or more people that may range from fleeting to enduring. This association may be based on limerence, love, solidarity, regular business interactions, or some other type of social commitment. Interpersonal relationships are formed in the...
with her daughter.
Landmark Education responded to France 3's insinuation that Landmark Education gained large sums of money by using volunteers in France. It stated that Landmark Education lost money each year in France, but maintained its center open for its participants. France 3 estimated that the receipts of Landmark Education amounted to nearly 1.5 million euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
s per annum, whereas, according to Landmark Education's assertions, they did not exceed 590,000 euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
s per annum.
Landmark Education commented on Dr. Jean Marie Abgrall's position in its reply, stating that Dr. Abgrall had declared that, with regard to the ten elements identified by the Parliamentary Commission about Cults in France, only four "minor characteristics" applied to Landmark Education, but that "None of the six relative major elements of a cult applies to Landmark Education".
Art Schreiber, the General Counsel and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Landmark Education, commented on the France 3 broadcast in Landmark Education's subpoena
Subpoena
A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
to Google in 2006. He stated that "the apparent purpose of the report was to portray Landmark Education as a harmful cult." Schreiber went on to assert that the program contained inaccurate, biased statements as well as serious unfounded accusations. He accused France 3 of operating unprofessionally, and "using tactics including lying, manipulating, using illegally obtained materials, and intentionally presenting materials out of context." He claimed that France 3 had used unauthorized confidential footage of the Landmark Forum, shot by an undercover reporter attending the course under a false name. He stated that after the broadcast of the documentary in France, "Landmark's attorney in France sent a detailed letter to TV3 in which he refuted, point by point, the gross inaccuracies and defamatory and libelous representations in their program." Schreiber claimed that after receiving the letter, France 3 removed a transcript of the broadcast from their web site.
In its reply, Landmark Education also quoted a 1995 letter from Dr. Raymond Fowler
Raymond Fowler
Raymond D. Fowler, is an American psychologist and Professor Emeritus of the University of Alabama. He was president of the American Psychological Association and subsequently served as APA’s Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer from 1989 to 2003-Personal life:Raymond Fowler was...
, past President of the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
, which reflected his personal opinion. The Fowler letter stated that: "In my opinion, the Landmark Forum is not a cult or anything like a cult, and I do not see how any reasonable, responsible person could say that it is." Fowler went on to provide lack of evidence, stating that he did not directly witness anything in his experience of the Landmark Forum course that could be harmful to the course participants. Fowler expressed the belief that if the French government were to "look at the question more closely", they would conclude that Landmark Education appeared on the list of cults in error.
Commentary from Pièces à Conviction personnel
Pascal Richard, Editor-in-Chief of Pieces a conviction drew attention to the special circumstances of this documentary in a note on the show's official web-page. Richard described the program as a "difficult broadcast", which utilized the "modern tools of television". He went on to state that only through the use of hidden cameras and microphones could the producers "go the extra mile and deliver the facts". Richard stated that only by using these techniques could the journalists get past the "slick facade" projected by "this unusual group", as well as the statements which had been "carefully prepared and organized by a New-York communications firm".(The France 3 web-site continued to make these comments available on the web until at least the time of the archiving of the version dated 13 July 2004. By 10 October 2004 the monthly program's web-page had moved on in the normal manner of operation — to featuring more recent episodes of Pièces à Conviction.)
Repercussions
In France, Landmark Education "assistants" (participants in the Landmark Education Assisting Program) had the apparent French legal status of volunteer unpaid workers. In June 2004, a month after the Pièces à Conviction program aired, a French government agency (L’Inspection du TravailInspection du travail
The Inspection du travail is a French specialized body of civil servants, charged of the surveillance of employment and labour law in firms, created in 1892 during the Third Republic.- History :...
, "Labour Inspection") investigated labor practices regarding these volunteer workers, and sent a report to the government.
According to a report published by the Nouvel Observateur, on July 2004, Landmark Forum graduates arrived at the offices to find the doors locked. The French branch of Landmark Education had officially shut down. Semi-officially, the Landmark staff moved their operation to London and continued to recruit in France. As of May 2005, persons involved in the organization in France continued to communicate with each other via the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. Graduates met together and acknowledged that they felt they had lost a "family", and expressed deep regrets that they could no longer continue "to bring transformation to people".
Report of the 1995 French Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into Cults
The documentary refers to the 1995 report of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into Cults {Rapport fait au nom de la Commission d'enquête sur les sectes) which listed Landmark Education (Landmark education international - Le forum") as a secte (cult).Coincidentally, on 27 May 2005 — a year after France 3 broadcast the documentary and many months after Landmark Education's operations in France had diminished to unofficial groups keeping in touch via the Internet — the then Prime Minister of France
Prime Minister of France
The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...
Jean-Pierre Raffarin
Jean-Pierre Raffarin
Jean-Pierre Raffarin is a French conservative politician and senator for Vienne.Jean-Pierre Raffarin served as the Prime Minister of France from 6 May 2002 to 31 May 2005, resigning after France's rejection of the referendum on the European Union draft constitution. However, after Raffarin...
issued a circulaire
Circulaire
In France, Italy, Belgium, and some other civil law countries, a circulaire , circolare or omzendbrief consists of a text intended for the members of a service, of an enterprise, or of an administration....
on the ongoing fight against cults in France. The circulaire suggests that the list of specific cults appended to the report of the 1995 Parliamentary Commission 1995 had become less pertinent — because of the way in which organizations had changed and morphed and come to use the Internet — and suggested that in certain cases his civil servants should avoid depending on generic lists of groups.
Credits and bibliography
The host Elise Lucet credited the following works at the end of the program:- Grande enquête sur la Scientologie: une secte hors la loi [Major inquiry into Scientology: a cult beyond the law], by Arnaud Palisson, published by FavreFavreFavre is a French surname, and may refer to:*Brett Favre , retired American football player *Cristina Favre-Moretti , Swiss ski mountaineer*Deanna Favre , wife of Brett Favre and American activist...
, 2003. ISBN 2-8289-0733-3 - Les Sectes [Cults], by Thomas Lardeur, published by Presses de la Renaissance, 2004. ISBN 2-7509-0008-5
- Charlie HebdoCharlie HebdoCharlie Hebdo is a French satirical weekly newspaper, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics and jokes. It appeared from 1969 to 1981, when it folded, and was resurrected in 1992. The current editor is cartoonist Charb. His predecessors are François Cavanna and Philippe Val...
, Hors Serie, Landmark Education: Des métastases dans le business [Landmark Education: Transformations in business], May 2004, 98 pages.
The news program's bibliography listed the following works:
- Les sectes dans l'entreprise [Cults in the work-place], by Thomas Lardeur. Éditions d'Organisation.
- Et Satan créa la secte [Satan Created the Cult: Memoirs of an escapee], by Mona VasquezMona VasquezMona Vasquez was a Scientologist in the 1980s and active in Scientology's headquarters in Europe, in Copenhagen. She went on a hunger strike in August 1989 at Scientology's offices in Paris when she wanted to quit the program, in order to get her money back...
- Les sectes [Cults], by Alain Vivien. Éditions Odile Jacob. [2003, ISBN 2-7381-1284-6 ]
- Méchaniques du destin [Mechanics of Destiny], by Pierre de Roo Calmann-Lévy [2004, ISBN 2-7021-3172-7 ]
- L'Empire des ténèbres [The Realm of Shadows], by Brigitte Marouani. Jacques-Marie Laffont [2003, ISBN 2-84928-015-1 ]
- Enquête sur les manipulations mentales [Investigation into Mental Manipulations], by Gordon Thomas. Albin Michel [1989, ISBN 2-226-03780-2 ]
- Tous manipulés, tous manipulateurs [Everyone manipulated, everyone manipulating], by Dr. Jean-Marie AbgrallJean-Marie AbgrallJean-Marie Abgrall, born April 12, 1950 in Toulon, France, is a French psychiatrist, criminologist, specialist in forensic medicine, cult consultant, and graduate in criminal law. He has been an expert witness at the Supreme Court of Appeal and Court for Businesses in France on the subject of...
. First Editions [2003, ISBN 2-87691-743-2 ] - La Méchanique des sectes [The Mechanics of Cults], by Dr. Jean-Marie AbgrallJean-Marie AbgrallJean-Marie Abgrall, born April 12, 1950 in Toulon, France, is a French psychiatrist, criminologist, specialist in forensic medicine, cult consultant, and graduate in criminal law. He has been an expert witness at the Supreme Court of Appeal and Court for Businesses in France on the subject of...
. Payot [New revised and expanded edition: 2002, ISBN 2-228-89505-9 ] - Les sectes[: Savoir les reconnaître, Comprendre leurs mécanismes, Les combattre efficacement, Aider les victimes] [Cults: how to recognize them, how to understand their mechanisms, how to fight them effectively, how to help the victims], by Thomas Lardeur. Presses de la Renaissance. [2004, ISBN 2-7509-0008-5 ]
- Grande enquête sur la scientologie[: Une secte hors la loi] [A Major Enquiry into Scientology: A cult outside the law], by Arnaud Palisson. Éditions Favre [2003, ISBN 2-8289-0733-3 ]
- 20 ans de lutte contre les sectes [20 Years of Struggle Against the Cults], by Janine Tavernier. Michel Lafon [ 2003, ISBN 2-84098-914-X ]
- Petit traité de manipulation à l'usage des honnêtes gens [A brief treatise on the manipulation of ordinary folk], by Robert-Vincent Joule and Jean-Léon Beauvois. PUG [Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, new edition: 2004, ISBN 2-7061-1044-9 ]
- La dérive sectaire [The Sectarian Drift], by Anne Fournier and Michel Monroy. PUF [Presses Universitaires de France, 1999 ISBN 2-13-049770-5 ]
- Le retour du Diable[: Satanaisme, Exorcisme, Extrême droite] The Return of the Devil: Satanism, Exorcism, and the Extreme Right, by Paul Aries. Gloias [1997, ISBN 2-911453-21-2 ]
- La scientologie, laboratoire du Futur[?] [Scientology, Laboratory of the Future?], by Paul Aries. Golias [1998, ISBN 2-911453-44-1 ]
- Satanisme, le retour de la Bête [Satanism, the Return of the Beast], by Paul Aries. Golias
- Ce que coaching veut dire [What Coaching Means], Gilles Forestier. Editions d'Organisation
The documentary on the Internet
From September 2006 onwards, anonymous posters sent copies of the documentary — including versions with English-language subtitles — to several video-sharing web-sites and bitTorrent sites.In October 2006 Landmark Education issued subpoena
Subpoena
A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
s pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization . It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to...
, a piece of United States legislation which allows content-owners to issue subpoenas to identify alleged infringers — even without filing a lawsuit. Landmark Education sent subpoenas to Google Video
Google Video
Google Videos is a video search engine, and formerly a free video sharing website, from Google Inc. Before removing user-uploaded content, the service allowed selected videos to be remotely embedded on other websites and provided the necessary HTML code alongside the media, similar to YouTube...
, YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
and the Internet Archive
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
, demanding details of the identity of the person(s) who had uploaded copies (with English-language subtitles) to these websites.
Challenges to Landmark Education's efforts arose on multiple fronts. The Internet Archive commenced fighting its subpoena from Landmark Education, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
(EFF) filed official objections on its behalf. The EFF (operating on behalf of the anonymous entity who uploaded the video) also planned to file a motion to quash Landmark's DMCA subpoena to Google Video. Google advised Landmark that it would not produce the requested information pending a ruling on that motion. YouTube sent notification to the user about its subpoena, and planned to give the user a reasonable opportunity to move to quash it.
Art Schreiber, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Landmark Education, commented on the issue, raising issues of intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
(IP) in RedHerring Magazine
Red Herring (magazine)
Red Herring was a technology business magazine, which flourished during the dot com boom, with global distribution and bureaus in Bangalore, Beijing, and Paris. It also sponsored conferences designed to bring venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and technologists together. But the magazine went into...
in an article dated 2006-11-03. Schreiber affirmed that the Electronic Frontier Foundation had released a statement characterizing Landmark Education's copyright claims to the documentary as "bogus". He went on to portray the claim of the Electronic Frontier Foundation as "entirely inaccurate".
On 8 November 2006 the Electronic Frontier Foundation posted a Draft Motion to Quash Landmark Subpoena on their website. Independent filmmaker Enric Cirne interviewed a representative from the Electronic Frontier Foundation on Landmark Education's usage of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Cirne also interviewed another staff attorney on-camera about the Electronic Frontier Foundation's actions regarding the issuing of the DMCA subpoenas.
On 9 November 2006 the Electronic Frontier Foundation responded to Art Schreiber's commentary and raised the issue of fair use
Fair use
Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders...
in a post entitled "EFF and Landmark: Cards on the Table". In their statement, the Electronic Frontier Foundation argued that any use of alleged material — even if it were copyrighted — occurred "for purposes of criticism and commentary" and constituted a "non-infringing fair use". The Electronic Frontier Foundation asserted that Landmark's copyright claim remained "bogus".
On 10 November 2006, the Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
newsservice published an article about the dispute.The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
and many other news sources subsequently disseminated this article.
The Cult Awareness Information Centre (Australia: http://www.caic.org.au/ ) has made a non-official copy of the video available in flash video format. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has cited this location, as has an article about Landmark Education on the "Yad L'Achim website, InformationWeek
InformationWeek
InformationWeek is a weekly print magazine, an online site with corresponding face-to-face and virtual events, and research. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California and was first published in 1979 by CMP Media, later called CMP Technology. On February 29, 2008, CMP Technology was...
and Yahoo! News
Yahoo! News
Yahoo! News is an Internet-based news aggregator provided by Yahoo!. It features Top Stories, U.S. National, World, Business, Entertainment, Science, Health, Weather, Most Popular, News Photos, Op/Ed, and Local news....
.
On 17 November 2006, the Apologetics Index website received a "cease and desist
Cease and desist
A cease and desist is an order or request to halt an activity and not to take it up again later or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization....
" letter from attorneys in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
representing Landmark Education. The letter stated that Landmark Education demanded Apologetics Index remove their hyperlink
Hyperlink
In computing, a hyperlink is a reference to data that the reader can directly follow, or that is followed automatically. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text with hyperlinks...
to the Cult Awareness Information Centres streaming video version of the documentary, due to alleged "copyright infringement" of their "Landmark Forum Leaders Manual" (TXu 1-120-461). The Apologetics Index responded on their site that after reading the responses from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, they did not intend to comply with Landmark's demands. Further information on this matter appears on the Apologetics page devoted to Landmark Education.
Within the same period of time, Landmark Education also sent a cease-and-desist letter threatening legal action to the Internet service provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
of the Cult Awareness and Information Center website, "StudioSolutions", in Australia. Landmark again used the argument of alleged copyright infringement of material from their "Landmark Forum Leader's Manual".
The Electronic Frontier Foundation issued a statement in a post on their website regarding Landmark Education's legal letters in Amsterdam and Australia, entitled: "Landmark Forum's Internet Censorship Campaign Goes Down Under". The post includes a request to Landmark's General Counsel Art Schreiber, utilizing some Landmark Education jargon (take a stand, racket, winning formula):
In public statements, Landmark General Counsel Art Schreiber insists that Landmark supports free speech. We urge Landmark to take a stand for the principles of free expression and get out of the censorship racket—the answer to criticism is to explain and promote your own view. Landmark may believe that using copyright notices to takedown criticism is a winning formula, but it will ultimately come back to haunt Landmark.
In an agreement reached on 30 November 2006, Landmark Education withdrew their subpoenas against Internet Archive and the anonymous poster to Google Video. The settlement included the acknowledgment that the poster of the video will not repost it to the Internet "in whole or in part."
The Centre d'Information et de Conseil des Nouvelles Spiritualités (CICNS), a French association for the defense of religious freedom and conscience, criticized the documentary for its lack of contradictory debate, stating that the program is "an undertaking of destruction of Landmark Education".
See also
- About-Picard lawAbout-Picard lawThe 2001 About-Picard law [abu pika:r] , a piece of French legislation, broadly speaking, makes it possible to act against organisations when such organisations have become involved in certain crimes...
- The Century of the SelfThe Century of the SelfThe Century of the Self is an award winning British television documentary film. It focuses on how Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, and Edward Bernays influenced the way corporations and governments have thought about, dealt with, and controlled people....
, episode part 3 of 4 - Human Potential MovementHuman Potential MovementThe Human Potential Movement arose out of the social and intellectual milieu of the 1960s and formed around the concept of cultivating extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people...
- Investigative journalismInvestigative journalismInvestigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...
- MIVILUDESMIVILUDESMIVILUDES , a French government agency, has the task of:* observing and analyzing movements perceived as constituting a threat to public order or that violate French law*...
- Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France
- Status of religious freedom in FranceStatus of religious freedom in FranceFreedom of religion in France is guaranteed by the constitutional rights set forth in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen....
External links
- Landmark and the Internet Archive, Electronic Frontier FoundationElectronic Frontier FoundationThe Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
- Draft Motion to Quash Landmark Subpoena, 8 November 2006
- Cults in France, Recorded with the Presidency of the National AssemblyFrench National AssemblyThe French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
on 22 December 1995, Mr. Alain Gest, Reporter, Mr. Jacques Guyard, Deputies. National AssemblyFrench National AssemblyThe French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
, Tenth Legislature. - Réponse officielle à France 3, Landmark Education's response to the France 3France 3France 3 is the second largest French public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5, and France Ô....
documentary. - Presentation of International Landmark Education, Interdepartmental Mission of Vigilance and Fight Against Sectarian Drifts, (translated)
Media/Press
- Google faces legal challenges over video service, The Washington PostThe Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, 10 November 2006 - Landmark Forum Violates Constitution and Federal Law by Trying to Chill Speech, PressZoom, 1 November 2006
- Landmark Ed, EFF, negotiations, p2pnet.net News, 10 November 2006
- Video interview with Kurt Opsahl, interview with Attorney for Electronic Frontier FoundationElectronic Frontier FoundationThe Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
, regarding Landmark's DMCA Subpoenas, November 2006 - Landmark Education Fires Back At EFF, Redherring.com
- YouTube Copyright row, Warez.com News, 14 November 2006
- Landmark Drops Copyright Infringement Subpoenas On Google And Anonymous Critic, InformationWeekInformationWeekInformationWeek is a weekly print magazine, an online site with corresponding face-to-face and virtual events, and research. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California and was first published in 1979 by CMP Media, later called CMP Technology. On February 29, 2008, CMP Technology was...
, December 1, 2006. - "At home with the gurus in neckties", Nouvel Observateur, French newspaper, 19 May 2005, by Marie Lemonnier.