Cooley, a long-time Boston attorney who tackles BU's larger law suits, challenged the legality of Lerma's Internet postings. Even if a work is used as court testimony, Cooley said, copyright laws prohibiting unauthorized re-publication are still applicable. Lerma's actions were especially harmful to the church because the papers are still being used in subsequent trials, according to Cooley. Following the raids on Lerma and another man, Lawrence Wollersheim of Colorado, who also put OT Material excerpts on the Internet, the California courts sealed the Fishman Materials from the public. What's happening is this group on the Internet is in a frenzy over every attempt to stop them.
Internet users are indeed in a panic over the church's actions.
Talk of staging protests is already circulating over the alt.religion.scientology news group. Equally surprising is the fact that some Internet users have initiated a phone campaign, asking interested parties to call BU and demand Cooley's resignation. BU President John R. Silber's phone number and address have been posted, but BU officials say they have only received two phone calls from angry Internet users. For Cooley and others in the legal world, the Internet has become a judicial nightmare. Lawmakers all over the country are still trying to hammer out the best way to regulate a world-wide network of news groups.