It should also be noted that a law firm cooperating with the EFF now represents pro bono a YouTube user whose data were requested by Watch Tower Society.
Corney
JoinedPosts by Corney
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24
Past 12 months, #watchtower has obtained more than 36 unique subpoenas
by Not_Culty inhttps://twitter.com/mark_j_odonnell/status/1095514606657851392.
"in the past 12 months, #watchtower has obtained more than 36 unique subpoenas to identify the people who have posted their documents, leaked videos, & images from their publications.
this #watchhunt is a coordinated effort to locate & punish the leak sources.".
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Corney
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24
Past 12 months, #watchtower has obtained more than 36 unique subpoenas
by Not_Culty inhttps://twitter.com/mark_j_odonnell/status/1095514606657851392.
"in the past 12 months, #watchtower has obtained more than 36 unique subpoenas to identify the people who have posted their documents, leaked videos, & images from their publications.
this #watchhunt is a coordinated effort to locate & punish the leak sources.".
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Corney
It should be noted that Watch Tower Society has requested identifying information relating to users of the following internet services:
Google (YouTube, Google Drive & Docs, Blogger);
Microsoft OneDrive;
GoDaddy;
Digital Ocean;
Facebook;
Instagram;
Twitter;
Scribd;
Reddit;
SoundCloud.
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JWLEAKS.ORG is back for 2019 with a Scandal
by jwleaks inyep, we are back after taking some extended time off.. the jwleaks.org website had been archived for some time.
i was concentrating on other jw-related projects in relation to say sorry.. but the governing body of jehovah's witnesses, who no longer claim to be infallible, decided that in their fallibility the best use of 'dedicated funds' would be to launch civil action against me in a us federal court.
to this end watch tower bible and tract society of pennsylvania, inc., sent their attorneys after me.
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Corney
I think I've waited long enough.
@jwleaks,
You used my compilation without even mentioning it isn't yours.
You labeled documents that are public records as "leaks".
You implied that Watchtower Brooklyn sales are linked to the Conti case but the facts say that the WWHQ relocation project was adopted not later than in the first half of 2009 (fact 1: Watchtower purchased land in Warwick for $20,000,000 in July 2009 (see property records); fact 2: it filed the new HQ initial planning documents to the town authorities before October 2009).
The above mentioned dishonesty is very small, and I wouldn't write about it if there wasn't another, more serious, issue.
The entire 67 Remsen St. "scandal" is likely fake. I have reasons to believe that on August 13, 2012 the order of June 20 was amended and its effect was restricted to Watchtower's properties in Patterson - and the fact that you ignored my simple question forces me to think you knew it. Unfortunately, I was unable to purchase a copy of the order - likely because I'm not a US resident. And now I have only prima facie evidence - half-page preview of the order:
If somebody is interested in establishing the facts, lives in the US and can afford to spend five dollars to purchase the document of 8/13/2012 - "Order Stipulation to Modify Order Staying Enforcement of Judgment and Order" (case HG11558324) - via the Superior Court's DomainWeb system... ok, I think I've provided all necessary info but if you have any question feel free to contact me.
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40
Is Russia "right" about presecuting Jehovah's Witnesses?
by iliketreasure injehovah's witnesses are presecuted in russia.
on par with the is and other terroristic groups.
it happened when the anti-extremism laws were extended to non-violent groups.. i don't believe that russia actually cares for the well-being of their citizens with this move and probably merely a law to stop other political forces (and the jws are one in a way, since their gather authority over large groups of people and also have their own political and judicial institutiona), but are they right about it anyway?.
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Corney
Ok, for clarification: Watchtower is politically neutral (it doesn't stand for or against any political force or agenda) and isn't a political organization, it's a religious one. In the same time, it's surely not "separate from the world" and sometimes, defending its interests, involved in activities that could be deemed political.
Also, your narrative (something like "the were warned but ignored everything") is distorted. The org wasn't taxed, only some properties were because they belonged to foreign entity. Unconstitutional anti-missionary law<*> was enacted in summer 2016; the anti-JW plan was adopted not later than in 2014. In 2014-2016, there were multiple cases with the same scenario: police conducts raids under false pretext (like "we suspect that the stolen furniture can be stored in KH" in Stavropol region); the banned literature is planted; the local organization is banned. I very closely followed those events, read hundreds of published documents and know what I'm talking about. Add ridiculous customs cases, add hate propaganda campaign.
As to the last statement, I doubt it's based on something other than prejudice. If the org was concerned only about property, why did and does it fight for Korean conscience objectors, Witnesses prosecuted in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan etc. - and also in Russia?
<*> Also, you wrote that JWs were restricted like "every other religion". That's incorrect. The anti-missionary law was applied only against Protestants, Hare Krishna followers, Orthodox independent groups, some Muslims in non-Muslim regions and other religious minorities. The Russian Orthodox Church routinely and openly violates that law, but it wasn't applied against it.
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40
Is Russia "right" about presecuting Jehovah's Witnesses?
by iliketreasure injehovah's witnesses are presecuted in russia.
on par with the is and other terroristic groups.
it happened when the anti-extremism laws were extended to non-violent groups.. i don't believe that russia actually cares for the well-being of their citizens with this move and probably merely a law to stop other political forces (and the jws are one in a way, since their gather authority over large groups of people and also have their own political and judicial institutiona), but are they right about it anyway?.
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Corney
NN, it's not my fault that your previous comment can be, without a single change, used even by anti-Semites. I've just shown its logical and ethical fallacy and didn't compare the current anti-JW campaign and the Holocaust.
OC, wow, they distributed pamphlets!? So awful. They deserve gulag!
Old Navy, speaking about how Rusia is wise, do you mean Turchak - one of the highest-ranked official in the Russia's ruling party and the Council of Federation (akin to the US Senate), he ordered atempted murder of a journalist because the latter called him "shitty" in a blog? Or maybe the Ukrainian war, with 13 thousands killed and millions refugees? Or maybe Kadyrov? Or MH17?
Surely, I can say many good things about Russia, its people and even government, more than any Russophile here. But I will not do this in front of people whitewashing state terrorism.
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40
Is Russia "right" about presecuting Jehovah's Witnesses?
by iliketreasure injehovah's witnesses are presecuted in russia.
on par with the is and other terroristic groups.
it happened when the anti-extremism laws were extended to non-violent groups.. i don't believe that russia actually cares for the well-being of their citizens with this move and probably merely a law to stop other political forces (and the jws are one in a way, since their gather authority over large groups of people and also have their own political and judicial institutiona), but are they right about it anyway?.
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Corney
Steel,
What a silly justification. Is it really necessary to say what's wrong with your arguments?
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40
Is Russia "right" about presecuting Jehovah's Witnesses?
by iliketreasure injehovah's witnesses are presecuted in russia.
on par with the is and other terroristic groups.
it happened when the anti-extremism laws were extended to non-violent groups.. i don't believe that russia actually cares for the well-being of their citizens with this move and probably merely a law to stop other political forces (and the jws are one in a way, since their gather authority over large groups of people and also have their own political and judicial institutiona), but are they right about it anyway?.
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Corney
Nathan Natas, I guess you justify the Holocaust in the same (sick) way, don't you?
Brokeback Watchtower, Watchtower isn't controlled by the US Government and doesn't act in America's interests and contrary to Russia's ones. The Kremlin's paranoia isn't a proper reason for the persecutions.
galaxie, Jehovah's Witnesses must be allowed to freely practice their faith. Period.
As to Watchtower's accountability, I think government can restrict religious freedom when such restrictions address - and effectively - specific problematic practices and restrict personal freedom to the lesser extent (civil lawsuits, corporate fines, public investigations etc.). The campaign of terror launched by the Russian govt doesn't satisfy any of these conditions. Your reasoning ("Watchtower is bad therefore it's ok to persecute JWs") is equally applicable to the cases of Malawi and Nazi Germany, do you understand it?
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Infiltrated Elders?
by john.prestor inso i'm watching john cedars commentary on the annual meeting from this last october, and at one point he shows a clip of garrett loesch talking about the struggles jehovah's witnesses faced decades before in the soviet union.
he claimed that police officers, maybe the kgb, infiltrated congregations which met in secret by studying with jehovah's witnesses, getting baptized, and then working their way up to becoming elders.
ceders jokes that this shows what kind of role holy spirit actually plays within body of elders, but another interpretation came to my mind just now.
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Corney
Pete Zahut,
Another man, lacking faith in God and wholly convinced that Communism was mankind’s only hope, had no qualms about infiltrating himself into Jehovah’s organization in order to pass on information about their activities to the State Security Service [Stasi]. After being “baptized” in 1978, he lived a lie for ten years. But he now admits: “The behavior of Jehovah’s Witnesses, which I experienced firsthand, and a study of the Creation and Revelation Climax books convinced me that much of what enemies say about the Witnesses is untrue. The proofs of the existence of a Creator are overwhelming.” Shortly before the Berlin Wall fell, he was faced with a hard decision: either find an excuse to withdraw from Jehovah’s people and keep on supporting a system in which he no longer believed or admit to being a traitor and then strive to become a genuine servant of Jehovah. He chose the latter. His sincere repentance led to a Bible study and to a second baptism, this time one based on accurate knowledge and true dedication.
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/301999000#h=166:0-166:1017
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27
Infiltrated Elders?
by john.prestor inso i'm watching john cedars commentary on the annual meeting from this last october, and at one point he shows a clip of garrett loesch talking about the struggles jehovah's witnesses faced decades before in the soviet union.
he claimed that police officers, maybe the kgb, infiltrated congregations which met in secret by studying with jehovah's witnesses, getting baptized, and then working their way up to becoming elders.
ceders jokes that this shows what kind of role holy spirit actually plays within body of elders, but another interpretation came to my mind just now.
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Corney
Undoubtedly, the infiltration took place.
Dmitro Vedeneyev, Ukrainian SBU-affiliated historian, examined KGB archives, and in his mediocre book Atheists in the Uniform he described large-scale MGB/KGB operations against JWs and other religious groups. Those operations included infiltration and recruitment, and the org was one of the most important (in 1960s one of the three KGB anti-religious department's units in the Soviet Ukraine was assigned the task of fighting it) and hard targets for KGB; some Witnesses allegedly even acted like double agents disinforming their KGB recruiters.
Nikolay Bychkov publicly stated that he was a KGB informer (not an officer) directed to infiltrate the org but eventually he became a JW himself.
Hans Hermann Dirksen, an author of a book about JWs in the GDR, probably affiliated with Watchtower, wrote: "An order issued in January 1951 by Erich Mielke, permanent secretary in charge of the Stasi, identified the deployment of spies as the principal technique to be used: 'discovering the leaders and the most dangerous agents of the sect is possible only by working hard to find unofficial collaborators who have good prospects in the sect and who will secretly keep us informed'46 Stasi employees thus began to study the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses and even took part in their preaching activity" (Jehovah's Witnesses under Communist Regimes, p. 233-4 [5-6]). More information about the Stasi infiltration, recruitment and other tactics can be found here: https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/rss/34-2_145.pdf (especially p. 154 [10] et seq.).
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5 kingdom halls in New Addington for sale
by usualusername1 ini had it confirmed today that 5 kingdom halls on one site in new addington are for sale.
price being asked £3.5 million.. every witness in london worked on that site.
am in shock.
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Corney
TFG,
If you're interested in more info, you can also access the planning documents here: https://publicaccess3.croydon.gov.uk/online-applications/propertyDetails.do?activeTab=relatedCases&keyVal=MX6F1N00DT030