Yeah, there’s this too - ya gotta wonder just what is so darned secretive about a church manual.
Mormon Church Sues Wikileaks
The Mormon church is suing Wikileaks to take down illicits PDFs of its Church Handbook of Instruction.
Wikimedia Foundation has received a copyright infringement claim from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon Church or LDS Church. The infringement claim is in reference to a URL used as a source in a Wikinews article about Mormon Church documents leaked to the website , titled “Copy of handbook for leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints obtained by Wikinews”. The URL was originally cited as a link in the sources subsection of the article. The Wikimedia Foundation is a donor-supported non-profit organization which runs Wikipedia and Wikinews. This is the first time that the Wikimedia Foundation has received a copyright infringement claim regarding an article published by Wikinews.
The Wikinews article, originally published on April 19, described material in the Church Handbook of Instructions. The work is a two-volume book of policies and is a guide for leaders of the Mormon Church. Wikinews obtained the Church Handbook of Instructions from Wikileaks, a whistleblower website which publishes anonymous submissions of sensitive documents while preserving the anonymity of its contributors. Wikileaks describes the material as significant because “...the book is strictly confidential among the Mormon (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, aka LDS in short form) bishops and stake presidents and it reveals the procedure of handling confidential matters related to tithing payment, excommunication, baptism and doctrine teaching (indoctrination).”
The LDS church has threatened legal action other organizations who have attempted to make the handbook available on the Internet. The threat has been sufficient in all cases. Purely as a matter of copyright law, the church would seem to have a good case.
What part of breaking the law do you agree with? Though I have noted some anti-Capitalist tendencies in some of your past posts. Who knew you were a populist and anarchist at heart? The ultimate conservative bastion which we are posting on follows copyright laws as well. You aren't going to start cirticising FR for following the law now are you?