The below photo image, as shared with JW Leaks, was recently taken from a computer believed to belong to a person who is part of a group of individuals that are attacking and trying to undermine the findings and credibility of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, by spreading disinformation.
LATEST UPDATE (April 29, 2024) | JW Leaks thanks all who assisted over the past two weeks in identifying the primary source of the disinformation campaign attacking the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
The individual, an ex-Jehovah’s Witness who describes herself as a “celebrity”, is a police-registered ‘stalker’ and is the subject of numerous current court orders against her relating to this sort of conduct.
JW Leaks are also in receipt of a video in which this ‘stalker’ discusses in detail, key aspects of her disinformation campaign, including the exact false information that has been circulating on the internet about Volume 5, Private sessions of the Final Report of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Material in the video, as shared by the ‘stalker’ via YouTube, was subject to a ‘do-not-publish’ court order. The video has now been referred to the police for investigation.
This ‘stalker’ has also been identified as the exact same person that members and supporters of the Say Sorry website were forced to take a stalking intervention court order against. This is discussed in the article linked below.
PREVIOUS UPDATE (April 18, 2024) | A special thanks from JW Leaks to everyone who sent in messages identifying a potential owner of the computer database “BEASTZILLA” as depicted in the below image (Item 1 in red). The person will be contacted and asked to assist in identifying the primary person/s behind the disinformation campaign and attacks on the royal commission.
Photo image of computer screen belonging to person publishing disinformation
Can you identify the computer and the image? If so, we need your help. Why?
Someone has launched a disinformation campaign claiming that the Final Report of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, namely Volume 5, Private sessions, has been edited by the Royal Commission and reduced to only six pages.
Further information obtained by JW Leaks points to a concerted effort by a number of persons to potentially ‘destroy’ the findings and credibility of the Royal Commission, not only those findings against the Watchtower Society and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, but also the findings of the entire Final Report against all institutions named.
The primary target for the disinformation campaign appears to be the ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses community and survivors of childhood sexual abuse from out of the Jehovah’s Witnesses institution.
The information being privately spread via social media is completely false.
The full contents of Volume 5, Private sessions are, and have always been available, on the official Child Abuse Royal Commission website. See download link below:
Item 1 (in red), as circled on the above computer screen image, identifies that the disinformation document is on a private computer and not on the official Child Abuse Royal Commission website.
Item 2 (in red), as circled on the above computer screen image, identifies that the document on this private computer is only six pages in size. Volume 5, as available on the Child Abuse Royal Commission website is 467 pages in total.
Item 3 (in red), as circled on the above computer screen image, contains the name of the report that the person publishing the disinformation is trying to claim the document is a full copy of.
Further, according to sources, the person/s behind the disinformation campaign are also falsely claiming that the Child Abuse Royal Commission removed the online private session narratives from the official government website. This claim is completely false. The private session narratives, including those about the Jehovah’s Witnesses, are still published as an online appendix on the official Child Abuse Royal Commission website. See download link below.
Home Page of Royal Commission website showing Private Sessions link.
Disinformation and the harm it causes
The publishing and spreading of disinformation, especially about the findings and Final Report process of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, is not only insidious but is highly offensive and damaging to all survivors of child sexual abuse within the Jehovah’s Witnesses institution and the Australian community.
There is no rationale or excuse to publish such disinformation. Perpetrators of this type of conduct need to be held to account and need to be called out.
If you have information on who these persons are, or can assist further in investigating this matter, please contact JW Leaks via the below email so that appropriate action can be taken; including, where appropriate, referral to the Office of the Attorney General of Australia and the Australian Federal Police.
JW LEAKS
_____________________________________
JW Leaks receives ongoing support and funding via JW News.
Please support JW News for as little as the cost of a coffee
Click above and support JW News for the cost of a coffee
About JW Leaks
JW Leaks is about openness, transparency and accountability within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society.
JW Leaks shines a light on, and holds to account, the Watch Tower Society and those leaders within the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization that disregard or violate the laws of the land, or that cause religious harm to sections of the community.
Jehovah’s Witnesses . . . Proclaimers of “soon” since 1879
The Governing Body has decided that the traveling overseers arrangement is to be deleted. All currently serving traveling overseers (circuit overseers), and their wives, will be reassigned to ‘the field’.
The Watchtower magazine. April 15, 2013. JW.ORG
The adjustment
Country and regional Branch Committees will bare the responsibility to recruit and then re-assign elders from each locality region (think former circuit), who will then serve a small number of congregations on a temporary basis when needed. Former traveling overseers will be given preferential consideration for the assignment privilege.
One corporate advantage of this adjustment is that appointments of elders, and ministerial servants, will be given the outward appearance of a local arrangement with no direct branch office (or Watch Tower Society) involvement. This removes the current vicarious liability of elder / agent / employee arrangement.
In addition, with the recent removal of the field service hours reporting requirement, and the newly introduced permission to grows beards for brothers, ‘co-ordinating overseers’ will have very little to go on in their appointment of both new elders and ministerial servants. This is expected to potentially increase appointments, but may actually back-fire.
This new adjustment also removes both the Watch Tower Society’s liability, and the overall institutional liability, in relation to future appointed ‘agents’, while at the same time allowing the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses to retain full control of congregations, bodies of elders, and assets at the local congregational level.
Elders appointed as a local ‘co-ordinating overseer’ (circuit overseer) will not visit their own congregation, but rather will be assigned to audit and shepherd other congregations. No renumeration, reimbursement, or stipend will be paid by the organization.
Current serving traveling overseers, and their wives, will be primarily reassigned to ‘the field’.
Motor vehicles on current lease will be required to be returned after a short readjustment period. This readjustment period is not for the benefit of the deleted traveling overseer, but rather to prevent an influx of used motor vehicles having needed to be prepared for return to the lease companies, or prepared for resale. Excess vehicles will be offered for sale via dedicated online websites.
A special Branch Committee sub-committee will also bear the responsibility to recommend and recruit suitable elders, or former traveling overseers, from each congregation locality region (think former circuit), who will then serve a small number of congregations on a temporary basis. This establishes a legally binding relationship between the locally appointed elder and the local congregation under the new ‘co-ordinating overseer’ arrangement. This arrangement places all vicarious liability and legal liability for appointments, and retention, of elders and ministerial servants on the regional and local ‘co-ordinating overseer’.
A key consideration for any elder, or former traveling overseer, in considering accepting such an ‘assignment’, would be the protection of their own assets in the event of a lawsuit, particularly in relation the mishandling of child sexual abuse allegations by the congregation and body of elders, who ironically appointed the new ‘co-ordinating overseer’ to overseer such matters. There will be no insurance offered by the Watch Tower Society, or the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, as this creates an agent / employee relationship.
Further, there will be no so-called ‘circuit overseer wives’.
A hierarchical readjustment of the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisational arrangement will also take place so as to remove and protect the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses from liability.
The financial savings alone, directly and indirectly, will be enormous.
An increase in Kingdom Hall sales
An increase in Kingdom Hall sales will follow, with an increased focus on wealthy non-English speaking regions (i.e. real estate asset rich) in the Asia Pacific region.
These newly appointed local ‘co-ordinating overseers’ will also bare the responsibility in facilitating the selling off of congregation Kingdom Halls, but not their own, in selected areas, and the removal of bodies of elders that refuse to co-operate with the redistribution of ‘dedicated funds’. Download actual letter of removal of bodyof elders.
This Kingdom Hall sales readjustment arrangement creates a pseudo ‘at arms length’ position for both the Watch Tower Society and the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Monies derived from the increase in the sale of Kingdom Halls will be transferred out of the relevant country / region and placed into one of a number of inter-related Cash Management Centers (CMC), currently operating under the direct control of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Evidently, the ‘light gets brighter’.
JW LEAKS
_____________________________________
This article was produced in conjunction with JW News.
JW Leaks receives ongoing support and funding via JW News.
Please support JW News for as little as the cost of a coffee
Click above and support JW News for the cost of a coffee
About JW Leaks
JW Leaks is about openness, transparency and accountability within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society.
JW Leaks shines a light on, and holds to account, the Watch Tower Society and those leaders within the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization that disregard or violate the laws of the land, or that cause religious harm to sections of the community.
Jehovah’s Witnesses . . . Proclaimers of “soon” since 1879
On Thursday 13 April 2023, JW LEAKS received a direct email from Mr Daniel Scott of Peake Legal Solicitors, on behalf of one of his Australian-based clients, informing us that documents, relating to…
the ABC Four Corners program “Bearing Witness” (first aired on 13 September 2021);
the complaint made by Jehovah’s Witnesses Congregations Limited, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia Limited, and the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Australasia) Limited directly to the ABC about the above program;
the Raglan Kingdom Hall Fire and police correspondence;
the Bathurst Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses; and
the complaint and correspondence made by two Jehovah’s Witnesses legal entities to the Australian Communications and Media Authority about the ABC Four Corners program,
…have recently been published on the official government website of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
JW LEAKS extends its gratitude for the exclusive ‘tip off’ to Mr Daniel Scott – whom we understand is an active Jehovah’s Witness and the current lawyer for Jehovah’s Witnesses Congregations Limited (his client referred to in the opening paragraph), in addition to also being the lawyer representing Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia Limited, and the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Australasia) Limited.
The documents released under the Freedom of Information Act by ACMA reveal the extensive lengths that Jehovah’s Witnesses Congregations Limited, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia Limited, and the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Australasia) Limited, went to in trying to have the ABC Four Corners program on the Jehovah’s Witnesses
“removed from any website on which it appears and [to] never be rebroadcast.”
[Doc 8. Attachment E to complaint – Part 1_Redacted. Item F. Conclusions, “Complaint to ABC …” page 46 of complaint.]
Ironically, they requested that the ABC say sorry for the program.
The documents released evidence the extent, and the lengths of deception, i.e. ‘theocratic warfare’, and potential defamation (libel), that Jehovah’s Witnesses Congregations Limited has engaged in while trying to launch their planned “civil proceedings” [email sent obo Jehovah’s Witnesses Congregations Limited by Peake Legal to NSW Police, dated 5 November 2021].
The documents also reveal the complete, total and utter failure of Jehovah’s Witnesses Congregations Limited to prove or establish any of its complaints in relation to, not just the broadcast itself, but also in relation to comments made by the numerous persons who appeared in the ‘Bearing Witness’ program.
What is of serious concern is that Jehovah’s Witnesses Congregations Limited, a company trust, was a party to the original complaint to the ABC. This 46-page complaint [Document 8. Attachment E to complaint – Part 1_Redacted] goes to great lengths in trying to individually and collectively discredit those persons who appeared on the ABC Four Corners program.
Due to the defamatory nature of the written complaint by Jehovah’s Witnesses Congregations Limited, JW LEAKS has decided not to publishDocument 8 [Doc 8. Attachment E to complaint – Part 1_Redacted – as read in conjunction with – Doc. 9 Attachment E to complaint – Part 2_Redacted].
Instead, we have provided below a link directly to the ACMA website for downloading of all documents in one convenient zip file. (Note: this is an Australian government website).
The actions and conduct of Jehovah’s Witnesses Congregations Limited also raise serious questions as to whether they have engaged in massive unlawful breaches of privacy laws and the Australian Privacy Principles, both in the collection of personal and sensitive information, and in the use of this information, in relation to those that appeared as part of the ‘Bearing Witness’ program.
Among those also singled out for criticism and attack included Lisa Flynn of Shine Lawyers and Irwin Zalkin of The Zalkin Law Firm.
We strongly recommend all those that appeared on the ABC Four Corners program ‘Bearing Witness’ seek legal advice in relation to the conduct and actions of Jehovah’s Witnesses Congregations Limited, specifically in relation to:
Defamation (libel) laws in the jurisdictions of Australia and the USA; and
Privacy laws within Australia (specifically the Information Privacy Principles in the Australian Privacy Act 1988).
According to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, a breach of an Australian Privacy Principle is an ‘interference with the privacy of an individual’ and can lead to regulatory action and penalties.
Disclosure: JW LEAKS provided documents and other information, including footage, to ABC Four Corners for use in the ‘Bearing Witness’ broadcast.
The final complaint outcome
On 4 July 2022, ACMA informed the Jehovah’s Witnesses about the outcome of the official investigation into the ABC Four Corners broadcast ‘Bearing Witness’. The correspondence stated in part:
Thank you for your correspondence, received by the ACMA on 13 May 2022, on behalf of Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Australasia) Limited, Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of Australia and Jehovah’s Witnesses Congregations, about the compliance of the Four Corners episode, ‘Bearing Witness’, with the ABC Code of Practice 2019 (the Code). I appreciate your patience while the ACMA has considered your clients’ complaint.
We have reviewed the complaint and note that, in summary, it expressed concerns relevant to Standard 2 (Accuracy), Standard 4 (Impartiality), Standard 5 (Fair and Honest Dealing) and Standard 7 (Harm and offence) of the Code.
I appreciate that this matter is of concern to your clients, and I thank you for taking the time to raise it with us.
When we receive a complaint about a broadcast, we weigh up a number of factors to help us decide whether to investigate further.
We have undertaken a detailed assessment of the complaint, a copy of the broadcast, the broadcaster’s response and the relevant rules in the Code. Based on those assessments, we have concluded that there were no issues that raised fundamental concerns with the ABC’s compliance with the Code and we have decided to take no further action.
[Doc 15. Email from ACMA to the complainant 4.0.02022_Redacted]
Watch the ABC Four Corners program “Bearing Witness”
.
.
Why did the Jehovah’s Witnesses Congregations Limited trust get involved?
Jehovah’s Witnesses Congregations Limited was established in 1982 to hold title to real property, namely all Kingdom Halls of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the state of New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The properties are held in trust on behalf of individual congregations and/or beneficiaries.
In the ABC Four Corners program footage was shown of the Raglan Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, NSW (see above). This hall is used by the Bathurst Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Five days after the ABC Four Corners program aired, in the early morning hours of Saturday 18 September 2021, the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Raglan, NSW, was completely destroyed by fire. The premises were not in regular use at the time due to the COVID pandemic.
A crime scene was immediately established by detectives from Chifley Command (Chifley Police District, NSW Police) and an investigation commenced with the assistance of Fire and Rescue NSW and the NSW Rural Fire Service. The investigation is still ongoing.
Image via Facebook
The fire correspondence
On Friday 5 November 2021, some seven weeks after the fire, NSW Police received an email from Peake Legal Solicitors representing Jehovah’s Witnesses Congregations Limited. This email exchange is included within the bundle of documents released by ACMA [Doc 10. Attachment E to complaint – Part 3_Redacted].
The email exchange states:
Dear Constable [redacted],
I refer to our telephone conversation this afternoon.
We act on behalf of Jehovah’s Witnesses Congregations Limited, the legal title holder of the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses premises located in Raglan NSW, which was recently the site of a fire. Our client holds the property on trust for the Bathurst Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, which is an unincorporated association.
Our client is seeking any information or evidence that the Police have been able to uncover, or conclusions that they have drawn, which tend to establish whether or not the fire was started accidentally or intentionally, and if so by whom. Such evidence is critical to civil proceedings which our client wishes to commence as soon as possible.
We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
NSW Police did not immediately acknowledge receipt of the email. On the morning of 10 November 2021, NSW Police received a follow up email from Peake Legal Solicitors which stated:
My client [Jehovah’s Witnesses Congregations Limited] has also asked me to ensure that the Police are aware, that only days before the Bathurst (Raglan) Kingdom Hall was burned down, an article was published on the ABC news website and a Four Corners report was aired on the ABC, both of which contained inflammatory falsehoods about Jehovah’s Witnesses, which in our view were capable of inciting hatred. The report and news article also featured footage of the Raglan Kingdom Hall.
…
We look forward to receipt of your advice regarding any evidence the police may have, that the fire was intentionally started.
Detective Senior Constable [redacted] of NSW Police responded to the email that afternoon, stating:
I am aware of the media articles surrounding the Jehovah’s Witnesses featuring the Raglan Kingdom Hall.
The investigation in relation to the circumstances surrounding the fire at the Raglan Kingdom Hall is ongoing.
I can confirm the following-
[redacted]
The email exchange reveals a potential strategy of Jehovah’s Witnesses Congregations Limited to launch “civil proceedings” in relation to the ABC Four Corners program ‘Bearing Witness’.
The very day before, on 9 December 2021, the Jehovah’s Witnesses submitted a formal ‘complaint’ to the Australian National Office for Child Safety in relation to the ABC Four Corners report that also featured the Bathurst Congregation’s Kingdom Hall.
The complaint stated:
False Media Reports Regarding Jehovah’s Witnesses
On 14 September 2021[sic], the ABC Four Corners report on Jehovah’s Witnesses focused on sensational and unchallenged accounts of hostile ex-Witnesses. The program made false and defamatory statements about the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses. A number of false representations have arisen based on a gross misinterpretation of the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse[sic] data that was recklessly and maliciously perpetuated by ABC Four Corners.
JW Leaks is about openness, transparency and accountability within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society.
JW Leaks shines a light on, and holds to account, the Watch Tower Society and those leaders within the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization that disregard or violate the laws of the land, or that cause religious harm to sections of the community.
Jehovah’s Witnesses . . . Proclaimers of “soon” since 1879
Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, Inc. v Truth and Transparency Foundation
On April 30, 2020, in the United States District Court Southern District of New York ,civil action was authorised by the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses against the Truth and Transparency Foundation and its founders over allegations of breaches of copyright laws.
Screenshot of Gerrit Losch in a leaked video on the FaithLeaks website
.
ACCORDING TO THE COMPLAINT
Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, by its attorneys, Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, P.C., for its Complaint against Defendants The Truth and Transparency Foundation, Ryan C. McKnight, and Ethan G. Dodge alleges:
1.This is a civil action for copyright infringement in violation of the Copyright Act,17 U.S.C. § 101 et seq. This litigation seeks relief against the ongoing wholesale infringement of Plaintiff’s registered copyrights in 74 original motion pictures. Defendants, without authorization or permission from Plaintiff, have made unauthorized copies of Plaintiff’s motion pictures, and are reproducing, publicly displaying, publicly performing and distributing Plaintiff’s works online. Plaintiff, accordingly, seeks injunctive relief and statutory damages for willful copyright infringement.
…
12. Watch Tower over decades has created and published thousands of original works of authorship, including literary works, works of visual art, musical works, and motion pictures, and has secured over 3,300 federal copyright registrations for its original works. Under the Copyright Act, Watch Tower has the exclusive rights, among other things, to “reproduce the copyrighted work[s],” to “distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work[s] to the public,” and in the case of its “motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work[s] publicly,” as well as to authorize or license others to engage in such activities. 17 U.S.C. § 106.
13. In mid-2018, Watch Tower learned that 487 of its copyrighted literary works were being reproduced, displayed and distributed without license or permission by Defendants on the faithleaks.org website.
14. On December 31, 2018, Watch Tower’s counsel notified Defendants that their unauthorized publication of Watch Tower’s literary works on the faithleaks site was in violation of Watch Tower’s exclusive rights under the Copyright Act, and demanded that such infringing materials be removed from the faithleaks site.
15. Defendants, through counsel, declined Watch Tower’s demand that its literary works be removed from the faithleaks site. Defendants did not contest Watch Tower’s ownership of valid copyrights, or its prima facie case of infringement of those copyrights, but instead asserted “the defense found in 17 U.S.C. § 107,” claiming that Defendants’ wholesale reproduction and distribution of complete works, unaltered and unaccompanied by new matter, was protected as fair use.
16. In May 2019, Watch Tower learned that a large number of motion pictures created by Watch Tower, including the 74 motion pictures at issue here, had been uploaded to and made available for public performance on Rutube, a Russian online video streaming service located at rutube.ru and available to users worldwide.
17. Watch Tower submitted to Rutube notices of claimed infringement, objecting to the unauthorized posting of its copyrighted works on the Rutube site and demanding their removal. In response, Rutube removed the Watch Tower videos from its site.
18. Shortly thereafter, Defendants posted the Watch Tower videos that had been “taken down” from Rutube to Defendants’ faithleaks.org site.
19. In a May 2019 article titled “2019 Jehovah’s Witness Convention Videos Published Again After Successful Takedown Request,” published on Defendants’ truthandtransparency.org website, Defendants boasted not only about their past infringements and refusals to comply with Watch Tower’s efforts to enforce its copyrights, but also about these new infringements, leaving no doubt as to Defendants’ willfulness.
20. The Watch Tower videos remain available on the faithleaks site to the present day.
.
.
About JW Leaks
JW Leaks is about openness, transparency and accountability within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society.
JW Leaks exposes and holds accountable the Watch Tower Society and those leaders within the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization that disregard or violate the laws of the land, and that cause religious harm to sections of the community.
Jehovah’s Witnesses . . . Proclaimers of “soon” since 1879
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has published, as part of court proceedings, a copy of the newly revised secret Jehovah’s Witnesses elder’s manual ‘Shepherd the Flock of God’.
Commencing in 2018, various legal corporations under the direction of the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses commenced a campaign of legal action, corporate bullying, threats, and intimidation against numerous web sites, Facebook accounts, YouTube channels, and private social media accounts.
Among those targeted through 60 DMCA subpoena legal actions, commenced in the Federal Court by Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, Inc. and subsidiary corporations, was JW LEAKS who are not involved in these current proceedings.
On April 15, 2020 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, in the matter of DMCA Subpoena to Google, LLC, Case No.: 7:20-mc-00119, a ‘Supplement in Support of the Motion to Quash DMCA Subpoena’ was filed by anonymous Jane / John Doe which included a full copy of the recently revised version of the Jehovah’s Witnesses elder’s manual, ‘Shepherd the Flock of God’.
On April 16, 2020 District Court Judge Cathy Seibel issued the following order:
“The Court will not accept any further filings except Watch Tower’s 4/17/20 submission and Doe’s 5/1/20 response. Any other filings will be disregarded, so do not bother sending any.”
.
.
About JW Leaks
JW Leaks is about openness, transparency and accountability within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society.
JW Leaks exposes and holds accountable the Watch Tower Society and those leaders within the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization that disregard or violate the laws of the land, and that cause religious harm to sections of the community.
Jehovah’s Witnesses . . . Proclaimers of “soon” since 1879
JW LEAKS 