LDS Church attempts to gag Internet over leaked handbook

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Read all about it here. Excerpt:
The 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 Wikileaks, 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).”
It is extremely disappointing to see the LDS church resorting to Scientology-like tactics to keep the truth about their practices becoming public knowledge.

Potential converts to the LDS church, caveat emptor! You can download the disputed handbook here:
wikileaks.org/wiki/Mormon_Church_Handbook_of_Instructions_(1999)
 
Looks like they were successful because there is nothing there.
 
Looks like they were successful because there is nothing there.
It’s there, you just need to fix the link up a bit. It needs another parenthesis at the very end of the line. It looks like it is there in the post, but it is in black, not blue, so when you click on it, it leaves out the parenthesis. Let me see if I can fix it up here…

HERE
 
There was a similar uproar from the Watch Tower Bible and Track Society when their Elder’s Handbook hit the web. I’ve looked briefly at the LDS handbook and see nothing “damning,” have I missed something?

Technically, both this book and the Elder’s Handbook for JWs are the intellectual property of those Churches, to publish them without permission MIGHT be a sin (and or a crime).
 
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