Maybe...
Guess that you just got to check your purpose of your preaching activity... LOL.
Watchtower Sends Legal Notice To Website Regarding Coyright Infringement
by Bangalore 94 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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JWoods
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dinah
The WT threatens a lawsuit against someone for distributing copyrighted material? What's the difference in posting an article online and handing a magazine to someone while in field service?
They do things like this, and the rank and file can't figure out it is a for-profit publishing company?
I understand why they wanted the "quotes" site down. It made them look like the fools they are, using only their own words.
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undercover
What's the difference in posting an article online and handing a magazine to someone while in field service?
If the owner of the site is in good standing, he is therefore a "PUBLISHER" of the Watchtower organization. Surely the publishers of a magazine should have distribution rights for their own material?!
Those are interesting thoughts...if one is a current member of the congregation and in good standing even, they are considered representatives of the publishing company and are given material to distribute to the public. What is the difference in handing out the printed version versus scanning it and putting it online? I'm sure that legally it's protected somehow, but threatening legal action against a member of the congregation actually defeats the purpose of what you're training these people to do..."PUBLISH the Good News of God's Kingdom"
If you know any JWs that are aware of the Society threatening legal action against people who post articles online, these are the questions to ask them to get them thinking.
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dinah
Maybe this just shows how terrified the WT is of the internet............
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swa
It's about control; this type of activity cannot be tolerated by the FDS. Only they have the authority from Jehovah to distribute his message, and only they have the authority to say how it can be done. I've come to the conclusion they are trying to stop two things from occuring.
1) Since this site was run by brothers and apparantly used by brothers, they must not want anyone "challenging" their position. Can't you just see some young technogeek buiding an awesome website with all the bells and whistles that gets more hits than the official one? Can't you hear Bro. Goodexample saying he uses www.whoneedsboundvolumes.com to get all his meeting parts ready in a flash? Chaos would ensue...the GB would look like the bunch of old guys they are, out of touch with the modern tech-savvy world. So they have to pull in the reigns and keep this pony at a walk, after all they gotta ride it all the way to the end be it 5 years or 50 years away.
2) The sheep seeing that it's not all that hard to distribute the messsage effectively using up to date technology and far more efficient than the door to door effort. I actually just heard an Elder comment at the meeting that he met a man in service who had never heard of JW's! How can that be right here in small town USA? Nobody knew Barack Obama 5 years ago, but with the right team and technology behind him he is now one the most recognizable figures on earth (and I bet it cost less than the preaching work has over the same time period).
Well enough of my long windedness, just got on a roll and couldn't stop.
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shamus100
They are no different than any other book publishing company. They are just protecting their rights.
Given that context, I don't blame them.
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garyneal
All I have to say is apparently this action by the Watchtower Society angered the webmasters somehow because they are exposing the child molestation issue that apparently goes on in the Kingdom Halls.
My wife uses that book and often asks me how is using it any different than my using "Our Daily Bread." I suppose there is no difference but I do know that the Daily Bread devotionals are available on the Internet. That came in handy when our devotional group did not have an extra copy of the book for me.
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Finally-Free
From another perspective this could be a good thing. The watchtower surpressing the spread of its own literature can be seen as a protection for the spiritually unwary. Fewer people seeing their trash means fewer people having their minds poisoned.
W
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undercover
They are no different than any other book publishing company. They are just protecting their rights.
Given that context, I don't blame them.
Yea, in the context of being a publishing company, they are within their legal rights. I don't fault them for protecting their rights...but I do like calling bullshit on their motives.
The Watchtower Society is not exactly like any other book publishing company however. They're not publishers, say, like Doublday, the publisher of Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code. Doubleday did not give out copies of the book to be distributed for free...the book was published to be sold. Once someone buys the book, they can give it away, but they can't reproduce it and give away copies or post it online to let people read for free.
The Society claims to be providing their publications in order to "Publish the Good News of God's Kingdom". They operate under not-for-profit status as a religion.
The hypocrisy becomes evident when the Society claims to want to spread the Good News to all that will listen yet seeks to take legal action against those who seek to distribute the very publications the Society says they want distributed.
Legally, you can't win against the Society on the copyright law, but I think it is a good talking point if a JW (who happens to be enlightened enough to know of these things) is willing to discuss it.
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undercover
Another thought...
I remember hearing "experiences" of brothers using mimeograph machines to make copies during persecution, in order to keep the flow of literature moving. These brothers were praised for their brave actions under the threat of exposure and arrest to keep "publishing the good news"...
...yet another brother can scan and post literature on the Internet, exposing this life saving message to many more than by just knocking on some doors and he faces legal action, not by the authorities, but by his own employer, the publisher of the material.
Can you say hypocritical bastards, boys and girls?