On 24 March 2008, WikiLeaks published what it described as a collection of confidential Scientology documents, including materials concerning the church’s Operating Thetan levels. On 27 March, the Religious Technology Center asserted that the documents were unpublished copyrighted works and asked for their removal, along with disclosure of uploader logs that could undermine anonymity. The dispute placed copyright enforcement directly against an anonymous-publication model.
WikiLeaks rejected the suppression attempt and stated that it would publish additional Scientology material; the source says it did so the following week. The confrontation echoed a 1994 controversy involving the same materials and showed how copyright claims could be used to pressure hosting services and identify sources. The supplied text does not report a final court ruling or damages award, but the episode established a recurring conflict between trade-secret or copyright control and leak platforms’ commitment to public access and source anonymity.
