Cult Awareness and Information Centre

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For the London based organization of a similar name, see Cult Information Centre.
Cult Awareness and Information Centre

Brisbane central business district
Brisbane central business district
Motto "...switching the light on since 1995"
Formation 1990
Type Exit counseling,
Cult education
Online database
Location Brisbane
Flag of Australia Australia
Official languages English
Founder Jan Groenveld
Website Main page

The Cult Awareness and Information Centre is an organization that provides resources and information on groups they identify as cults and other controversial groups, based in Brisbane, Australia. The organization was founded by Jan Groenveld, an exit counselor with a background in psychology.

Contents

[edit] History

The Cult Awareness and Information Centre was founded in 1990, by Jan Groenveld, based in Brisbane, Australia.[1][2][3][4] The Cult Awareness and Information Centre website was launched in 1991.[5]

Due to Groenveld's reputation, the organization soon became listed as a resource in secondary publications on the subject matter. Cult Awareness and Information Centre was listed along with Groenveld, as a resource in Marlene Winell's book, Leaving the Fold.[6] In September 1993, the Cult Awareness and Information Centre organized a conference on "cult-busting" at Queensland University.[7]

[edit] Cited by contemporary works

The Cult Awareness and Information Centre continues to be listed as a resource by authors of associated works, including Carter's Amway Motivational Organizations in 1999,[8] Evert,[9] Bundschuh and Finley in 2001,[10] Kaplan's Millennial Violence, in 2002,[11] Snow's Deadly Cults: The Crimes of True Believers, in 2003,[12] and Fish's Not Taught!, in 2006.[13] In June 2006, Australia's The Courier Mail cited the Cult Awareness and Information Centre on the cult "The Family" that was at the time under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.[14] The Cult Awareness and Information Centre was also cited as a resource in the Canadian Security Intelligence Service report: "Doomsday Religious Movements".[15]

[edit] Cease and desist from Landmark Education

In November 2006, the American self-help company Landmark Education sent the Cult Awareness and Information Centre a Cease and desist letter, requesting that it stop hosting a Pièces à Conviction documentary on the company's actions in France, entitled: Voyage to the Land of the New Gurus.[16] Similar letters had been sent to Google Video, Youtube, and Internet Archive,[17] and the story was picked up worldwide by the Reuters newsservice.[18] According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Cult Awareness and Information Centre had continued to host the documentary while Landmark Education's copyright campaign was ongoing in the United States.[19] Landmark Education later dropped its Copyright subpoenas against Google and an anonymous poster of the video.[17] Landmark had previously sought subpoenas in Federal court in California, under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.[17] In 2007, the Cult Awareness and Information Centre allowed Landmark Education to post a "Reply to Posting of France TV3 Program", on their Web site, in a subsection of their page on the documentary, which included links to Landmark Education's Web site.[20]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Guilliatt, Richard (1996). Talk of the Devil: Repressed Memory & the Ritual Abuse Witch-Hunt. The Text Publishing Company. 
  2. ^ Staff. "Talk of the Devil, Book Review", New Zealand Herald, September 3, 1995, pp. News Review Page A14. 
  3. ^ About Jan, Cult Awareness and Information Centre, 2006.
  4. ^ "My Story in: Talk of the Devil", Jan Groenveld, excerpted portion of Talk of the Devil (with permission), 1996.
  5. ^ Who on Earth is the Cult Awareness & Information Centre??, Jan Groenveld, Cult Awareness & Information Centre.
  6. ^ Winell, Marlene (December 1983). Leaving the Fold. Harbinger Publications. 
  7. ^ Staff. "Australia's CAN: Cult Aware", New Dawn, October 1993, pp. 11-12, No. 21. 
  8. ^ Carter, Ruth (September 1, 1999). Amway Motivational Organizations: Behind the Smoke and Mirrors. Backstreet Publishing. ISBN 0967107024 , ISBN 978-0967107028. 
  9. ^ Evert, Jason (October 2001). Answering Jehovah's Witnesses. Catholic Answers, 159. ISBN 1888992212 , ISBN 978-1888992212. 
  10. ^ Bundschuh, Rick; Tom Finley (2001). Junior High and Middle School Talksheets Psalms and Proverbs-Updated!. Zondervan, 38. ISBN 031023851X. 
  11. ^ Kaplan, Jeffrey (2002). Millennial Violence: Past, Present and Future. Routledge, 60. ISBN 0714652946. 
  12. ^ Snow, Robert L. (2003). Deadly Cults: The Crimes of True Believers. Praeger/Greenwood, 196. ISBN 0275980529. 
  13. ^ Fish, Darwin (2006). Not Taught!. Lulu Press, Inc., 261. ISBN 1411685636. 
  14. ^ Thompson, Tuck. "FBI investigates Coast sex cult", The Courier Mail, 19 November 2005. 
  15. ^ "Doomsday Religious Movements", PERSPECTIVES, a Canadian Security Intelligence Service publication, Report # 2000/03, December 18, 1999. available online, last updated November 1, 2000.
  16. ^ Landmark and the Internet Archive, Electronic Frontier Foundation
  17. ^ a b c Jones, K.C.. "Landmark Drops Copyright Infringement Subpoenas On Google And Anonymous Critic", InformationWeek, December 1, 2006. 
  18. ^ Auchard, Eric. "Google faces legal challenges over video service", Reuters, November 11, 2006. 
  19. ^ Staff. "Landmark Forum's Internet Censorship Campaign Goes Down Under", Electronic Frontier Foundation, November 17, 2006, pp. Landmark goes Down Under after the jump. 
  20. ^ Landmark Education reply to France 3 documentary, In response to concerns by Landmark Education regarding the France 3 documentary "Voyage to the Land of the New Gurus", CAIC has offered Landmark Education a right of reply. The content below is from Landmark Education in response to this offer., Copyright (c) 1995-2007 Cult Awareness and Information Centre., retrieved 05-08-2007.

[edit] See also

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