Is there Scientology in your software?
That's the question confronting Microsoft in Germany, where an alleged connection to Scientology in Windows 2000 has prompted a government inquiry into the operating system software.
Laws in the German states of Hamburg and Bavaria require that companies with government contracts and some private companies be free of connections to the Church of Scientology.
In November, Microsoft announced that disk fragmentation technology developed by Executive Software had been licensed to Microsoft for use in Windows 2000, due for release in February.
Executive Software's CEO Craig Jensen is a member of the Church of Scientology and has boasted that his staff is trained according to administrative systems developed by the Church of Scientology. Jensen has attributed his company's success in selling its defragmentation utility DisKeeper to a 12-volume encyclopedia on managing organizations written by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
"Our staff is trained on these procedures," Jensen said in a 1992 statement.
According to regulations that apply in Hamburg and Bavaria, "If the government buys a service from a company, the company has to sign an agreement saying that nobody involved in executing this service has anything to do with Scientology," explained Christian Persson, the editor of the German computer magazine c't.
Bavaria, for example, requires companies to sign a form that ensures that "no person used to fulfill the contract will apply the technology of [Scientology founder] L. Ron Hubbard."
Speculation that use of the Executive Software technology in Windows 2000 might violate state restrictions on contractors with ties to Scientology were raised in a recent article in c't. Microsoft, Executive Software, and the Church of Scientology maintain the magazine has made a mountain out of a molehill.
But Michael Ziegler, spokesman for the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior. said the issue for many Germans is state security.
"It's not only an issue that concerns Bavaria but the whole of Germany. That means ... the [federal] Office for the Protection of the Constitution is checking into it," Ziegler said Monday.
The main question is whether Windows 2000 can have any influence on German authorities, or on the German government, said Ziegler, who stressed that he was not a software specialist and had no opinion on the constitutional office's findings. State governments will follow the recommendations of the federal office, he added.
For years, German officials at the federal and state level have pursued what they see as constitutional threats posed by the Church of Scientology. Its most ardent attackers portray Scientology as a totalitarian organization bent on world domination and have set to limit its activities and influence.
In the United States, some members of Congress have criticized the German government's religious discrimination regarding Scientologists, Mormons, and Jehovah's Witnesses, among others. In October, a congressional coalition led by Representative Matt Salmon (R-Arizona) and Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming) introduced a resolution urging Germany to re-examine what they maintain is a human rights issue.
"Germany has a certain mentality in terms of minorities and discrimination and the actions they take," said Leisa Goodman, human rights director for the Church of Scientology International. "It's ridiculous."
Goodman said Executive Software was a member of WISE, an international organization of individuals and organizations that use L. Ron Hubbard's management systems.
WISE also confirmed that Executive Software was a member of the organization.
In a letter to c't, the Church of Scientology accused the magazine of inaccurate statements about Scientology and insisted that Executive Software has no affiliation with the church.
And Microsoft spokesperson Mark Thomas said the technological concerns raised by c't are unfounded.
"We've looked a this issue very carefully and there's really no issue for people to be concerned about," Thomas said. The software is put through rigorous review and it poses no data security threat to companies, he said.
As to whether Microsoft could run afoul of Bavarian regulations on Scientology, Thomas said he didn't see the connection. "[Windows 2000] is not Executive Software's product. It's ours."
The Church of Scientology defines itself as "an applied religious philosophy." Actual application of the philosophy is key in Scientology, according to descriptions of Scientology's practices described at the group's site. "L. Ron Hubbard developed as part of his philosophy an actual technology with which his discoveries could be used to effect improvement in people," the site says.
German press reports have quoted Bavarian officials and the Catholic Church.
"[The World Institute of Scientology Enterprise (WISE)] is the most important arm of Scientology to infiltrate the economy and to spy on the economy. Executive Software belongs to the leading companies within WISE," said Persson, the c't editor, translating comments made by a Hamburg state spokeswoman to the German Press Agency.
The government does not appear on the verge of any substantive action on the matter, said Persson, who believes Windows 2000 will be released on schedule in spite of the allegations.
