November 17th, 2006 - Unsite Hit witha Cease and Desist Order
Joshua Sneed sent me —an others— the message below. I have used the resources at Unsite.org from time to time and am sorry to see it shut down. Josh has removed site from the web as requested and is looking for some feedback on the C & D order.
Hi - just a quick piece of info and a plea for your support…
Yesterday the Legal Department served me with a “Cease and Desist” order regarding Unsite.org that ultimately forced me to remove everything. The reason is unclear and was not expressed or even hinted at in the official correspondence. The only logical conclusion is that the decision makers (listed as Lt. Colonel Larry Bosh, Chief Secretary, NHQ and on down the chain of command) believe they must protect The Salvation Army from something. Maybe misrepresentation…maybe fraud…who knows.
They did not attempt to gather information first. In fact, our own Chief
Secretary, Lt. Col. Don Bell told me in person on Tuesday that the correspondence he received accused me of selling other people’s copyrighted works!
I believe The Salvation Army needs an online “resource bank” for two simple reasons: (1) to save all the awesome resources created by Salvationists & Officers in ministry and (2) to make all this stuff available to others. Unsite.org in its current form was never meant to be a final product, either – it has always been my mission to build it up and hand it over to the Army as soon as they saw its value; and I would never expect anything in return.
My next step, now that I’ve complied with the Cease & Desist is to respond through the chain that I still believe this is important, and I’d like your help in showing that I am not alone.
If you found Unsite.org useful in your ministry, would you take just a moment and send me an email at unsite.org@gmail.com expressing your disappointment and your hopes that the valuable resources you once depended on were important to you? Just today I’ve received letters from the Training Principal in Myanmar, a Corps Assistant in Australia and a Youth Worker in New York. If you join in, it’ll be one more reason for our appointed leaders to ask why so many people want Unsite back. Perhaps they will endorse an “Authorized Version” that meets their expectations.
Thanks for your time,
Josh
Website: http://www.unsite.org
