The Legacy Center, Lifespring offshoot in Raleigh, NC, threatens LegacyCenterTruth.org

Back in 2006, The Legacy Center in Raleigh, North Carolina had one critic, by the screen name of ‘dan‘ (a Legacy Center graduate) scared enough to shut down his online forum legacycentertruth.org. The forum was created for the purpose of “open discussion about the business, teachings, and effects of the Legacy Center.” The threat started off with the copyright infringement complaint commonly used by LGATs, then progressed to an outright SLAPP threat (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation). The forum lasted just over a year before its creator decided the pressure was too much and quietly killed it.

Perhaps the forum would still be up and running saving people from harm if he knew that the ACLU or a pro-bono attorney advocating anti-SLAPPs in NC may have been able to help. But then again, maybe the fact that there is no anti-SLAPP bill in North Carolina is enough to keep anyone from starting up their own forum, thus allowing Legacy Center to thrive.

However there is still evidence of the legacycentertruth‘s existence on the handy Wayback Machine. It’s an archived cache of the site, can’t click through to the discussions, but you can read some of the user discussion titles (for now) so I went ahead and took screen shots:

(Click image for larger view)

(Click image for larger view)

I also found an archived discussion thread in FACTnet’s forum that discusses the disappearance of the legacycentertruth.org, where ‘dan’ reappears to post what happened:

I’m posting because I thought LCT needed closure. The sudden shutdown created a lot tension and speculation, so here’s the official story of what happened… I shut down the site because Legacy threatened a lawsuit. They cited copyright infringement on certain posts. I didn’t like the idea of censoring, but I originally agreed to remove those specific posts.

When Legacy sent their listing, they said if they see any more posts they will sue for damages the website may have caused them. Some posts they listed did appear to maybe contain copyrighted information, but many others seemed to do nothing more than put Legacy in a bad light.

So after careful consideration, I determined it would be impossible for me to censor my site in the way Legacy wanted. I could easily remove those posts, but due to the anonymous nature of my site, someone could just post it again. Furthermore, with the reasoning behind what stays and goes being so subjective, and Legacy being the ones who decide, it most certainly would happen again.

So I shut down the site. I decided that was the surest way to avoid legal problems. I’ve received a lot praise from my site during its short time span, and I hate to shut it down, but I don’t have the time nor the financial means to defend myself against a lawsuit.

So that’s what happened, as for my plans for the future… Legacy mentioned that if they caught me interfering with their business anymore, they would sue. This is why my sudden silence and hesitance to mention anything at all. However, since I’ve already shut down the site, and I’ve been silent over a month, I feel like I’ve dropped off their radar by now. Still, I don’t want any trouble, so my future plan is to just stay out of the way. If somebody asks me a question about my thoughts, I’ll answer it, but that will be end of it. I’m just not going to go out of my way to be an advocate for either side.

I hope that cleared up some confusion or concern.

Thank you,
-Dan
Source: FACTnet forum archive

More discussion, the good and the bad of The Legacy Center can be found here: FACTnet.org forum , RickRoss forum

NOTE: I have yet to find anything else online devoted to open information and discussion on The Legacy Center.