Swarthmore College Stands Up to Diebold

(Forwarded from Interesting People list)

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [IP] Swarthmore press release on Diebold...
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2003 18:27:31 -0500
From: Dave Farber <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]


>Delivered-To: [email protected]
>Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2003 09:03:08 -0800 (PST)
>From: Joseph Lorenzo Hall <[email protected]>
>Subject: Swarthmore press release on Diebold...
>To: Declan McCullagh <[email protected]>, Dave Farber <[email protected]>
>
>I don't know if you have seen this. I applaud Swarthmore's stance and
>hope to see more institutions stand up to Diebold:
>
>http://www.swarthmore.edu/news/releases/03/diebold.html
>
>For Immediate Release: October 31, 2003
>Contact: Tom Krattenmaker
>610-328-8534
>[email protected]
>http://www.swarthmore.edu/news/
>
>
>Swarthmore Administration Taking Steps To Support Student Action in
>Diebold Matter
>
>SWARTHMORE, Pa. -- The Swarthmore College administration is taking
>steps to support student activists who are challenging efforts by
>Diebold, Inc., to suppress the circulation of memos calling attention
>to problems with the company's electronic voting machines.
>
>In keeping with the College's commitment to educate its students for
>socially responsible citizenship, it is challenging Diebold to justify
>its claim of copyright infringement and is helping students develop
>legal strategies to address the ethical and moral concerns motivating
>their attention to the Diebold voting machines.
>
>Acting on legal counsel, the Swarthmore administration has advised
>students on the process for filing under the copyright law a
>"counter-notification" against Diebold's take-down demand. In
>addition, the administration has alerted students that it is
>defensible on fair-use and free-speech grounds to use their web sites
>to describe the content of the memos they have seen and their
>implications for American democracy, and to use their sites to inform
>interested members of the public that the memos are available at sites
>not associated with Swarthmore.
>
>Legal counsel has advised the College that a federal district court
>ruling in a 1999 case, Intellectual Reserve vs. Utah Lighthouse
>Ministry, suggests that providing direct hyperlinks may be construed
>as contributory copyright infringement. Therefore, at this point,
>Swarthmore has not permitted such links to remain on student web sites
>cited by Diebold. It is the College's policy not to actively monitor
>or control the content of student, faculty, and staff web pages other
>than in response to specific legal concerns, a policy the College is
>continuing to follow.
>
>Swarthmore president Alfred H. Bloom said, "The College is deeply
>proud of its students' resolve to act on behalf of an open and fair
>democracy and believes that the finest teaching of civic
>responsibility encourages students to act on their commitment to a
>better society by first seeking approaches within the law to reach
>socially significant goals, before considering civil disobedience."
>
>For more information, please read "E-Vote Protest Gains Momentum" in
>Wired News and Associate Professor of History Timothy Burke's blog
>entry on the subject.
>
>
>Document published by the Office of News and Information.
>Content copyright  2003 Swarthmore College.
>
>
>
>(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
>distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
>interest in receiving the included information for research and
>educational purposes.)
>
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Joseph Lorenzo Hall                    http://pobox.com/~joehall/
>Graduate Student             blog: http://pobox.com/~joehall/nqb/
>
>"If voting could really change things, it would be illegal."
>--Excerpt from a Diebold Election Systems internal memo.
>http://why-war.com/features/2003/10/diebold.html

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