Swarthmore press release on Diebold...

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
> Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2003 09:03:08 -0800 (PST)
> From: Joseph Lorenzo Hall <jhall () SIMS Berkeley EDU>
> Subject: Swarthmore press release on Diebold...
> To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>, Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
>
> 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
> tkratte1 () swarthmore edu
> 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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