{"article":{"id":93621,"heading":"Diebold vs. Indymedia","author":"ohio imcista","created":"2003-11-11 08:04:11","modified":"2005-08-15 01:47:23","last_modified":"Mon, 15 Aug 2005 08:47:23","article":"Indymedia fights Diebold's legal attempt to silence discussions about e-voting<\/b>Documents are publicly available that detail vulnerabilities in electronic voting machines manufactured by the Diebold Corporation. Diebold has been sending cease and desist letters to internet service providers (ISPs) that host the documents or links to them. Numerous Indymedia servers have been targeted by Diebold in its campaign to suppress this critical information.

\r\nIndymedia will defend its right to post internal memos and documents detailing vulnerabilities in electronic voting machines manufactured by the Diebold Corporation. The documents were made publicly available, and subsequently reported by writer Bev Harris on her websites\r\nblackboxvoting.com and\r\nblackboxvoting.org.

\r\nThe vast information contained in these documents is still being investigated by top computer scientists and researchers, but a set of widely circulated internal memos detail Diebold's flippant disregard of test runs, accuracy audits, and security for its voting machines. System tests (much like a dress rehearsal) are often required by local election laws--Diebold\r\nmemos\r\nmention how they simply changed the name \"memory test\" to \"***System Test Passed***\" as if the machine performed a self audit. The memos also say how Diebold installed new versions of the voting software that were left untested.

\r\nTheir election results are not secure, as evidenced by this comment in one\r\nemail\r\nregarding the \"contents\" (i.e. the votes) of the e-voting machines: \"Now, where the perception comes in is that its right now very *easy* to change the contents. Double click the .mdb file.\" Diebold's Republican executives have touted e-voting as a solution to the punchcard voting systems that scandalized Florida in 2000. In fact, this evidence and recent breaking news of security and reliability flaws raises serious questions about this \"solution\" to election woes in the US. More links:\r\nRead Entire Feature<\/b>\r\n [ earlier feature, August 2003\r\n | Madison IMC\r\n

\r\nStudents Sue Electronic Voting Company<\/b>\r\nTwo \r\nSwarthmore College students and a nonprofit ISP are seeking a court order on Election\r\nDay to stop electronic voting machine manufacturer Diebold Systems,\r\nInc., from issuing specious legal threats. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the\r\nCenter for Internet and Society\r\nCyberlaw Clinic at Stanford Law School are providing legal\r\nrepresentation to Nelson Pavlosky and Luke Smith in this important case to prevent abusive\r\ncopyright claims from silencing public debate about voting.\r\n

\r\nDiebold has delivered dozens of cease-and-desist notices to\r\nwebsite publishers and ISPs, including Indymedia, demanding that they take\r\ndown corporate documents revealing flaws in the company's\r\nelectronic voting systems as well as difficulties with\r\ncertifying the systems for actual elections. Pavlovsky and Smith have published an email\r\narchive of the Diebold documents which contain descriptions of these flaws written by the company's own\r\nemployees. Swarthmore student groups Why War? and the Swarthmore\r\nCoalition for the Digital Commons have launched an electronic\r\ncivil disobedience campaign, using file-sharing to ensure constant\r\npublic access to the documents.\r\n

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  • Online Policy Group v. Diebold case archive<\/li>\r\n
  • Cease-and-desist letter Diebold sent to OPG<\/li>\r\n
  • IndyMedia Web page subject to Diebold cease-and-desist\r\nletter<\/li>\r\n
  • Link to Chilling Effects on DMCA safe harbor provisions<\/li>\r\n
  • Media coverage of Diebold threats: Miami Herald\r\nand:\r\nWired<\/li>\r\n
  • Full story from EFF website<\/li>\r\n
  • Indymedia Web page subject to Diebold cease-and-desist<\/li>\r\n
  • Security flaws in e-voting system<\/li><\/ul>\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","summary":"A recent visit by an Ohio IMCista to Diebold corporate headquarters near Green, Ohio.","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/2003\/11\/diebold_indymedia.jpg","filesize":"40.2 kibibytes","article_url":"\/news\/2003\/11\/93621.php","image":{"original":"\/uploads\/2003\/11\/diebold_indymedia.jpg","small":"\/uploads\/2003\/11\/diebold_indymedia.jpgthumb.jpg","medium":"\/uploads\/2003\/11\/diebold_indymedia.jpgmid.jpg"}},"attachments":[{"id":93622,"heading":"Ohio IMCista visits Diebold corporate headquarters","article":"","author":"ohio imcista","parent_id":93621,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2003-11-11 08:04:11","modified":"2005-08-15 01:47:24","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2003\/11\/diebold_indymedia_2.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2003\/11\/diebold_indymedia_2.jpg"}},{"id":93623,"heading":"Diebold broader view","article":"","author":"ohio imcista","parent_id":93621,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2003-11-11 08:04:11","modified":"2005-08-15 01:47:24","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2003\/11\/diebold_indymedia_3.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2003\/11\/diebold_indymedia_3.jpg"}}],"comments":[]}