November 13, 2003

Diebold, Inc., one the largest manufacturers of electronic voting machines, has been sending out dozens of cease-and-desist letters to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), after internal documents indicating flaws in their systems were published on the Internet. The company cites copyright violations under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and demanded that the documents be taken down.

Diebold has threatened not only the ISPs of direct publishers of the corporate documents, but also the ISPs of those who merely publish links to the documents.

Now the EFF and the Center for Internet and Society Cyberlaw Clinic at Stanford Law School are fighting back, seeking a court order on behalf of nonprofit ISP Online Policy Group (OPG) and two Swarthmore College students to prevent Diebold’s abusive copyright claims from silencing public debate about voting, the very foundation of our democratic process.

"Diebold's blanket cease-and-desist notices are a blatant abuse of copyright law," said EFF Staff Attorney Wendy Seltzer. "Publication of the Diebold documents is clear fair use because of their direct relevance to the debate over the accuracy of electronic voting machines."

The documents include email messages written by Diebold employees describing security flaws in the systems, as well as email discussions about how to resolve, or in some cases, obfuscate those problems.

The DMCA contains a "safe harbor" provision as an incentive for ISPs to take down user-posted content when they receive cease-and-desist letters such as the ones sent by Diebold. By removing the content, or forcing the user to do so, an ISP can take itself out of the middle of any copyright claim. As a result, few ISPs have tested whether they would face liability for such user activity in a court of law.

On Nov. 4, Judge Jeremy Fogel of the federal district court in San Jose decided to expedite the case, which will be heard on November 17, 2003. It is Case Number C-03-04913 JF.

[Read the source...]

Related Links:

• Online Policy Group v. Diebold, Inc. case archive (via EFF)
• 'Analysis of an Electronic Voting System' (Johns Hopkins Information Security Institute Technical Report, 7/23/03) - The JH research report that found gaping security holes in the e-vote software produced by Diebold. This page includes a PDF of the report, an abstract, rebuttal from Diebold and the researchers' response, and other info.
• SAIC Report on the Diebold AccuVote-TS voting system (PDF, State of MD, 9/24/03) - The State of Maryland hired SAIC, a major consulting firm and federal govt. contractor, to audit the software used in that state. "The system, as implemented in policy, procedure, and technology, is at high risk of compromise."
• Diebold-CD Wiki (PaperTrailPatriots.org) - Browse or download the leaked documents, and monitor the latest news developments.
• Edited exerpts from the Diebold documents - Details internal discussions of bugs, knowing disregard for election laws, and more.
• Black Box Voting - activist site
• Black Box Voting - book companion site - Also includes latest news from around the country. And download the book for free!
• Security Researchers Discover Huge Flaws in E-Voting System (EFF press release, 7/24/03) - "Security researchers at Johns Hopkins University and Rice University announced today that they have discovered numerous serious security flaws in what they believe is one of the leading e-voting systems in the country -- the Diebold Electron Systems' e-voting terminal. Among the security flaws discovered were several ways in which individual voters could vote multiple times in a given election. The researchers also uncovered methods permitting voters to "trick" the e-voting machines into allowing them system administrator privileges or even terminating an election before tallying all legitimate votes."