BBV: File Sharing Pits Copyright Against Free Speech

[Kelvin Mace]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/03/business/media/03secure.html

orbidden files are circulating on the Internet and threats of lawsuits are in the air. Music trading? No, it is the growing controversy over one company’s electronic voting systems, and the issues being raised, some legal scholars say, are as fundamental as the sanctity of elections and the right to free speech.

Diebold Election Systems, which makes voting machines, is waging legal war against grass-roots advocates, including dozens of college students, who are posting on the Internet copies of the company’s internal communications about its electronic voting machines.

*snips*

Lot's of unwarranted qualifiers, but a pretty good article. NYT still refusing to sully its pages with Bev Harris' name, despite talking to her for well over an hour.

The most interesting part is they are looking at the broader ramifications of DMCA, beyond song swapping.

David Allen
Publisher, CEO, Janitor
Plan Nine Publishing
http://www.plan9.org


Edit: typos

[Timefortruth]

1. She is in there.

But not until the very end, check out the last two paragraphs.

"Some observers of the fight say it is having an effect beyond ones and zeroes and virtual forms of hanging chad. Bev Harris, who is writing a book on the electronic voting industry, was among the first people to place the Diebold files online. "


"She said that when she began her research, young people tended to tell her that voting was irrelevant to their lives. That is changing, she said; “What more important thing can we do so that we can get them involved, and see how important voting is?” "

[Kelvin Mace]

11. You are correct...

Apologies, my printer clipped off the last graf.

David Allen
Publisher, CEO, Janitor
Plan Nine Publishing
http://www.plan9.org

[Skinner]

2. Bev is in there

Page 5:

Some observers of the fight say it is having an effect beyond ones and zeroes and virtual forms of hanging chad. Bev Harris, who is writing a book on the electronic voting industry, was among the first people to place the Diebold files online.


She said that when she began her research, young people tended to tell her that voting was irrelevant to their lives. That is changing, she said; “What more important thing can we do so that we can get them involved, and see how important voting is?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/03/business/media/03secure.html?pagewanted=5

[fsbooks]

3. If you use P2P file sharing software...

...search, download, and share. The available files grow everyday on the gnutella network.

[short bus president]

7. did anyone ever put the BBV stuff on FREENET,

as I suggested for months and months before it got taken down? FREENET is not censorable. Would've been a nifty way to ensure availability of those docs, without worries over mirrors being erected and lost overnight.

[hunter]

10. Hand-to-hand and snail-mail are good too.

A CD burner, a printer, a long walk in the wilderness and some skinny dipping with friends. There is a lot you can do...

If you are using the internet, the bad guys can watch what you do from their cozy offices. Make them do some field work. They need the exercise, they need to get friendly with your dog.

"Here Fido, I'm your friend, I bring you the best doggy treats!"

Personally, I don't think FREENET is the answer. We need people who are willing to stand behind their right to know how their vote is counted.

If your county is using Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia, or similar BBV machines, go out and get "up close and personal" with your election officials. They are supposed to be working for you.

If we allow ourselves to get sucked into these internet "spy vs. spy" games, we will lose. The bad guys love that sort of crap; they are not afraid of internet geeks. The grandma or grandpa who has been working elections for fifty years scares them more than anyone else. Get to know some of those grandmas and grandpas.

:evilgrin:

[Baconfoot]

4. Forget Free Speech, what about "Right to vote"?

Everytime I hear about this debate over Diehold's files I get all hot under the collar.
There's a right involved here more fundamental even than either freedom of speech or intellectual property and that's the right to vote.
Forget about "chilling" free speech.
These files are about "chilling" the counting of legally cast votes.
Do we have to have a seperate constitutional amendment guarenteeing the right not to have one's right to vote interfered with in order for this right to be acknowledged as the primal right that it is?
For damnation's sake we've got the 14th and the 19th already.

[shance]

6. Great point.

Send it to the New York Times.

They need to hear from all of us.

[Kelvin Mace]

12. So far, the courts and election officials

just don't see this. They have totally bought in to the lie that the system is secure and no less accurate than any other system (another lie).

People with no credentials are telling us the system is fine. People who understand the code know better.

David Allen
Publisher, CEO, Janitor
Plan Nine Publishing
http://www.plan9.org

[DUreader]

5. Read it at Common Dreams without registering at NYT, link here

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1103-04.htm

[depakid]

8. Diebold is going after MIT students too.

It will be interesting to see if MIT- which co-sponsored the initial report on electronic voting- has the integrity to stand up to Diebold's bullying.

From the Boston Globe October 30.

[Papa]

9. I read this quote about voting that rings true

Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.
--Josef Stalin


We need to make sure that those who cast the votes do the deciding.

[Kelvin Mace]

13. Part of my life is dedicated to

clearing up this quote. There is no evidence Stalin ever said this, and as he was a dictator, there was very little voting.

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa121800a.htm

The quote is probably from Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall fame, who addressed the alderman and explained "the ballots made no result; the counters made the result."

http://www-cse.stanford.edu/class/cs201/current/Projects/electronic-vote-counting/NYCase.html

David Allen
Publisher, CEO, Janitor
Plan Nine Publishing
http://www.plan9.org