Tuesday, November 4, 2003

by Ken Patton
Gazette Reporter

Nelson Pavlosky ’06 and Luke Smith ’06 announced Monday in a press release
their intentions to file suit against voting machine manufacturer Diebold, Inc.
The lawsuit comes in response to numerous cease-and-desist letters received
by Swarthmore as well as Internet Service Providers around the country requesting
that an email archive of company memos be taken down.

The lawsuit was filed by Electronic Frontier Freedom and Stanford Law School
Center for Internet & Society on behalf of the students and Online Policy
Group, an Internet Service Provider hosting a site that provided links to the
memos. The lawsuit seeks an injunction against Diebold to prevent further cease-and-desist
letters from being sent.

Smith said that they were “filing the lawsuit because we felt that the
memos were critical for debate on the Democratic Process.” The memos potentially
expose flaws in current voting machines manufactured by Diebold as well as the
effort to conceal these defects.

The lawsuit claims that the memos are being distributed under “fair use”,
an exception to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that allows the distribution
of materials for public discussion and other uses. If the lawsuit succeeds,
it could be a strike against the DMCA that many critics claim limits free speech.

The temporary restraining order that has been filed was sent to Diebold on
Monday, and will be received by the Court on Tuesday for judgment. The judge
is expected to make a decision between 10:00 AM and noon on Tuesday.

Smith added that they are “also looking into filing the counter-notification
to put the files back up.” The counter-notification would be a separate
suit permitting the sharing of company memos that Diebold claims are protected
under copyright law. Both anxiously await the ruling.

Congratulations to Emily Tredeau ’06, Nina Thanawala ’07, and Michael Drezner
’07 for their strong showing at William & Mary this weekend! Emily was ranked
as the 7th speaker at the tournament, and with her hybrid partner from UMCP
broke to semifinals and finished as the 4th place team. Nina and Michael finished
as the 5th place novice team at the tournament, and Nina additionally took the
6th place novice speaker award.

*****

* Three rockets or mortar rounds exploded Monday night in the highly secure
“Green Zone” of the Iraqi capital that houses the U.S.-led coalition’s
headquarters, a coalition spokesman said. No damage or injuries were reported.
The spokesman said an explosives disposal team was trying to determine whether
rockets or mortar fire caused the explosions. The explosions came a day after
a U.S. Army transport helicopter crashed in a suspected missile strike, killing
16 soldiers and wounding 20 others. The CH-47 Chinook crash and the deathsof
another U.S. soldier in a Baghdad bombing and two civilian contractors in an
attack near Fallujah made Sunday the deadliest day for Americans in Iraq since
President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1. The recent deaths brought
the number of U.S. combat fatalities to 140 since May 1, according to the U.S.
military. There is no reliable source for Iraqi civilian or combatant casualty
figures, either during the period of major combat or after May 1. The Associated
Press reported an estimated 3,240 civilian Iraqi deaths between March 20 and
April 20, but the AP said that the figure was based on records of only half
of Iraq’s hospitals and the actual number was thought to be significantly higher.

* Europeans believe Israel poses the biggest threat to world peace, just ahead
of North Korea, Iran and the United States, according to a new European Union
poll which outraged the Israeli authorities. The European Commission said the
Israeli reaction was ‘legitimate’ but otherwise refused to comment on the poll
results beyond repeatedly stating that EU policies were not affected by poll
findings. Fifty-nine per cent of Europeans replied ‘yes’ when asked whether
Israel presented a threat to peace in the world, said the Eurobarometer survey.
The poll was conducted in mid-October. Fifty-three per cent said Iran, North
Korea and the US posed a threat, followed by 52 per cent for Iraq, 50 per cent
for Afghanistan and 48 per cent for Pakistan. Then came Syria on 37 per cent,
Libya and Saudi Arabia on 36 per cent, China on 30 per cent, India on 22 per
cent, Russia on 21 per cent, Somalia on 16 per cent and the EU itself on 8 per
cent.

* Afghanistan unveiled a post-Taliban draft Constitution yesterday, a historic
milestone on what has been a bloody, bumpy and often tragic path to recovery
after decades of war. The Constitution gives the country the official name ‘The
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’, indicating the government’s desire to bring
the state under the banner of Islam, which is practised by the vast majority
of Afghans. But the hardline Islamic law enforced under the former Taleban regime
is not expected to be a part of Afghanistan’s future. The Constitution creates
the posts of president and vice-president and envisions two houses of parliament.
The president would be elected directly by the Afghans and not by members of
parliament, said commission member Shukrya Barikzai. The draft must be debated
at a constitutional grand council, or loya jirga, next month. Ratification of
the document will set the stage for nationwide polls scheduled for June. The
release of the long-awaited draft was delayed several times over the past month.
The 35-member commission started work a year ago. After criticism that the Constitution
was being written in secrecy, the commission sent 460,000 surveys to the public
and held meetings in villages across the country seeking input. Commission chief
Namatulluh Sharani said yesterday the commission would seek further public input
before the loya jirga next month.

* Despite unhappiness with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s stress on reform
rather than economic recovery, the Japanese look set to return his Liberal Democratic
Party (LDP) to power. According to major pre-election surveys published yesterday,
the Liberal Democrats may win at least 241 seats, which will give them a simple
majority in the 480-seat Lower House. The party held 247 seats when the House
was dissolved last month. The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), the
nation’s second-largest party, is also set to win more seats in the chamber,
largely thanks to its merger with another party last month. All these gains
will come at the expense of small political parties on both sides of the political
divide, especially the Socialist Democrats, who are seen as a spent force. The
LDP continues to rule in rural constituencies, the party’s traditional power
base, while the DPJ remains strong in urban wards in the three largest cities
of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. But much will also depend on how many voters actually
bother to turn out. A high turnout is said to favour the opposition, as more
unaffiliated voters seem to back the DPJ than the LDP. Unlike the 2000 general
election when the LDP fared badly, even if it wins a majority this time, Mr
Koizumi is expected to continue his coalition with the Buddhist- backed Komeito
party and the tiny Conservative Party. The reason is that many LDP candidates
have come to depend on the support of the Komeito, which is said to be able
to mobilise bloc votes at election time through its affiliated religious group,
the Soka Gakkai. In return for such electoral cooperation, the LDP is obliged
to keep the Komeito on as a partner. For the DPJ, its biggest headache is its
low support among women.

*****

Lecture by Jeffrey Kinkley, St. John’s University: “Shen Congwen and the
Imperfect Paradise in His Literary World”
Kohlberg 115, 4:15 p.m.

Lecture by Professor IIya Vinitsky, University of Pennsylvania: “The Invisible
Scaffold: Dostoevsky and Romantic Tradition”
Kohlberg 226, 4:30 p.m.

Mock Interview Blitz
Career Services, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Lecture by Michael Levi, Science and Technology Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies
at the Brookings Institution: “Science and Security: The Future of Arms
Controls”
Science Center 199, 7:00 p.m.

American Narrative Cinema Screening: “Salt of the Earth”
LPAC Cinema, 7:00 p.m.

Earthlust’s “A Walk in the Woods” series, No. 3:”Eels in the
Crum” with Tom Valente
Meet at the Martin loading docks, 10:00 p.m.

Strath Haven Study Break: “Finding Nemo”
Strath Haven 404, 9:00 p.m.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

Today:
There are no contests scheduled for today.

Tomorrow:
Swimming at Ursinus, 6:00 p.m.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell
more than he knows.”
–Dwight D. Eisenhower

*****

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