Thursday, December 4, 2003

by Megan Mills
Associate Editor

Nelson Pavlosky ’06 and Luke Smith ’06 have reposted the contested Diebold,
Inc. memos that the company previously tried to have removed, with the support
of the College and legal rights.

Last month, Pavlosky and Smith, through the Swarthmore Coalition for the Digital
Commons and private student computers, made the internal documents available
for public viewing, an act that Diebold considered illegal according to the
Digital Millenium Copyright Act. These documents contain information on possible
known flaws in the company’s voting machines, which are used in elections worldwide.
Subsequently, Diebold sent the students cease and desist letters asking them
to take down the memos in an effort to protect what they considered their intellectual
property.

In retaliation, SCDC and the Online Policy Group, with the legal aid of Stanford’s
Cyberlaw Clinic and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, sued the company and
filed a counter-notification. Not only did Diebold not respond in time, but
also, according to the SCDC and EFF websites, promised to withdraw their threats
and not to send anymore. On November 25, SCDC reposted the memos on their website.

Though Diebold seemingly capitulated to SCDC’s demands, the lawsuit that was
brought against the company in addition to the counter-notification is currently
in limbo, according to Pavlosky. “The judge put us in mediation, to see
if we can work out our differences out of court,” he said. “I don’t
think this is really going to work, because what we really want is a court ruling
that says that we were right to post the memos, that our use of the memos was
fair use and protected by the first amendment, and that Diebold was wrong to
abuse the DMCA to suppress free speech.”

Also, SCDC is non-profit, so Diebold will have a difficult time appeasing them.
“It’s the principle of the thing,” Pavlosky added. “We can’t
let Diebold threaten everyone with frivolous lawsuits, and then walk away. Then
big companies would think that they can bully people without consequences; they
would think they can get off scot-free if they just back down when the people
manage to get lawyers and come after them. We want to prevent something like
this from happening again. Whistleblowers have to be able to inform the public
about questionable business activities, especially when they relate to something
vital to our democracy, like voting.”

by Roxanne Yaghoubi
World News Editor

In a scene mirroring the TV debates of recent weeks, Swarthmore hosted its
own Democratic presidential debate on Wednesday night, with five students taking
on the identities of their favorite candidates.

The debate was moderated by Matt Meltzer ’06, who explained that as a Republican,
he was planning to wear his Bush/Cheney button to the event, but the loss of
the button led him to conclude “so much for the Republican ideal of market
efficiency.” Like his Democratic counterparts Meltzer also took on a role–he
chose to portray the conservative author Ann Coulter.

In the first part of the event, each of the five candidates was allocated a
few minutes to speak about his or her position on the war in Iraq and the economy.
Andy Skemer ’06 started the discussion by making clear that Lieberman was pro-war,
and that under the UN rule against genocide the US had an obligation to intervene
against Hussein. Skemer also addressed Lieberman’s economic policies, saying
that while he did not want to repeal the tax cuts, he did think it important
to make affordable loans available to the public for education and other uses.
While the rest of the candidates semeed to agree with Skemer (and Lieberman)
about the loan issue, therewas much disagreement about the other points. Amelia
Templeton ’06, who represented former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, immediately
followed Lieberman and as such contrasted Dean’s anti-war position with that
of the Senator from Connecticut. Templeton also emphasized that Dean views national
security as a broad issue, involving Iraqi reconstruction as well as the prevention
of terrorism. In terms of economics, Templeton pointed out that Dean is a firm
believer in balancing the budget, but that he also believes that Bush’s tax
cuts should be repealed across the board. Dean believes that even the tax cuts
for the middle class should be repealed, because the amount of money that the
middle-class would receive if the cut was in place is too small to make much
of a difference.

Ed Way ’04, who represented Senator John Edwards, disagreed with Dean’s analysis
of the middle-class tax cut, saying that while the tax cuts for the richest
2% of the population should be repealed, the middle-class could be greatly helped
by even a samll reduction in the amount of taxes they had to pay. And though
Edwards voted for the war in Iraq, Way emphasized that the senator did not vote
to approve the $87.5 billion reconstruction effort in Iraq. Edwards instead
believes that a bipartisan panel should be appointed to overlook the Iraqi reconstruction,
similar to the panel enacted during the Marshall plan after World War II.

Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, represented in the debate by Tim Roeper
’07, did vote yes on authorizing both the Iraq war and the 87.5 billion spending
limit. And while Roeper acknowledged that Kerry has taken a lot of flack for
his vote authorizing war, Roeper also said that the date of the vote (October
11 2002) was significant because, at that time, Hussein was not yet allowing
weapons inspectors into Iraq. Kerry believed that the bill authorizing the use
of force in Iraq was necessary in order to force Hussein to let such inspectors
in. Roeper emphasized that Kerry’s background as both a Vietnam veteran and
as a protestor against that war gave the candidate a good perspective on international
affairs.

Another candidate with a military background is General Wesley Clark, represented
by Matt Fiedler ’06. Like Dean, Clark has opposed the Iraq war from the start,
as well as opposing the $87.5 billion amount for reconstruction. Clark also
believes that a multi-national oversight group should be put in charge of watching
over the reconstruction efforts in Iraq, much like the group in place during
the Bosnian conflict. Fiedler ended this section of the debate by talking about
Clark’s economic views, particularly on the bad that comes with a budget defecit,
as well as the importance of stoppoing companies from engaging in off-shore
operations in order to avoid taxation.

The next two parts of the debate consisted of question and answer periods,
first from one candidate to another, and then from audience members to individual
candidates. While a good deal of the questions continued to address the Iraq
war and the economy, questions also arose as to social issues. Dean was asked
several times about his position about gun control, with Templeton concluding
that gun control is a complicated issue, and that all the candidates should
watch the Michael Moore movie “Bowling for Columbine” in order to
understand that complexity. Other than gun control, questions over social issues
like abortion and gay marriage arose, with the candidates all seeming to be
pro-choice and for the ability of gay partners to have the same benefits as
married people. Finally, questions were posed to the candidates about their
related governing experience and their ability to win versus Bush.

The event ended with individual two-minute speeches in which the candidates
wrapped up their positions.

*****

by Alexis Reedy
Campus News Editor

The Swarthmore Coalition for Digital Commons has organized a symposium entitled
Choosing Clarity that examines the issues surrounding voting transparency. It
is set to run from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. on December 6, 2003 in Upper Tarble.

* In a case that has reignited tensions over racial profiling and police brutality,
the Hamilton County coroner ruled Wednsday that the primary cause of death for
Nathaniel Jones was the struggle between him and the police. Jones was on PCP
and cocaine at the time of the struggle, and he suffered from both na enlarged
heart and obesity. The coroner will rule the death a homicide, but he emphasized
that such a ruling does not necessarily mean that the police used “excessive
force.” Though the struggle and restraints caused his death, the coroner
emphasized that Jones would likely not have died had he not been in ill health
or on drugs. Meanwhile black activists in Cincinnati point to the death as another
example of the police brutality that caused race riots to occur two years ago
in that same city.

* President Bush signed the “Healthy Forests Restoration Act” into
law on Wednesday. The law hopes to protect communities from devastating forest
fires by allowing timber and brush to be cleared without environmental studies
and judicial appeals. It is the first major forest management legislation in
25 years. Though similar legislation had been pending in Congress for the last
three years, it was not passed until the recent massive fires in California
spurred action. But critics of the bill said that it would allow timber companies
to cut down large, old-growth trees in the name of fire prevention.

* US secretary of State Colin Powell confirmed on Wednesday that he would meet
with the organizers of an informal peace treaty between the Israelis and the
Palestinians. This “Geneva Accord” outlines Israeli concessions, like
removing settlements from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, that Sharon’s government
has resisted during past negotiations. For that reason, many Israelis thus reacted
with disappointment at Powell’s announcment. AP reported that Zalman Shoval,
an aide to Sharon, said that though Israel cannot stop Powell from meeting with
the signers of the accord, but the Israeli government did feel that such a step
was counterproductive.

*****

Afro-Cuban Bata Drum Ensemble
Lang Concert Hall, 4:30 p.m.

GenderPAC Video Screening: “Tough Guise: Media, Violence & the Crisis
in Masculinity”
IC Big Room, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Career Services Internship Search Workshop
Kohlberg 202, 6:30 p.m.

Panel of Israeli College Students, sponsored by Im Tirtzu
Bond, 7:00p.m.

Journalist Debate: “Justice Security and the War in Iraq”
LPAC Cinema, 7:30 p.m.

SHIP Study Break
Parrish Parlors, 9:00 p.m.

The Ring: Open and Closed Student Support Groups
Mephistos, 10:00 p.m.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

Dillon McGrew scored 11 points to lead the Garnet but it was not enough as
Swarthmore fell at Division I Lehigh 82-58. The lack of a big man really hurt
the Garnet as Lehigh used a strong inside game converting 11 lay-ups to build
a 33-12 lead with 6:09 remaining in the first half. But the Garnet countered
with an outside attack with three consecutive 3-pointers to cut the lead to
39-27 at the half. But that was as close the Garnet would get as Lehigh had
a 13-2 run at the beginning of the second half.

Gustafson added 10 points, Kevin Blodgett scored eight points, and Mark Rohde
pulled down a career-best eight rebounds. The Garnet were 9-for-20 from beyond
the arc and hit 9-of-11 from the charity stripe.

Jose Olivero came off the bench to lead Lehigh’s balanced attack with 12 points
as four Mountain Hawks reached double figures in scoring.

Swarthmore host Ursinus on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in its Centennial Conference
opener.

*****

Today:
No events are scheduled for today.

Tomorrow
Women’s Basketball in Seven Sisters at Vassar vs. Vassar, 6:00 p.m.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be
normal.”
–Albert Camus

*****

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