Despite Diebold's announcement Monday to drop all copyright suits in relation to its exposed company memos, Hopkins has reiterated its decision to forbid students from posting the controversial memos on University Web space.
Sophomore Asheesh Laroia notified the University Nov. 25 that he was reposting the download, following Diebold's first legal announcement Nov. 24 to District Court in San Jose, Ca.
The University Legal Counsel informed Student Technology Services Monday that the University is still not convinced of the legality of posting the download. Laroia's Web access was revoked on Monday.
Provost Steven Knapp reiterated the Counsel's decision to forbid the posting.
"We certainly do encourage, our students to participate in debates on whatever intellectual and political topics engage their interest," he said.
However, he said that because the court has not confirmed the fair use of the information, Hopkins still regards it as copyright protected and will not allow its resources "... to be used in a manner that, according to the best legal advice available to us, would violate the law."
Counsel informed Laroia that they would only permit him to repost the material if he were to procure and post a letter from Diebold specifically permitting Hopkins to post the the internal company correspondences, which reveal that Diebold was aware of insecurities in its electronic voting machines.
"These are voting machines. This is our democracy. This is important," Laroia said, "People should be able to read these documents." Laroia first posted the downloads in early November and had his Web access revoked Nov. 5.
He said he wants to use his University Web space rather than his external personal site because it shows that he is posting the information for educational purposes and not for profit.
"Universities should encourage their students in discussions about the workings of our democracy," said Wendy Seltzer, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a national cyber law organization which is closely following the legal developments and supports the campaign on college campuses.
Although Diebold had previously filed letters of copyright infringement to students at Swarthmore and Harvard, among other schools, Hopkins never received a cease and desist letter for Laroia's posting.
Diebold reiterated Monday to U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel and attorneys from the Electronic Frontier Foundation that it would drop all legal action of copyright infringement, retract all outstanding takedown letters, and refrain from any suits in the future.
The court documents are available at http://www.eff.org/Legal/ISP_liability/OPG_v_Diebold/20031201_order.pdf.
The first announcement was made Nov. 24 in San Jose, where the company was suing a California Internet service provider.The downloads have been circulated by civil liberties activists since March in an Internet campaign that seeks to spread awareness of the insecurities.
Both Maryland and Ohio, among other states, have already purchased the machines for the upcoming primary elections.
The insecurities have been highlighted in national news and in the presidential campaign of U.S. congressional representative Dennis Kucinich, who is seeking the Democratic Party's nomination. Much more attention is being paid to the integrity of voting systems since the Florida election debacle in 2000.
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