Diebold reins in legal threats against voting activists

Grok Headline matches for Diebold reins in legal threats against voting activists

DirecTV Reins in the Legal Attack Dogs

DirecTV Reins in the Legal Attack Dogs 06/15/2004 01:39 PM

In one of the uglier "intellectual property" abuses, DirecTV has been suing people for possession of tools it claims can be used to get TV shows without paying for them. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society have challenged the satellite TV company on this conduct, and on Monday DirecTV agreed to modify its approach, according to this press release, which says in part:

The company will no longer pursue people solely for purchasing smart card readers, writers, general-purpose programmers, and general-purpose emulators. It will maintain this policy into the forseeable future and file lawsuits only against people it suspects of actually pirating its satellite signal. DirecTV will, however, continue to investigate purchasers of devices that are often primarily designed for satellite signal interception, nicknamed “bootloaders” and “unloopers.” DirecTV also agreed to change its pre-lawsuit demand letters to explain in detail how innocent recipients can get DirecTV to drop their cases. The company also promised that it will investigate every substantive claim of innocence it receives. If purchasers provide sufficient evidence demonstrating that they did not use their devices for signal theft, DirecTV will dismiss their cases. EFF and CIS will monitor reports of this process to confirm that innocent device purchasers are having their cases dismissed.

Perhaps DirecTV saw some writing on the wall. On Tuesday, a federal appeals court has ruled that the company can't sue solely because someone possesses such equipment.

Activists Show Alleged Flaws in E-Voting

Activists Show Alleged Flaws in E-Voting 09/22/2004 10:52 PM
San Jose Mercury News Sep 23 2004 3:10AM GMT

More Diebold E-Voting Vulnerabilities

More Diebold E-Voting Vulnerabilities 09/22/2004 11:53 AM

Diebold voting machines vulnerability

Diebold voting machines vulnerability 08/31/2004 08:20 AM
Cory Doctorow: Diebold's voting machines have a stunning security defect:

Manipulation technique found in the Diebold central tabulator -- 1,000 of these systems are in place, and they count up to two million votes at a time.

By entering a 2-digit code in a hidden location, a second set of votes is created. This set of votes can be changed, so that it no longer matches the correct votes. The voting system will then read the totals from the bogus vote set. It takes only seconds to change the votes, and to date not a single location in the U.S. has implemented security measures to fully mitigate the risks.

This program is not "stupidity" or sloppiness. It was designed and tested over a series of a dozen version adjustments.

Link (Thanks, Michael!)

Diebold to Pay $2.6M Due to Insecure
Voting Machines

Diebold to Pay $2.6M Due to Insecure
Voting Machines 12/19/2004 03:51 PM
Slashdot Dec 19 2004 4:24AM GMT

Voting panel grills Diebold

Voting panel grills Diebold 04/21/2004 06:26 PM
The elections systems vendor comes under fierce questioning the day after a staff report for the California secretary of state charged it with breaking state elections law.

Diebold Backs Off Legal Challenge

Diebold Backs Off Legal Challenge 12/02/2003 06:32 AM
In August, activists posted Diebold memos online that suggested the company knew its electronic voting machines were insecure. The company responded with legal threats. Now it's pulling back in the face of opposition. By Kim Zetter.

California set to reject Diebold
e-voting machines

California set to reject Diebold
e-voting machines 04/23/2004 09:46 PM
ATM giant faces uphill battle

Diebold completes prototype e-voting
printer

Diebold completes prototype e-voting
printer 02/01/2005 08:56 PM
Usatoday.com - Fri Jan 28, 09:00 pm GMT

Diebold voting machine scandal docs on
the net

Diebold voting machine scandal docs on
the net 10/29/2003 01:16 AM
Diebold is trying to suppress the internal memos that have been leaked that prove the inadequacy of the Diebold machines, and point to possible election fraud in the 2000 elections. Why War is doing a public service by keeping track of sites hosting the internal memos. Download a copy of the docs and see for yourself. Via Dan Gillmor...

Indian Voting Machines Compared with
Diebold

Indian Voting Machines Compared with
Diebold 05/14/2004 12:06 PM

Diebold Gets Busted for Electronic
Voting Shenanigans

Diebold Gets Busted for Electronic
Voting Shenanigans 04/25/2004 04:13 AM
The full story is over on Corante.On April 20th, the Oakland Tribune published a story regarding Diebold's alleged use of uncertified voting software in violation of California state law (Diebold knew of legal risks). The article cited and focused on internal legal memos from the Jones Day law firm showing that Diebold's own lawyers had warned of some of the possible illegalities. Online, the Oakland Tribune posted the documents in addition to the article. That afternoon, the Trib's parent company and the reporter were sued by Jones Day to have the documents returned. The judge ordered the documents returned, except for those already published on the internet (Judge: Tribune must turn over legal memos):Hmm, "already published on the Internet", eh? Click on that link and download them.  They are the Diebold electronic voting scandal's smoking gun, dead body, and confession note.   All nicely presented, annotated, and distributed, for your democratic pleasure.

Other News: $2.6 million Diebold
E-Voting Settlement

Other News: $2.6 million Diebold
E-Voting Settlement 12/24/2004 12:14 PM
Diebold shells out $2.6 million to settle a California lawsuit over fraudulent e-voting claims.

Diebold Finds E-Voting Business Stormy

Diebold Finds E-Voting Business Stormy 05/08/2004 11:06 PM
AP via Daily Press May 9 2004 3:43AM GMT

California Grills Diebold Over E-Voting
Foul-Ups

California Grills Diebold Over E-Voting
Foul-Ups 04/22/2004 01:33 PM

Diebold Sued (Again) Over Shoddy Voting
Machines

Diebold Sued (Again) Over Shoddy Voting
Machines 07/12/2004 08:38 PM

California sues Diebold over e-voting
snafu

California sues Diebold over e-voting
snafu 09/08/2004 05:07 AM
Brief Demands new President, new Governor...

Diebold Folds In DMCA E-Voting Lawsuit

Diebold Folds In DMCA E-Voting Lawsuit 12/02/2003 01:50 AM

Calif. panel calls for ban on Diebold
voting machines

Calif. panel calls for ban on Diebold
voting machines 04/22/2004 08:09 PM

California officials reject Diebold
e-voting machine

California officials reject Diebold
e-voting machine 04/23/2004 04:23 PM
The California Voting Systems and Procedures Panel recommended decertifying an electronic voting machine and launching an investigation of its manufacturer, Diebold Election Systems.

California to sue Diebold over voting
machine-related fraud

California to sue Diebold over voting
machine-related fraud 09/07/2004 10:10 PM
California's Attorney General Bill Lockyer said today that he is suing Diebold over fraudulent claims he believes that company has made with regards to their electronic voting machines.

Briefly: California county ditches
Diebold e-voting

Briefly: California county ditches
Diebold e-voting 05/26/2004 07:43 PM

California county ditches Diebold
e-voting machines

California county ditches Diebold
e-voting machines 05/26/2004 07:43 PM

Diebold Knew They Broke The Law With
Uncertified Voting Machines

Diebold Knew They Broke The Law With
Uncertified Voting Machines 04/20/2004 04:44 PM
Every time I read another article about Diebold, you wonder what's really going on at the company. They clearly seem to be living in their own little reality where they simply ignore the very important questions people are starting to ask about their voting machines. I wonder how anyone in their right mind could use a Diebold voting machine after these fiascoes. Despite plenty of questions concerning their voting machines over the past few months, Diebold didn't do anything differently and knowingly broke their contract (and the law) with Alameda county by using uncertified software. Diebold's lawyers tried to get them around this by suggesting they claim that the software was "experimental" rather than "uncertified." Despite being clearly told not to do this, Diebold went ahead and used the uncertified and barely tested software which was rushed onto machines for the primary elections in California last month. Even worse, when an employee spoke up to point out that there was poor quality control and an aspect of the voting system was likely to fail, he was quickly fired. When you put together all of the information compiled over the last year concerning Diebold's voting machines, their inability to comprehend why people are upset, and what looks like their outright violation of the law, why would anyone agree to use such a machine during an election?

Chimp Can Hack Diebold Electronic Voting
System

Chimp Can Hack Diebold Electronic Voting
System 09/24/2004 08:19 PM

Solano County ends e-voting contract
with Diebold

Solano County ends e-voting contract
with Diebold 05/26/2004 07:47 PM
SiliconValley.com May 26 2004 10:15PM GMT

Diebold finds voting machine business
stormy

Diebold finds voting machine business
stormy 05/09/2004 03:16 AM
San Jose Mercury News May 9 2004 6:19AM GMT

Diebold Attempting To Suppress Leaked
Legal Memos

Diebold Attempting To Suppress Leaked
Legal Memos 04/23/2004 04:27 PM
Ernest Miller writes "Last Tuesday it was revealed that Diebold was informed by its lawyers that what it was doing was most likely illegal (Diebol d Knew They Broke The Law With Uncertified Voting Machines). Where did this information come from? Leaked legal memos from Diebold's law firm, Jones Day. A judge has ordered that all memos not already published on the internet be returned to Jones Day (A New Pentagon Papers Case - Newspapers, Blogs and the Diebold/Jones Day Memos). But, if you can't stop newspapers from publishing the Pentagon Papers, why can you stop a newspaper from publishing memos dealing with important issues regarding voting? Perhaps the lesson for newspapers is that if you think the public should be informed, publish as much as possible and don't try to hold back information for "exclusives." "

Wally O'Dell, CEO of electronic voting
machine manufacturer Diebold

Wally O'Dell, CEO of electronic voting
machine manufacturer Diebold 12/07/2003 06:30 PM
Working for Change Dec 7 2003 4:39PM ET

Diebold Backs Down, Won't Sue on
Publication of Electronic Voting Machine
Flaws

Diebold Backs Down, Won't Sue on
Publication of Electronic Voting Machine
Flaws 12/02/2003 08:42 AM
Electronic Frontier Foundations Dec 2 2003 7:27AM ET

Scoop: Diebold Memos Disclose Florida
2000 E-Voting Fraud

Scoop: Diebold Memos Disclose Florida
2000 E-Voting Fraud 10/28/2003 11:09 PM

Legal Threats Still Loom For Google

Legal Threats Still Loom For Google 01/03/2005 07:10 PM

Microsoft can buy off Sun legal threats
for 10 years

Microsoft can buy off Sun legal threats
for 10 years 04/09/2004 04:00 PM
As part of their landmark agreement reached last week, Microsoft Corp. has the option to pay Sun Microsystems Inc. millions of dollars each year to shield itself from patent infringement lawsuits by its former nemesis, Sun's vice president for legal affairs said Thursday.

Group Fears Threats of E-Voting Company

Group Fears Threats of E-Voting Company 11/18/2003 10:29 AM
AP via Los Angeles Times Nov 18 2003 9:22AM ET

SignOnSanDiego.com > News >
Politics -- Panel: Don't use Diebold
touch-screen voting machines

SignOnSanDiego.com > News >
Politics -- Panel: Don't use Diebold
touch-screen voting machines 04/23/2004 03:03 PM
Panel: Don’t use Diebold touch-screen voting machines .. black-box, "trust-us-we're-Republicans" vote counting .. Buh-Bye, says California .. has now decertified

signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20040422-1251-ca-electr onicvoting.html
track this site | 5 links

Video shows monkey able to sabotage
Diebold touch-screen voting machine

Video shows monkey able to sabotage
Diebold touch-screen voting machine 09/25/2004 01:30 AM
Fox News .. wrong

foxnews.com/story/0,2933,133214,00.html
track this site | 3 links

Legal Threats Stalk Adult Sites

Legal Threats Stalk Adult Sites 06/15/2004 05:19 AM
Wired News Jun 15 2004 9:47AM GMT

Illegal file sharing on the rise,
despite legal threats

Illegal file sharing on the rise,
despite legal threats 01/16/2004 01:00 PM
A more recent study argues that, far from being in retreat, file sharing is on the rise again.

Sites Fight Back On Baseless Legal
Threats

Sites Fight Back On Baseless Legal
Threats 09/17/2004 06:47 AM
In the past year and a half, Techdirt has received five or six threats of legal action for things written on the site (one time we even received two completely separate legal threats on the same day -- which actually was quite confusing). None of these went very far, as a quick review of every situation showed they were baseless. In every case, the threats involved statements (usually in the comments) that someone didn't want to be out there, but which were clearly perfectly legal. What most of those doing the threatening failed to realize was that if legal action was taken, the first thing that would happen would be a public discussion of what was happening -- meaning a random comment from years ago on the site that no one looked at any more, would suddenly get a lot more attention (see: Streisa nd, Barbara). Anyway, it looks like more sites (especially in the blog realm) are learning not to freak out every time they get a cease & desist letter, but to push back, and even publicize the threats. At some point, lawyers will wise up and realize that baseless legal threats, with the hope that the legalese will scare a non-lawyer, have a very high likelihood of backfiring in a big way.
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Diebold reins in legal threats against voting activists

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