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- Kucinich Requests House Judiciary Committee Hearing On Diebold’s Abuses Of
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Digital Millennium Copyright Act
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- Sends Letter to Chairman Sensenbrenner and Ranking Member Conyers
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Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), today, sent a letter to the Chairman
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and the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee requesting that the
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Committee hold a hearing to investigate abuses of the Digital Millennium
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Copyright Act (DMCA) by Diebold Inc., one of the nationÂ’s largest electronic
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voting machine manufacturers.
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Recently, Diebold has waged an intimidation campaign to repress circulation
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of employee e-mails that raise concerns about the security of its electronic
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voting machines. Since early October 2003, Diebold has sent more than a
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dozen cease-and-desist letters to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and
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universities that host websites that either posted Diebold employee e-mails
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or merely hyperlinked to other websites with the e-mails.
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Diebold invoked the DMCA to pressure many ISPs and universities into
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removing websites and hyperlinks. These cease-and-desist letters were
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inappropriate.
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Kucinich states in his letter,
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“There is a compelling argument that the fair use doctrine precludes
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copyright liability for posting the e-mails. The archive is predominantly
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factual and was reproduced to inform the national public debate on election
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reform, specifically, on the machines used to count our votes. The e-mails
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do not harm any market of DieboldÂ’s, except in the sense that admitted
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problems may cause municipal and state purchasers to subject the machines to
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greater scrutiny.
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“Furthermore, numerous letters were sent to ISPs whose users only
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hyperlinked to other sites where the Diebold employee e-mails, were posted.
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Hyperlinks do not qualify for copyright protection, and their use does not
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incur copyright liability. In cases where ISPs complied with requests, they
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have often shut down entire websites for weeks at a time, instead of
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removing the alleged infringing activity. The safe-harbor driven
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10-business-day takedown period can remove non-infringing websites during a
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critical interval of discussion.
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“Diebold’s actions abuse the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, using
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copyright to suppress speech rather than fulfill the ConstitutionÂ’s purpose
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for copyright, to “promote progress.” These abuses raise a fundamental
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conflict with the First Amendment, diminishing the InternetÂ’s tremendous
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value as a most free medium of expression. DieboldÂ’s actions are
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representative of a growing body of abuses through which large and powerful
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parties unfairly intimidate ISPs to remove information those parties do not
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like. In other examples, the claims are not really about copyright, but
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about not showing the parties in a negative light, or not allowing consumers
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to compare prices, or quieting religious critics. Powerful parties should
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not be permitted to misuse copyright as a tool for limiting bad press and
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barring access to legitimate consumer information.”
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Yesterday, Kucinich unveiled a new section on his website at
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www.house.gov/kucinich to educate the public on the perils of the current
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electronic voting systems, and Diebold in particular.
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For a complete copy of the letter please contact Doug Gordon at (202)
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225-5871.