Electronic Civil Disobedience: The Hyperlink Wars

I've reported here before about the shady goings-on behind electronic voting in America, in particular the problems which appear to exist with the Diebold machines. Internal memos which confirm the existence of serious problems have been leaked - and Diebold is attempting to suppress them by claiming copyright infringement (a tactic at suppressing critics first pioneered by Scientology).

But wait, it gets even better: Swarthmore college is turning off the internet access of any students who even link to a site that just contains information about the memos. These memos, if genuine, cast serious doubt upon the integrity and reliability of Diebold. If not genuine, then they wouldn't be able to claim copyright infringement.

James Grimmelmann writes at LawMeme:

Let's see. Can't host the files. Can't link to the files. Can't link to a site with the files. Where will the madness end? This is the Internet. Hyperlinking doesn't supply easy dividing lines, and when you start telling people what they can and can't link, you start murderizing the Web.

This is a very serious issue because there is apparently no real protection in Diebold machines from tampering and fraud - either on the part of external parties or on the part of Diebold employees. Diebold is proving that it doesn't really care about democracy by trying to suppress internal documents that reveal the flaws and problems in their machines. What else might they try to suppress in the future? Do you feel comfortable trust your vote to them?