Diebold Inc., a company that operates online voting booths, will not pursue legal action following the publication of its internal memos on the Web sites of one student at the College and students at five other colleges and universities. Diebold also will withdraw previously issued copyright infringement notifications that effectively shut down the students' Web sites.

David Schaich '06 publicized internal Diebold memos, some of which have recorded discussions of faults in the practices of Diebold, on his College-provided Web space. The College learned of this after Diebold issued a cease-and-desist order. Consequently, the College blocked access to Schaich's Web site for legal reasons.

On Nov. 24, Diebold filed a response to a court case filed on behalf of two Swarthmore students who had posted the memos, requesting that the court "discuss resolution of the action," since the company does not seek counter legal action and will allow the published memos to stand. "They seem to have filed this in order to avoid an unfavorable ruling," said Schaich.

"Attempting to take further steps to enforce copyright interests when infringing material has proliferated across the Internet would not only be cost-prohibitive but in all likelihood futile," Diebold noted in its report to the court handling the suit. Diebold also acknowledged that the memos are of public concern. "Diebold recognizes the value of the First Amendment to our democracy, including … robust debate on matters of public interest," the documents said.

Schaich has asked the College to reinstate his Web site. "It doesn't sound as though it should take [filing a] counter-notice [a reciprocal legal action] anymore, but I'll need to check," he said. "I'm just looking forward to getting my Web site back online."