by Tom Regan

Internetnews.com reports that e-voting machine manufacturer Diebold has agreed to withdraw its cease-and-desist orders against privacy groups and several ISPs that had hosted or linked to sites that published internal e-mails discussing problems with e-voting technology.

"This is a huge victory that shows we have weapons on our side to protect free speech from overbearing copyright laws so that the Internet remains a forum for public discussion," said Electronic Freedom Foundation staff attorney Wendy Seltzer.

One of the people providing links to the Diebold e-mails is U.S. congressional representative Dennis Kucinich. Mr. Kucinich, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, says he wants a Congressional inquiry to be held into the actions of Diebold.

"Diebold's actions are representative of a growing body of abuses through which large and powerful parties unfairly intimidate ISPs to remove information those parties do not like," Kucinich wrote in a letter dated Nov. 21. "Powerful parties should not be permitted to misuse copyright as a tool for limiting bad press and barring access to legitimate consumer information."