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Sklyarov Update

Posted by michael on Sun Aug 26, 2001 09:24 PM
from the for-great-justice dept.
Government The Courts News
Seth Schoen writes: "Dmitry Sklyarov's arraignment has been rescheduled to Thursday, August 30. It's at the same location where it was originally supposed to take place this past Thursday. The arraignment is scheduled for 9:30am PT, Thursday, August 30. The hearing will be held with US Magistrate Judge Richard Seeborg presiding, in courtroom 4, 5th floor of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Branch, 280 South 1st Street, in San Jose, California."
Schoen continues: "This week is also LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in San Francisco. Since many Sklyarov supporters are Linux users, there should be a lot of activity around the conference. Two events have been scheduled this week in San Francisco to take advantage of LinuxWorld:

Free Dmitry party and fundraiser, Wednesday, August 29, 7:30p to midnight, 201 Ritch Street, 2nd floor. (This is walking distance from Moscone Center, where LinuxWorld is being held.)

This party will feature speeches by Lawrence Lessig and Richard Stallman.

Free Dmitry protest march, Thursday, August 30 (same day as the arraignment), leaving Moscone Center at 11:30a, parade through the city to the Burton Federal Building in Civic Center.

Five other events that same day have so far been reported to the freesklyarov.org calendar: Boston, MA; Moscow, Russia; London, UK; Los Angeles, CA; Black Rock City, NV (at the Burning Man festival)."

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  • Just to know if fellow canucks are planning anything...
  • Having attended his bail hearing earlier this month, I know he's been in 3rd party custody and required to stay in Northern CA, and check in periodically. Anyone know what he's been doing the last 3 weeks, besides working with the lawyers for a defense? Seems like he'd at least take a little bit of advantage in a forced stay in NorCal, but then again, I've never been in his position either.
  • Moscow, Russia

    Why has Putin been silent on this? You think that there would be *SOME* sort of official/semi-official protest from the Russian government!
    • When this whole thing started, I remember thinking about this very thing...where is the outrage from the Russian government? The citizens of Russia probably don't have the same quality of information channels Westerners do, which is probably why it's taken this long for the first protests to be organized. But I seem to recall when a few Chinese-American and even Chinese nationals living in the USA were arrested for similar reasons in China, President Bush didn't hesitate to ship Colin Powell overseas to secure their release.

      But then, seeing how our people have the freedom to learn and speak out against policies we disagree with, and seeing how our government works not just for citizens but for anyone who wants a piece of the pie to have our freedoms, I can't help but be thankful that I'm lucky enough to live here.

      I just hope the DMCA is ditched soon enough that I won't end up changing my mind.
      • But then, seeing how our people have the freedom to learn and speak out against policies we disagree with, and seeing how our government works not just for citizens but for anyone who wants a piece of the pie to have our freedoms, I can't help but be thankful that I'm lucky enough to live here.

        Ah yes, the US government, tirelessly working for our freedoms [cnn.com].

        By the way, the US surpassed Russia a few years ago as the country which has the world's highest rate of incarceration [motherjones.com].

      • When this whole thing started, I remember thinking about this very thing...where is the outrage from the Russian government? The citizens of Russia probably don't have the same quality of information channels Westerners do, which is probably why it's taken this long for the first protests to be organized.

        Uhmm, sorry to burst your bubble there, but this is at least the third protest in Moscow, with the first being waaay back on 25 July. Read about it, and all the others (and see pictures) here [porsche.ru].

        policies we disagree with, and seeing how our government works not just for citizens but for anyone who wants a piece of the pie to have our freedoms, I can't help but be thankful that I'm lucky enough to live here.

        Our government works "not just for citizens"? I'm not quite sure I remember the last time our government worked for citizens (other than corporate ones), but it sure as hell was a long damn time ago. Perhaps that sentence would read better if you simply remove the word "just". Dima sure as hell doesn't feel like our government is giving him some of our "freedoms". Here's how I'd suggest rewriting that line: our government works not for citizens but for anyone who wants a piece of the pie, or to have our freedoms. Seems a lot closer to my reality now...
        • Very true. Headline News has a "Global Minute" where they barely gloss over stories taking place outside of the U.S. (well, unless it's Isrealis attacking Palestinians, or vice versa... that seems to make the main news segment all the time). And I know of several supposedly international organizations that are so U.S.-centric that it's not even funny.

          But you also have to realize that for a lot of news agencies, this isn't what they consider news. It's an "evil hacker" being prosecuted. And since many of the news agencies are owned by companies that support the DMCA (AOL Time-Warner springs to mind), they don't want to report the fact that someone has been arrested for performing an act that is legal in Russia but illegal in the U.S.A.

          Ironic that the U.S. has the totalitarian jack-booted thugs now and Russia is claiming for release of one of their citizens...

          Kierthos
  • Anyone know how the other hearing last Thursday turn out? It was discussed last tuesday [slashdot.org] alongside Dimitry's hearing. The case is DVD CCA v. Bunner.
  • Does anyone have a link to any planned picketing?

    I am within driving distance of the court house and this is something I feel strongly enough about to take a day off work and make the 4 hour trip. It would be nice to coordinate my efforts with other like-minded individuals and present a unified front against this type of corporate harrasment against the rights of the individual.

    Anyone with information, it would be appreciated.

    Thank you,
    -- RLJ

  • ... a plea bargin. D. will cop a plea that will allow punish him with time served, and maybe an agreement not to work on the e-book software again (or at least not work on it and show his face in America again). That way the Pro DMCA folks can claim victory ("see, the system works... our copyrighted works are as safe as ever") and get rid of any sort of martyr they had for the Anti-DMCA crowd. D. will accept simply because he can finally go home. (and I don't blame him... sure I'd like to see him--or anyone else for that matter--stick to his guns and take this bad boy the distance, but to quote NWH's Tone Def: "Lock up's a bitch.")

  • How are his wife and kids? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Hobart (32767) on Sunday August 26 2001, @09:51PM (#2219879) Homepage Journal
    Does anyone know how his wife and kids are holding up during this ordeal?

    Is there a way that we can contribute monetarily to helping them through the hardship of not having Dmitry around?

      • I don't think the original poster was suggesting Russians can't take care of their own affairs, but that Skylarov was arrested unfairly under an American law and so it should perhaps be Americans who contribute financially as a means of retribution.
      • That just BS money is all it takes. Fuck you can even higher protester to protest for you. Protesters w/o engough cash volounter their labor for the project but I doubt (given the relative power of lobby groups and protesters) that it is any more effective.

        I wopuld therefore imagine his presence at the events is worth some amount of cash
            • Ok sure sending $5 isn't enough...but maybe $50 or $100 is enough. My point was merely that people who actualy go out and protest themselves are not inherintly more effective than those who merely give paypal money. One donates their time directly the other donates their time via their job.
      • Yes. The 'right thing' is to make sure that he doesn't go to prison.. but in the meantime he, and his family are going through some probably high-stress times. I would expect that most of the people who would consider sending money to help out him and his family are people who have also been to / organized rallys and / or written letters to various people.


        This is almost as bad as the people who say 'don't vote because there are better things you can do'.


        My activism started with voting. It didn't end there. Similarly, I think that helping the person who has been personally affected by this DMCA bullsh*t is an appropriate thing to do. A more reasonable admonition would be simply to remind people that their activism shouldn't end there...


        Encourage action. Don't discourage action that is different than your own preferred path.

        • (I guess I wasn't done).
          Each person does what is appropriate to him or her. One person may give $100 to cover personal hardship. Another person may organize a demo. Someone else may have access to directly (or indirectly) lobby a Senator. Some other person may have the expertise to research for the defence.

          NONE of those actions is bad. ALL of them are needed. Very few people are going to be able to do all of them. What each person does may be unique to his or her own circumstances.It may also be uniquely valuable to the process.

          Giving money to Sklyarov may give him the financial breathing space that he needs to stay put and really fight this issue, rather than bowing to some plea bargain so that he can get back to a normal life. This is no less important than any of the other political work that is going on around this issue. If someone could arrange for his family to come out here, it might also make it easier for him to fight this issue powerfully.

          I think that we should be thankful for anything that moves this issue forward, and then look to what's needed next.

  • Mailing List (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Foxxz (106642) on Sunday August 26 2001, @09:51PM (#2219880) Homepage
    Neale Pickett was heading the protests in seattle. he also has a mailing list setup over at woozle.org [woozle.org].


    -foxxz

  • Strange things happen under law, but since Adobe has withdrawn it's complaint, how long can the US Department of [in]Justice continue to persue the case? It's going to be real hard to convict Dmitry if Adobe says on the stand "No, of course Rot13 is not encryption. We mistakenly thought so at one time, but the computing community rather dramatically pointed out our error."

    AFAIK, UK law allows prosecutions to proceed in the face of reluctant or hostile complaintants. US law is far more complaint dependant.

    • "Strange things happen under law, but since Adobe has withdrawn it's complaint, how long can the US Department of [in]Justice continue to persue the case? It's going to be real hard to convict Dmitry if Adobe says on the stand "No, of course Rot13 is not encryption. We mistakenly thought so at one time, but the computing community rather dramatically pointed out our error."

      "AFAIK, UK law allows prosecutions to proceed in the face of reluctant or hostile complaintants. US law is far more complaint dependant."

      Not if the violation(!) is a felony (in the "federal law broken" aspect of the term). If a person is murdered, for instance, the gummint will still pursue the case even if the people most affected by the killing refuse to prosecute.

      And I believe Adobe knew this, and realized full well that Dmitry would still be prosecuted after they "withdrew" their complaint.

      • Well, imagine you hit me and I call the cops and get you arrested for assault & battery. Later I
        change my mind and say, "No, I was mistaken, it was a consensual contact", then how can you be convicted of assault? On the basis of what witnesses say? IANAL. [I might get charged with making a false complaint, or you might sue me for same.]


        Murder is a slighly special case since it is presumed the deceased didn't want to die. So the State carries the complaint forward.

        • Well, imagine you hit me and I call the cops and get you arrested for assault & battery. Later I change my mind and say, "No, I was mistaken, it was a consensual contact", then how can you be convicted of assault?

          This happens frequently in cases of domestic abuse, where an abused woman doesn't want to press charges against her husband. Because this happens so often, lots of places have a policy of prosecuting a suspected abuser even if the victim doesn't want to press charges [augustachronicle.com].

          Of course, if the victim does decide to cooperate with prosecutors in pressing charges, it helps the prosecution. But it's not a requirement.

      • "Strange things happen under law, but since Adobe has withdrawn it's complaint, how long can the US Department of [in]Justice continue to persue the case? It's going to be real hard to convict Dmitry if Adobe says on the stand "No, of course Rot13 is not encryption.



        Just as a point of clarification:

        In the United States, in criminal matters, the plaintiff is The People(TM). NOT the individual victim. When I wrote someone a summons for vandalism a week or so ago, the form said The People of the City of XXXXXXX, by and for The People of the State of Colorado, vs Defendant.



        It's not unheard of for a victim to decide he doesn't want a case pushed. In point of fact, it happens in about 80% of a certain category of violent crime in my area[1]. However, prosecutors are VERY STRONGLY discouraged from dismissing a case because of an uncooperative victim, because such a practice lends itself to tampering with victims or witnesses.



        Imagine it: You commit a felony crime against someone. He calls the police. A report is taken and referred to the District Cartooney, who files a C&I [2] with the court charging you with the crime. You subsequently influence the victim, somehow, to decide that he doesn't want the case pushed. That's a BIG part of why charging decisions are not left to victims. What kind of influence made him drop the case? What kind of influence did the Mafia use for decades? Hint: Modern street gangs use it too, which is why you can have killings in broad daylight in public where "nobody saw anything."

        In cases without mandatory charging laws,[3] a complaint can be dismissed by a prosecutor. It's called "discretion." It's, unfortunately, most obvious in sexual assault cases, as it's damn near impossible to make a case without a cooperative victim on the witness stand. Once the case is bound over for trial, the DA has no obligation to drop it, but no prosecutor is going to push an unwinnable case. Refusing to testify can be contempt of court, but the usual practice is to consider that certain classes of victims have suffered enough.



        Getting back to the point: It's not Adobe's decision. It's the US Attorney's decision, for the US Cartooney in the district in which the charges were brought (Northern California?). Ina case like this, in which the victim's victimhood is unclear and the defendant's criminal purpose is doubtful, a prosecutor would probably be very receptive to such a suggestion by Adobe. However, the US Cartooney is the ONLY person with the power to dismiss the charges. (Or the judge, but he can only do it if there's no probable cause to believe Skylarov did the prohibited act. Given where the case stands, that means the judge has no power to dismiss the charges.)



        [1] Domestic violence offenses. But those aren't news for nerds, and I guess they don't constitute stuff that matters to anyone but the victim, her kids, and the cops who have to rescue her ass every other month.



        [2] Complaint and Information, the name of the document that's filed with a court to begin a felony criminal case. In my state, they're filed with the county court and beging with "The District Attorney in and for the Sixth Judicial District informs the court that..." which explains the odd name.

        [3] In my state, Domestic Violence and restraining order violations. A peace officer who develops probable cause to believe someone committed either is legally REQUIRED to arrest that person and book him into jail. A prosecutor is FORBIDDEN to drop the charges unless he can satisfy the court that guilt cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. THis is because we let DV's go for so long without taking them seriously, and the price for that is being paid in a lot of blood and tears.

    • It's US vs Sklyarov [eff.org], not Adobe vs Sklyarov. The US DoJ can pursue this case as long as they want.

      As for the probability of conviction, your guess is as good as mine. But the DMCA does not consider the strength of the encryption to be relevant.

  • While there will be many protesters, and this is very helpful, what is also needed is effective legal counsel.

    I am sure that they will appreciate all of the legal help and donations that you can scrounge up.

    On the other hand, if all of the attendents at the Expo were able to block the San Jose traffic for a few hours with their march, it might help with the publicity on a national scale.

    maybe

    - - -
    Radio Free Nation [radiofreenation.com]
    "If You have a Story, We have a Soap Box"
    - - -

    • what is also needed is effective legal counsel.

      Actualy, I think that this is pretty well taken care of. Dmitri is represented by Joseph Burton, a partner at the firm of Duane, Morris, and Heckscher. Mr. Burton is a former federal prosecutor in the Northern District of California where the case is being tried.

      However, sending money to Dmitri's legal defense fund [freesklyarov.org] would definitely be in order. Good attorneys like Mr. Burton don't come cheap.

    • ...because along with the hundreds of peaceful protestors waving anti-DMCA signs and singing anti-DMCA filk, there will be 12 cretins throwing rocks at the police. The media will arrive, get the rock throwers and their gassing/arrest on tape, and then call it a day. Joe Schmoe in Albequerque will turn on the TV that day and "learn" that the protests in San Jose were another bunch of hundreds of brutal anarchists throwing stones at the police. What a shame, he'll think, and change the channel.

      Publicity? Bah. Good luck.

      -Kasreyn

  • Growing awarenesss (Score:3, Informative)

    by YIAAL (129110) on Sunday August 26 2001, @09:59PM (#2219897) Homepage
    Check out this oped [startribune.com] by Linda Seebach. It's nothing folks here don't know, but it's put together clearly and beautifully for popular consumption. I think it's a sign that the general public is catching on to the dangerous idiocy of the DMCA.
    • It was a pretty well-done article, easy for the layman to understand. Thing is, I read the Strib religiously, and this op-ed piece has not been in the regular opinion pages (though maybe it will in Monday's paper). Apparently if it has been published, it was buried in the Metro section. I hate when that happens. Fine piece though, and I (as well as a Michael Cox) said so in their feedback.

      It took a while, but with this and a Washington Post article, finally some serious reporters are catching on to how the Skylarov case and the DMCA are ridiculous! (I am a happer Star Tribune subscriber now!)

    • "...In June Felten sued the recording industry, asking for immunity from prosecution, and in turn representatives of the industry said they never intended to sue Felten."

      Reread this. He asked a group of corporations for "immunity from prosecution". Basically, they are treated like a government now. Think on this awhile: We seem to have two governments at the moment, one which is by the people and for the people, and one which is by the CEO's and for the CEO's. The latter seems to be devouring the former.

      But what happens if we have a civil war...?

      -Kasryn
      • Reread this. He asked a group of corporations for "immunity from prosecution". Basically, they are treated like a government now.

        Actually he sued the Department of Justice as well. He was actually asking the governemnt (you know, that thing that prints the money that the <scary voice>evil corporations(tm)</scary voice> use to manipulate the same), or more correctly John Ashcroft in his official capacity as Attourney General, for protection from prosecution under the DMCA.

  • i used to love Adobe, but they better not let this injustice continue , Mac user loyalty will only go so far
  • We're rallying in Boston on Thursday the 30th, the day of the arraignment. The protest is happening in Copley Square in front of the Boston Public Library, at noon. We're hoping for our biggest turnout since the first protest right after Dmitry's arrest. For more information see boston.freesklyarov.org [freesklyarov.org].

  • whatever happened to... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by nido (102070) <nido56.yahoo@com> on Sunday August 26 2001, @10:23PM (#2219938) Homepage
    the right to a speedy trial (6th Amendment [nara.gov])? "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, ..." It seems that it's been several months since Dmitry was first arrested, surely he has the right to be arraigned within less than a week. But then again, you only have rights if you know how to demand them, as a russian he wouldn't know the ins and outs of American jurisprudence (not to imply that more than a handful of Americans know how to successfully demand rights from freedom violators)..
    • Speedy means not 10 years later. Or infinity years. That's the kind of crap the really nasty governments pull.
    • Actually, in many ways he is getting a speedy trial. Mind you, 'speedy' is relative-- in this case, and no doubt lawyers could argue. July 17th to August 30 isn't that unusual for our always overloaded court system.

      That he was held for a long time without bail was more interesting (he wasn't released until Aug 6, or about two weeks). Your primary right is to, if you are taken into custody, to be charged with something formally and to have your initial hearing, during which they also set bail.

      The letter of the law seems to have been followed, even though the results of it are kinda weird. I don't think there'd be much of an argument on the process, but there are a million and one tactics the lawyers could use.

      They could argue the validity of the charge, or jurisdiction, or DMCA itself, or whether due process was followed, or a lot of other things. Trial law is really weird.

      It should be interesting to see the result, since some of the arguments may free him quickly, while others would attack the law itself-- a larger gain for society (IMHO) but perhaps suckier for Sklyarov.
    • CNN... [cnn.com]

      "Sklyarov is due to be arraigned Thursday, but both sides will ask a federal judge to postpone the hearing by a week, lead defense attorney Joseph Burton said Wednesday."

      Now I'm not saying that the ENTIRE delay was agreed to by his lawyers - but we are talking about a landmark case here.

    • Re:whatever happened to... (Score:4, Informative)

      by mr_burns (13129) on Sunday August 26 2001, @11:50PM (#2220108)
      Actually, he's getting a much speedier trial than Kevin did. He DID get a bail hearing pretty soon after he arrived in San Jose...and he DID get one in Nevada. His arraingment is only a couple weeks after the bail hearing. So he's getting pretty speedy service as far as our judicial system is concerned.

      The issue is that he should not be there in the first place. It doesn't help, distorting the events here. they speak for themselves:

      He was doing something that restored fair use to humanity.

      What he did is legal where he did it.

      The law they're using against him is unconstitutional.

      They are doing this very professionally and efficiently.

      Making the DOJ look like a bunch of potentates doesn't work against the censoring parties as bad as being a very skilled and professional tool of illegal corporate oppression.
    • A quote from one of the handful of people who know how to demand their rights:

      "BTW, when you are in custody, they have only 30 days to get you to trial, which they [prosecutors - krkrbt] CANNOT do due to incompetence. When you bail out ["bail out" = post bail - krkrbt], you lose some good strategies, plus you give them an additional 15 days (50% more time) to get you to trial. And when you waive your right to a speedy trial, it can go on for years. This is why a few nights in jail to get a good false arrest case can be worth it. You could have had them, according to already decided cases [wish I could find the case-law for these numbers.. email me some other time. -krkrbt]. You let the tiger's tail go. Good luck!! You might be able to grab it again. They [governmental prosecutors -krkrbt] are often incompetent, and unable to recognize your prior errors."

      email me if you'd like to know more about the author of the quote (where it came from, etc).
  • Will Sklyarov have cheerleaders for his court case?
    "Gimme an S! Gimme a K! Gimme a ... a... duh what's his name again?"

    "Oh Susie you're so stoopid!"
    "Oh yeah? Take this, bitch!"
    It's on.
    Well it would help raise public interest.
  • In a recent press release, George W. announced:

    "In America, bail means life! We will not stand for prisoners being released on bail, after serving only a short term, when it was always intended that they should serve life."


    I don't know what's scarier, the notion that it's the kind of slip dubwuh could make, or the notion that it appears to be becoming true.

      • Yep, and then continue to lobby for an explicit ban on lynx, wget, telnet etc... You know, in these troubled times, it is more likely that IE will not have File/Save As... and that lynx, wget and telnet will be banned than that the DMCA will be struck down.
    • Just in case the JBT's try to hassle you, make sure you don't take any ID with you.

      If the pigs raid the party and demand to know who you are, tell them that the USA is not yet a place where a citizen has to comply when a JBT demands his papers, and they can go fuck themselves.

      Note: Make *sure* that you're not actually carrying a California driver's license with you, because there is a blatantly unconstitutional statute here that says that if a California cop asks you for the license, you do have to show it, even if you're not driving a vehicle. (The theory being that the license is a document which belongs to the state, not to you, even though you paid for it.)

      Now, the chances are that there will be quite a few lawyers at the party, so the pigs probably won't have the nerve to try anything, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared. Take your camcorder and camera. In fact, if you can, take a news reporter with you.

      -jcr

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