Sklyarov Case Exposes DMCA Contradictions 288
aePrime writes: "This article on the New York Times describes how the case against Dmitri Sklyarov is bringing up some contridictions within the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. One is allowed to bypass security measures to backup data, but one is not allowed to write the software to bypass the security. It mentions how this first case to be prosecuted under the law may indeed cause changes to the law." A lot of bad laws have stuck around for longer than the DMCA has yet, but the more this kind of analysis is seen, the sooner sanity can be restored.
Re:What I'm wondering is... (Score:3, Informative)
Indeed. I don't know all of the details in the case, but there are some Americans in jail in China right now for violating Chinese law on China's turf... and the US Gov. is protesting it. It had a few headlines while protests were going on in the US over Sklyarov's arrest. I didn't bother reading the articles, mostly because I found the irony - and hipocrisy - so sickening.
It will never get to a jury (Score:3, Informative)
Re:A good thing? (Score:3, Informative)
If you're going to argue the case, at least get the facts straight - there was a criminal complaint against him before he came to the US (it's dated July 10th), and he was only arrested once the FBI found out that he was in Las Vegas (on July 17th).
He was arrested specifically because the copyright to the Advanced eBook Processor was assigned to him - leading the FBI to believe that he is the one responsible for it. He was also arrested because the software could be purchased in the United States and was purchased in the United States. This doesn't make the DMCA any more fair, but at least realize that he wasn't arrested for speech, but for trafficking in an illegal copyright-circumvention device.
The DMCA (Score:4, Informative)
Re:It will never get to a jury (Score:2, Informative)
You are wrong. Again (if you are the same AC as above), you may be thinking of a civil case. In a criminal case, in certain jurisdictions (I'm not sure about federal law; I would have to look it up), the judge may (at most) before deliberations instruct the jury that it has no right to consider the validity or fairness of the law, nullify the law, etc., but if the jury disregards the instructions and brings in a verdict of acquittal, there is not a damn thing the trial judge can do about it. Further, the prosecution cannot appeal a jury verdict of acquital. Finally, the defendant cannot be tried again.
How to help (Score:3, Informative)
No reg link (Score:5, Informative)
Can't article submitters please take the easy step of replacing www with archives? It works every time.
Tonights SJRally Latest on Dmitry (Score:3, Informative)
No software needed to backup Adobe ebooks (Score:1, Informative)
Adobe *tells* users to back up their ebook data files before upgrading the reader. That would be rather silly, if it weren't possible.
The only problem is that Adobe makes it a pain in the ass to make your ebooks readable if you change PCs. No decryption software necessary.
By the way people talk, you'd think that Adobe ebook files *can't* be copied, *can't* be backed up, and *can't* be made to work on another computer without some cracking software. This is not the case.
Need to be careful with this case. (Score:2, Informative)
I'm sure the media cartels are grinding their gears to find the right obfuscated solution that may satisfy people now, yet still retain the draconian measures currently in place. Just getting his release is not enough, the law must be made right.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
Good to be arrested? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:The DMCA (Score:2, Informative)
I was surprised at the number of people I know who didn't know anything on the subject, in most cases they hadn't even heard of the DMCA. You will probably find the same thing if your friends aren't
Re:Ultimate ThinkGeek item... (Score:2, Informative)
Rolls of 1000. Run wild, capitalism.
Re:It will never get to a jury (Score:4, Informative)
Apparently you've never heard of jury nullification [2ndlawlib.org]. You most certainly *do* have the right to decide if a law is legal when you are on a jury.
Re:What I'm wondering is... (Score:3, Informative)
None of that training is particularly unusual. If the military trains you as a linguist, there are really only three jobs you'll end up in as an enlisted schmoe: 98G-Voice Intercept Operator, 98C-Intelligence Analyst, and 97E-Interrogator. I myself was trained as a Russian linguist by the US Army. I initially was going to be an "interrogator", but that job title is quite misleading. A military "interrogator" is actually little more than a translator with some extra training in interviewing people. Interrogation only happens if POWs are captured in wartime. I chose to become an "analyst", which is far more spy-like but still not really noteworthy. Most people in Military Intelligence don't go on to become CIA agents. Most of us decided that the military is a crock and left after our enlistments were up. I don't find it at all surprising that this guy decided to pursue the one interesting/useful thing the military taught him (the Russian language) and earned a scholarship to go to a country where he could expand that knowledge.
In short, don't assume that just because someone was once in the military that they are forever a slavish toady of the US intelligence machine bent on spying for their country to thwart the "red menace".
More DMCA violations! (Score:2, Informative)
Arrest her! She is a hacker-theif!!
Jury nullification (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, you don't. If a jury votes "not guilty" in a case, the law is still on the books, and still enforceable. All the jury decides, in a criminal case, is guilty or not guilty. Wether or not the law is constitutional is decided in the appellate courts.
Re:Details on the DMCA? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:That's not the DMCA.. (Score:3, Informative)