Dmitry Sklyarov Gains High-Profile Defense Lawyer

Diesel Dave writes: "There's an article on Law.com about Dmitry Sklyarov's new Lawyer. Renowned San Francisco defense attorney John Keker has agreed to represent the Russian programmer pro bono. Keker is quoted as saying: "I think he is being unjustly accused and that's the kind of case I like to do." and "[The Government is] always welcome to dismiss the case, but we didn't come in to make a plea deal." This gives me the impression he has full intensions of fighting this to the end. Good."

Bravo!

[pschmied]

This is really good news. I really hope that Dmitry Skylarov can go home to Russia soon.

On a side note, this case has gotten much more attention in international circles than it has in the US.

At my university I've met a woman from Ukraine who claims that for a while, atleast, there was daily coverage of the Skylarov predicament in the Ukrainian newspapers. Much like our terrorist coverage continues to dominate the news here in the land of the home, and the free of the brave.

For a moderately non-technical person, she seemed to have a very good grasp of the issues, albeit with a touch of (IMHO justified) "the US is doing this because they can" spin.

Well, I digress. Congrats, Dmitry. I hope you make it back to Russia before I visit there this winter.

-Peter

Symbiotic Relationship

[Lethyos]

Not that I find fault with it, but Mr. Keker has just as much to gain from representing Dmitri as Dmitri himself. Keker will gain a great deal of press and attention, whether or not he wins the case. Dmitri on the otherhand, now has a fighting chance at getting off clean from this injustice.

Hopefully, this is the kind of trend we can expect. As the open source and free speech movements (funny you have to think of it in those terms these days - thought we already had that one down) become more and more publicized, we may see more and more lawyers jump into the fray on our behalf for their benefit.

Again, not a bad thing, but we don't want to be misguided into thinking that these lawyers working pro bono support our causes. They just as soon would take a $1M check from Microsoft.

Nonsensical.

[www.sorehands.com]

"Generally, they are the kinds of cases the government wouldn't even know about if they hadn't been contacted by the victim,"

They say this as this is specific to hi-tech crimes. Most property crime, extortion, rapes, battery, assualts, only only known by the government when the victim makes a complaint.

I am suprised that Dmitry didn't bring a lawsuit against Adobe and the government for retaliation under the ADA. He was aiding others in making a reasonable accomodation by breaking the software to allow it to be converted to speech for the blind.

More people like John Keker.

[BrookHarty]

"I think he is being unjustly accused and that's the kind of case I like to do," Keker said Thursday.

Bravo.

As programmers write code to further the cause of opensource software, we need skilled Lawyers to protect our rights. Its war, and the battle will take place in the courts.

Ashcroft tells it all [democrats.com] - Political Cartoons at Political Strikes [politicalstrikes.com]

They should sue Adobe

[shankark]

The release doesn't mention whether Skylarov will press for damages if acquitted, seeing as he is pitted against the US government. But I think, Keker must file a simultaneous petition to seek damages from Adobe. That should teach them to stop acting like idiots. One moment they are crying foul to mamma, then they see there's nothing in it for them, and then sheepishly wanting to opt out. Show them how the jungle law of the West works, Keker!

Re:Symbiotic Relationship

[totallygeek]

Again, not a bad thing, but we don't want to be misguided into thinking that these lawyers working pro bono support our causes.

Do you think Keker has a shot at making dough on a countersuit or wrongful imprisonment suit? Also, is there any legal recourse against Adobe [adobe.com] for starting this?

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Re:Dmitri, PLEASE Go Home! :)

[Danse]

Dimitri is the type of man I aspire to be. I don't think I would have the courage to go to bat for freedom in another country like ours now.

While I hope Dmitri wins his case and gets to go home soon, I don't really think he did anything particularly courageous. At least not knowingly. He never thought he'd be arrested here.