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The Courts Government News Your Rights Online

Sklyarov Bail Hearing Monday 237

Posted by timothy from the be-there-if-you-can dept.
mr_don't writes: "I just saw that the Electronic Frontier Foundation has just posted an Action Alert entitled "What YOU Can Do To Help Set Dmitry Sklyarov Free" ... Around 11am on August 6, 2001, at the San Jose Federal Building, Dmitry is set to have another bail hearing in front of Magistrate Judge Edward A. Infante. Protests are planned to coincide with the hearing. I hope as many people as possible can come to the demonstration... Help the EFF pack the courtroom during the hearing." A short article in the Mercury News mentions the hearing too, as well as the half-million dollar, five-year penalty that could be imposed.
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EFF Action Alert: Sklyarov Bail Hearing Aug. 6th More

EFF Action Alert: Sklyarov Bail Hearing Aug. 6th

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  • If the rest of the world decides to follow the U.S.'s example, there will be an end to all international travel. No matter who you are or where you live, you have probably done something perfectly legal where you live that is a crime in some other jurisdiction. It (whatever 'it' is) might even be a felony.

    Perhaps you talk about it on your personal website. Why not, it's not like it's a crime (where you live). Do you own an unlicensed television? Stay out of the U.K. Do you provide unfiltered internet access? Stay out of Austrailia. Better make sure when visiting a foreign country that they drive on the same side of the road as you do unless you want to get a ticket when you arrive.

    Laws vary from state to state even within the U.S. Before visiting a neighboring state, it might be best to check with a lawyer from that state. If you run a casino in Vegas, you're pretty much confined to your home state and a few reservations as far as U.S. travel is concerned. If you have ever bought or sold alcohol on Sunday, don't come to Georgia (the one in the U.S. that is).

    It's bad enough that there are now enough obscure laws that lawyers have to specialize without having various 'justice' systems enforce their laws in other jurisdictions as well.

  • Anybody know of protests scheduled in New York? If you do, email me and of course post.
    • www.nyfairuse.org is the site you want to be on. [nyfairuse.org]

      That said they meet every Monday at 41rst and 5th ave in front of the New York Public Library.

      After all ultimatly, if publishers are to get their way, this way, libraries will lose, and we will lose the libraries.

      Won't see you there next week but hopefully soon (or never it Dimitri is free and the DMCA thrown out.)

      President of LILUG
      http://LILUG.ORG

  • Just an observation. I have been watching the english language versions of the Russian Media for mention of this travesty.
    I haven't seen it, even at Pravda [slashdot.org] .

    I would have expected it.
    Is anyone else seeing anything different in Russian?

  • The point (Score:5, Interesting)

    by 4n0nym0u53 C0w4rd ( 463592 ) on Saturday August 04, 2001 @05:15PM (#2161293) Homepage
    I think it'll take a good deal of work to get the media (and thus, the public) to understand that this case is different from the typical "evil hacker" story. In general, when somebody gets arrested for some type of computer crime, we hear stories about how they "broke in" to top secret systems, intent on destroying or stealing valuable data and wreaking havoc on the poor victim. In this case, it has to be made very clear that this guy did something that was legal where he lived, then came to the US to do something legal, and was arrested. (An excellent example of both time-shifting and space-shifting if I ever saw one).

    Second, it should be made very clear that the original complainant, Adobe, has stated that they don't feel he should be charged.

    The third point that should be made is that this tool only works for people who have purchased the book, and it allows them to remove certain restrictions, e.g., reading their book on a different computer.

    Perhaps what this movement needs is a blind person who uses the tool to enable the read-aloud function of adobe reader to work...

    • Fuck the point (Re:The point) (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Second, it should be made very clear that the original complainant, Adobe, has stated that they don't feel he should be charged.

      Well boo fucking hoo. If Adobe didn't think Dmitry should have been charged they should have kept thier fucking mouth shut. Instead Adobe sites the dmca and sets the FBI on him for something not illegal in his country. Then Adobe get bad press and walks away leaving the FBI to do its job. Now Adobe thinks it can set on the side line and route for the good guys.

      Fuck that. Adobe started this and they should be held accountable. Until the charges are dropped and Dmitry goes free I've got a good chunk of Adobe products zipped up and sitting on gnutella.

      And I'm going to do this to any company that pull dmca shit. I hope a lot more people join me. If we can send a message to these companies maybe they will think twice about doing shit like this

    • Re:The point (Score:4, Insightful)

      by garett_spencley ( 193892 ) on Saturday August 04, 2001 @05:53PM (#2161401) Journal
      Yeah well the thing that gets to me the most is people's ignorance regarding encryption and "copy protection".

      I do not understand, as much as I've tried, how it can possibly be conceived that encrypting something prevents it from being copied. It doesn't. Therefore I do not see how something that unencrypts something can be considered a "copyright circumvention device".

      Let's say that Mary has an e-book and she wants to share it with John. How does she do this? She makes a copy of it. Now the supposed problem here is that her e-book is encrypted right? Wrong. There is no problem. When she makes a copy is encrypted but when John loads it into his e-book ta-da! He can read it because his e-book unencrypts it in order to display it!

      Encrypted or not you can still make copies so how is software that unencrypts a piece of data considered a "copyright circumvention device"?

      --
      Garett

      • I think you misunderstand how the Adobe e-book reader works. In your example, Mary copies an e-book file and gives it to John. You're correct in that the file copies perfectly. John then tries to open the e-book in his own reader, but it won't let him. You see, when Mary bought the e-book, her e-book program sent a unique key to the online bookstore, who encrypted the specific file which she purchased so that only her e-book reader could unencrypt it. John's program has a different unique key (as does every Adobe e-book reader), therefore he can't unencrypt the same file. All this happens automatically behind the scenes, without Mary's knowledge.

        The program which Sklyarov wrote is very helpful for someone who purchased an e-book on one computer (say, a desktop computer with a fast broadband connection) but really would like to move it to another computer (say, their laptop). It's also helpful if you want to run an e-book through a text-to-speech processor (especially for blind people).

        Adobe is mad because Sklyarov's program allows people to make useful copies. In the long run, they really just want to screw the consumer out of as much money as possible.

        • Didn't eBoook use ROT-13? How can that use a key?
          Or does it rotate by a certain key?

          • Actually according to Dmitri's presentation the key is constant. It's the string "encrypted".

            How it works (I don't live in the U.S):

            Every byte in the pdf file is XOR'd with every letter of the word "encrypted".

            #define key "encrypted"

            while((c = get_byte()) {

            for(i = 0; i < strlen(key); i++)
            c ^= key[i];
            }

            It's basically just as secure as Rot-X, but it's definitely not Rot-13 (although Rot-13 was mentioned in the presentation).

            So if they wanted to they could use a different key per e-book, but according to Dmitri's presentation they don't.

            --
            Garett

  • I wish the best, and if you go... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by eXtro ( 258933 ) on Saturday August 04, 2001 @05:16PM (#2161294) Homepage
    I wish the best for Dmitry, unfortunately he's learned first hand that the United States government has become nothing more than the enforcement arm of the largest U.S. corporations.

    As angry as people may be, understand that while showing up and showing support is great, doing so improperly will only hurt Dmitry, the EFF and the cause you may be trying to support. Don't provide ammunition for companies like Adobe, no matter how tempting it is. Be civil, be courteous and be well spoken if given the opportunity to speak on television, radio or even to the public. Don't alienate the public. Most of them couldn't care less about this case. If people can appear as reasonable citizens then the publics support has a better chance of swinging our way.

    Ultimately this is a case for the courts I suppose, but public opinion is important.

    • The court of public opinion still matters, though courts and in particular this government will do as they please.

      I hope that every Slashdot reader also follows the national and regional coverage of this case, and will at least take a moment to write a short letter to their representatives. We don't have a great many tools. However, I was able to explain what's wrong the DMCA to my sister in law in about 2 minutes by giving her some examples of what's around the corner for everyone:
      * electronic books that you can't move from your desktop computer to your laptop
      * electronic books that blind people can't connect to braille readers or speech devices, unless the book's publisher gives permission (most do not)
      * CD's and downloaded music that you couldn't take from home to your car or MP3 player
      * electronic books that can't be loaned by a library
      * and on and on

      Full coverage and portals to all sorts of info will be here until Dmitry is free and home with his family:

      http://freesklyarov.org [freesklyarov.org]
      http://freedmitry.org [freedmitry.org]

  • Go if you can! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by chancycat ( 104884 )
    Just go! The more people there the better -
    If there's any chance/way you could be there, do it!

    Really! Just -- GO! --

  • If anybody in Florida is planning a protest, or at the very least knows if there is an Adobe office anywhere around here (I'd love to see a list of office locations, but can't find any), email me, or reply to this message.

    --
    Evan

  • Flight risk? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Sokie ( 60732 ) <`jesse' `at' `edgefactor.com'> on Saturday August 04, 2001 @05:26PM (#2161317)
    What this means for Dmitry Sklyarov is that it will be very hard for him to get out of jail pending trial unless he can come up with some real ties to this district and/or some other means of ensuring he remains in the U.S. for trial can satisfy the District Attorney and the court (e.g., electronic location-tracking bracelet, house arrest, etc.)

    How about the fact that I'm certain they have confiscated his passport? Now sure, that doesn't mean he couldn't get out of the country, but it certainly would make it more difficult not only to leave the USA, but to enter into any other country. Doesn't seem like much of a flight risk to me...

    • Re:Flight risk? (Score:2, Informative)

      by mkoeller ( 155622 )
      He could just walk into the next Russian embassy. It's basically Russian territory, they can't arrest him there and the embassy people would be able to fly him out to Russia without a passport and could even give him a new passport. So there, definitely, unfortunately, is a flight risk.

      • Re:Flight risk? (Score:2, Informative)

        by Sokie ( 60732 )
        Yes he could do this. In fact there is a Russian consular office in San Francisco, does anybody know if a consular office is considered the soil of the country it is an office of? I know an embassy is, but the only Russian embassy in the USA is is Washington, D.C.

        I don't know Dmitry so I have no idea if he would flee or if he would want to "fight for his innocence". If he fled the jurisdiction, it would be nigh unto admitting guilt.

        The problem for the Russian Government if they help him escape is that they want to be our friends now (at least in the monetary sense) so they can't just go flying all their criminals out of the country. (Don't flame me for calling him a criminal, I don't agree with the DMCA, but it is currently and law and if he broke it, he's a criminal.)

        Diplomatically, this kind of thing might not go over really well, it certainly wouldn't if he was a big scary criminal. With the current "low profile" nature of this case (at least in the mainstream media), I don't know if anybody would really give a rat's ass in this case.

        Hey here's a thought...Maybe this whole thing is the USA's revenge for that college student accused of drug possession and jailed for 6 months in Moscow? The guy just got released today I think.

        I'll get really suspicious if Dmitry serves 6 months of a 1 year sentence and is then released. :)
    • Of course if he does get out on bail or bond, there is the minor issue of how he will support himself until the trial is over. Passport notwithstanding, he has no green card or other work permit. He has no place to live and no way to make a living.

      Please do not take this as flamebait, but it's entirely possible that he could be better off as the jailed symbol of oppression pending trial. At least in jail they feed you.

    • <VOICE="condescending">

      There's always this thing called "bail". Kids repeat after me. "BAIL". Dimitry posts a bond consisting of a lot of money with the Feds, & if he shows up for his trial at the appointed time, he gets his money back. If he skips town, he loses it. How hard can it be to understand this surprisingly simple concept?

      </VOICE>

  • Donate (Score:2, Offtopic)

    by csbruce ( 39509 )
    I just made my $500.00 donation to the EFF. Have you made yours?

  • While I'm sure that the protest will generate all kinds of warm and fuzzy feelings in the radical /. camps, I fail to see how they will get any attention other than "Hey, look at all the nerds." The bulk of the population still does not understand the issues involved and will just write the whole thing off as "another protest, but these ones dress funny." Marches, chants and signs? Most of the press doesn't 'get it' and will only cover it if

    1. someone does something icredibly stupid (therefore newsworthy), or
    2. someone can actually get the point across that the DMCA is a horrible piece of legislation.
    But c'mon - a protest? I would have expected something a little more creative from the /. commnunity.

    As far as the general population is concerned, the case involves a "Russian hacker". That's all they need to know and they will tune in to the new and improved CNN for the sentencing details and patiently await the feature-length movie or game-show style punishment.

    • "another protest, but these ones dress funny." ----> Perhaps, but people should realize (or it should somehow be brought to their attention) that these funny-dressed people are the ones who literally keep the electronic wheels turning throughout the world.

      The guy with the long frizzy beard and the monk's robe is the fellow who insures that your bank account data is backed up every night.

      Not just a bunch of freaks. An IMPORTANT bunch of freaks! *grin*
      • ...that these funny-dressed people are the ones who literally keep the electronic wheels turning throughout the world.

        That would be great if people actually stopped to listen. Where I come from a protest is just another day in the news. The general public tunes them out and if they actually make the news it is due to some act of (not usually) civil disobedience.

        Approach people in the street to educate them about your cause and they are immediately threatened. All day they are innundated by Junk mail, marketing people, bosses, subordinates, CNN, and anybody else who wants an opinion or time. The creative appraoch I had challenged for in the parent of this thread was not to write a 133t script or drop a power grid into black. I ranted and said "oh. another protest" and I still stand by that statement. Dont make it just another protest/march. I mean make people stop and think without getting in their way. I mean get their attention. You want suggestions? Well I went to the suggestion warehouse and here's a few on the house.

        Considering that the main issues here are Freedom of Speech, copyright and Fair Use and Interoperability there are plenty of forums for educating people.

        • The copy room in your office. Place relevant sections of the DMCA there. That should make them think.
        • Padlock (loosely) all the dead-tree books in your office. Keep the key. Inform anyone that improper removal of the padlock may result in federal criminal charges
        • ROT-13 all your office memos and tell anyone that if they try to circumvent your encryption or if they tell anybody how to do it they may be subject to federal prosection.

        So go ahead and take the protest to the streets. Keep it clean. But most of all keep it interesting. I'll take my argument to where people will take their time to stop and hopefully think.

    • Re:oh. another protest. (Score:4, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 04, 2001 @06:25PM (#2161478)
      > But c'mon - a protest? I would have expected something a little more creative from the /. commnunity.

      You seem to have more ideas abnout what not to do than about what to do.

      Where are your grand creative ideas ? Runnning around and sarcastically demotivating people ?
      Of course protestr are useless, but when protesting, people meet each other. When they meet they talk. And when they talk, they may have creative ideas.

      You also need to know that 'the /. commnunity.' is a bunch of hackers melted with a bunch of wankers.

      I sortof think that most of the ideas from here are better left unimplemented:

      1133t> let's do a fr33 dmtiry outl00k virus !
      h4x0> hehe. dude, u put a msgbox saying "do you agree with the DMCA ?"
      ll33t> cool. luser clic yes, we eipe hard drive.
      ll33t> eipe -> wipe. lol
      f4gg0t> put other msgbox "next time, sayz NO to DMCA"
      h4x0> hehehehe
      soop3rc0p> f4gg0t u rulz
      ll33t> lol

      Is that what you want ?

      Cheers,

      --fred

    • I more or less agree with you that on it's own a protest won't have much effect, and mostly for the reasons you've given too.

      To make a difference to the general public, the media is one of the most important channels. Getting the media to understand what the issue is is (IMHO) one of the keys to getting the point through to everyone.

      A protest doesn't do this by itself, if at all. But if everyone would just write a polite letter to their local newspaper it could make a really big difference. Getting published isn't necessarily that important. Just writing to the editors and the journalists and actually telling them what the problem is in a brief and concise way could easily result in a lot more attention from them in the future.

      Fit the main points inside the first 200 words, then elaborate if needed.

    • Yeah, creative...

      Perhaps someone should write a SirDmitry VBS virus to get attention. Since the media loves reporting on virii recently, that would get their attention. Or name the virus DMCA.w32 so that the headlines can read DMCA Hits Computers Nationwide . Just a thought.
    • Actually, I think that protests are generally ineffectual but that may not necessarily be the case here because:
      1. This is a new and controversial piece of legislation among those who know about it and
      2. Not many know about it.
      I think, however, that while protesting is great more action is needed. Yes, the next protests in the Seattle area will be on my list of things to attend but in the mean time I intend to do several other things:
      • Write my congressman. Letter is still in the making and I want to carefully detail why the DMCA is a bad law...
      • Donate to the EFF (waiting for next paycheck)
      • Begin my own public outreach campaign against the law.
      Without these things, the protest is pretty meaningless-- we have to do everything we can to end the law and tell our congressmen we are doing it. Otherwise they may not take us as seriously... We have to live every moment by our principles and that means doing way more than a e or there. The above steps are a start but even they are insufficient...
    • The bulk of the population still does not understand the issues involved and will just write the whole thing off as "another protest, but these ones dress funny."

      Funnier than the Gay Pride protests??? Highly unlikely.

  • Skylarov being used (Score:5, Interesting)

    by tbo ( 35008 ) on Saturday August 04, 2001 @05:39PM (#2161346) Journal
    Skylarov has become an unwilling pawn in a political game. In two earlier [slashdot.org] posts [slashdot.org], I talked about why Skylarov shouldn't be made into a posterboy for the anti-DMCA lobby. A bunch of people replied, saying that no such thing was happening, and that the protestors were just trying to get him free.

    Then I see this post [slashdot.org], moderated up to 5, Insightful, saying that we shouldn't free Skylarov early, because he's more valuable as a weapon against the DMCA if he's in jail. Don't you just love all these people are willing to sacrifice an individual in the name of "individual rights"? What a bunch of fucking hypocrites.

    DMCA isn't (or shouldn't be) Skylarov's problem. He's Russian, not American, and he didn't vote for the politicians who passed DMCA. Sacrificing him to fight it is just plain wrong. Maybe, if he was American, we could justify such a sacrifice as "his duty to the country" or some such other nonsense, but this is just sickening.

    To all those fighting to free Skylarov, keep up the good work. To the rest of you, maybe it's time you gave things a good long thinking over.
    • DMCA isn't (or shouldn't be) Skylarov's problem. He's Russian, not American, and he didn't vote for the politicians who passed DMCA. Sacrificing him to fight it is just plain wrong.

      That's one of the two good reasons why Dmitry isn't a good test case. The other is that as a Russian national, he will most likely be denied bail as a flight risk. No American would be jailed over such a thing. If this were an American, he would have been bailed out the afternoon of the arrest, and if found guilty would have been given a small fine on a first offence.

      Even if you think Dmitry broke the law and deserves some kind of punishment, jail time, even awaiting trial, is way out of proportion to the "offence".

      • No American hacker would be denied bail?

        sure... [slashdot.org]

      • " That's one of the two good reasons why Dmitry isn't a good test case. The other is that as a Russian national, he will most likely be denied bail as a flight risk. No American would be jailed over such a thing. If this were an American, he would have been bailed out the afternoon of the arrest, and if found guilty would have been given a small fine on a first offence."

        The fact that we are even able to talk about ARRESTING someone for the "crime" of proving the defect of a corporate product, much less that a "first offense" would get a "small fine" is cause to throw up and weep for what we've become.

        "Even if you think Dmitry broke the law and deserves some kind of punishment, jail time, even awaiting trial, is way out of proportion to the "offence"

        Dimitry did nothing on US soil to violate any law, and the charges against him are completely misplaced, he's not even the person responsible for any possible US violation of the DMCA, the CEO of his company (who was there and wasn't arrested) is.

        He did no wrong, and all those responsible for his incarceration bear the weight of what is being done.
    • What did he do in this country that was illegal? As far as I can see, he gave a talk. Does the US government arrest entering Europeans who happen to have visited Denmark and imbibed Marijuana there? (Although a while back I ran across a blurb from one of the agencies saying that as an American there it's technically forbidden for you to do so. But that's fodder for another post...)

      Now IANAL, but I believe that our constitution would afford a visiting citizen of another country the same constitutional protections as a citizen of this country. So are you telling me that the very act of giving a talk is prohibited under the DMCA? In which case, I would think that it would be obvious that the DMCA is in direct conflict with the first ammendment. That case is being tried elsewhere, no need to kidnap foreign nationals to prove a point.

      Now if I were Skylarov, I would already be lining up the lawsuits against Adobe and the US Government. Take your pick of civil rights violations, wrongful arrest, violation of due process, denial of a speedy trial, kidnapping and harassment. I'm sure there's an international treaty or two we're in violation of as well.

      • So are you telling me that the very act of giving a talk is prohibited under the DMCA? In which case, I would think that it would be obvious that the DMCA is in direct conflict with the first ammendment.

        There is a big problem with the US legislature in that it is possible to pass legislation which violates the constitution and have it treated as valid (rather than void). (This even goes as far as something where the title alone induicates a constitutional violation.)

        I'm sure there's an international treaty or two we're in violation of as well.

        The US violates treaties even more often than it's own constitution.

      • Unfortunately, the warrant for his arrest came out before he even gave the talk. The warrant was for importation and distribution of (blah blah blah). It seems the company he worked for sold and distributed the product to Americans through an American company.

        A) I don't see why he should be held accountable for the actions of his company, we didn't exactly go and arrest the CEO and programmers of Napster for copyright infringement. It is likely that he will be found not guilty for this reason, but that they can even hold him in the first place is something we should be protesting.

        but B) You shouldn't be knowingly selling software which is illegal in the US to US citizens living in the US, using a US company to handle the payment. Skylarov (I think I misspelled it) isn't a martyr. He was trying to make a buck, and he was using the copyright system itself to do that (his product was not released for free, it was copyrighted). While I feel sorry for him, because I disagree with the law, there are millions of people in jail for less harmful (such as drug) offenses. If you do the crime, you need to be willing to do the time, regardless of whether or not you agree with the law.

        • on the B point: perhaps you shouldn't. let's accept your precept at face value, and go with it. (I have doubts. I'm a Canadian. I wasn't alive for the 18th amendment, but I still have doubts.)

          there are American distributors of Elcomsoft's product. they are breaking US law (according to you) on US soil and are US citizens.

          how many of them are in jail?

          whoops.

          how many of them gave embarrassing speeches at Defcon about Adobe's security procedures?

          I suspect it's the same number...

        • Re:Damn Straight (Score:3, Interesting)

          by mikethegeek ( 257172 )
          "Unfortunately, the warrant for his arrest came out before he even gave the talk. The warrant was for importation and distribution of (blah blah blah). It seems the company he worked for sold and distributed the product to Americans through an American company."

          Doesn't matter, the only reason why there ever was a warrant in the first place was the talk. It was giving the talk that got the fascist bastards Adobe worked up enough to have him arrested under the DMCA. The fact that Dimitry Sklyarov was the target, and not the CEO (who was there at the conference) and other officers at the company is proof positive of that.

          Sklyarov was only A programmer who worked on the software, in Russia, under Russian law. He never broke a single American law in American jurisdiction.

          The fact that the charges are about anything BUT the talk he gave is proof of what they really are about, and proof of just how vulnerable the DMCA really is to challenge.

          BTW, I'm not one who is willing to forgive Adobe just because they now say they won't support the prosecution. They are still SOLELY to blame for this travesty, and the soul of whomever is responsible WILL bear this. It's important to boycott Adobe (I converted every PDF I use to another format and uninstalled every PDF reader on my PC's). I'm not willing to ever buy or recommend buying or USING ANY Adobe product for any reason until they publically apologize, AND start spending $millions on lawyers to defend Sklyarov. Until then they've done NOTHING to make good on what they did, that is even if they DO realize what they did was wrong.

          We sysadmins, techs, engineers all are those trusted within our companies for advice on products. We ALL need to actively recommend agaist Adobe. Even a MS solution is preferable, as even they haven't stooped to the level of having someone imprisoned.
          • BTW, I'm not one who is willing to forgive Adobe just because they now say they won't support the prosecution. They are still SOLELY to blame for this travesty, and the soul of whomever is responsible WILL bear this.

            I understand your feelings, but I don't entirely agree. If it hadn't been Adobe this month, it would have been another company next month. The DMCA is a massive "security hole" in our civil liberties, and Adobe was just the first company to exploit it. That's not an admirable action, but it must be said that the primary problem lies with DMCA, and Adobe is only a secondary culprit.

          • Re:Damn Straight (Score:3, Interesting)

            by aozilla ( 133143 )

            Doesn't matter, the only reason why there ever was a warrant in the first place was the talk.

            Technically true, because without the talk they wouldn't have been able to arrest him. There's no way Russia would have cooperated to extradite.

            Sklyarov was only A programmer who worked on the software, in Russia, under Russian law. He never broke a single American law in American jurisdiction.

            And for this reason he will probably be found not guilty. But there is some evidence that he was involved in a conspiracy to sell the product, to US citizens living in the US, using a US company. Probably not enough evidence to convict, and probably not even enough to surivive a preliminary motion to drop the charges, if he has a good lawyer. But the fact of the matter is he probably was involved in a conspiracy to import the product into the US. Again, the charges have nothing to do with the talk, and if the government is smart they won't even bring up the talk in the trial, if there is one, and they can completely eliminate one source of possible appeal.

            The fact that the charges are about anything BUT the talk he gave is proof of what they really are about, and proof of just how vulnerable the DMCA really is to challenge.

            The fact of the matter is that the FBI was involved for a long time before the talk was even planned. They tried to shut the company down, and they failed. Then idiot boy decided he was going to come to the US and shove it in their faces. That's why idiot boy is now in jail. I'm not sure how this constitutes a challenge to the DMCA. Reality and legality are two seperate issues.

    • I am rather ashamed to be associated with folks that want to paste slogans onto a living person as if he were simply a name long dead.

      Sklyarov's deeds speak for themselves in a practical sense- he proved, as a thousand cryptographers and analysts have proven before, why DMCA-like laws don't work on a practical basis.

      That is his statement against the DMCA- and it's actually far more powerful than most protests. This isn't to say that protests lack importance (in fact, they are the brute muscle of social change,) simply that it's the direct, practical activism of people like Sklyarov that keep this movement in the realm of reality.

      Remember that there is a significant percentage of "radicals" out there that just envy the opposition, and aren't exactly for real change. They are what Hakim Bey calls "police-without-power". Such people cannot be trusted in any sense, and I'd advise those who would wish to use Sklyarov as a playing-piece to examine their own motivations- and make certain that they really mean what they say.

      Tactics are fine when it's all in your hands and on your neck, but don't ask someone else to die for your cause. Bottom line.

    • Skylarov has become an unwilling pawn in a political game.

      As much as a cocaine manufacturer whose company smuggles drugs in from Mexico, who decides to come to the U.S. to give a talk on how cocaine is made.

      Pawn in a political game? Sure. Unwilling? There are a whole lot of occupations in Russia which don't involve smuggling illegal products into the US. And most people who have those occupations that do involve importation of illegal products aren't stupid enough to come into the US and give a talk about it.

  • Protests are planned in Boston [freesklyarov.org], Pittsburgh [freesklyarov.org], and St. Louis [freesklyarov.org] in addition to the San Jose protest detailed in the EFF's press release. More details at freesklyarov.org [freesklyarov.org] (of course!).

  • How convenient! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by KingAzzy ( 320268 ) on Saturday August 04, 2001 @06:00PM (#2161417)
    Seeing as how these hearings will be held in San Jose, and what with all the recent industry blood-letting, I'm sure it will be no difficulty whatsoever gathering as many geeks as possible with time to spare on a Monday morning to go fight the power.

  • Russian reaction (Score:2, Interesting)

    by gehrehmee ( 16338 )
    While we all know that North American media is glossing over this (if mentioning it at all), I haven't yet heard anything about how the Russian media, government, and people are reacting. Surely this is an issue of some heat over there... anyone with a more direct exposure to this care to comment? Perhaps a link to a good online russian newspaper (in english please? :) )

  • Contacting your lawmakers (ugh) (Score:4, Informative)

    by Jazz Fiddler ( 472631 ) on Saturday August 04, 2001 @06:06PM (#2161432) Homepage

    It is said that if you like law or sausage don't watch either one being made.

    The following will work best for those of us that are citizens of the US and are registered to vote.

    A technique that works to find out if your lawmakers are listening to you is to write them a letter (snail mail) or to e-mail them.

    The US House of Representatives has a page where you can send your memeber an e-mail and even help you find out who your representative is. The URL is:
    http://www.house.gov/writerep/ [house.gov]

    For the Senate go to:
    http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm [senate.gov]

    The Senate does not have as much information about writting your senator as the House pages do but at least it is a way to contact them.

    To assist them in replying to you always include your e-mail address, home address, and if you feel like it a phone number. If you know what precinct, parish, or whatever the number of your voting district is in your state/county/parish or whatever include that as well. Be brief but thorough enough to get your thought across. No more than a page and shorter if possible.

    They do like to hear from you and I have yet to have my representative or senators abuse me giving them my information. Using the system when possible at least gives it a chance to fail and who knows, it might actually help.

  • This will be a show hearing (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mikethegeek ( 257172 ) <blair@NOwcmifm.c ... AM minus painter> on Saturday August 04, 2001 @06:31PM (#2161489) Homepage
    I'm sure the Feds have handpicked the judge in question to do this hearing, and it will just be a whitewash hearing to "justify" his incarceration.

    I'm sorry for being so pessimistic, but that's the likely truth. They will never let him out on bail because he's a foreign citizen. Remember, the so-called US "justice" system is all about the byzantine SYSTEM, not in meting out justice, else this case would never have MADE it to a court. In fact, the prosecutor should be the one in trouble for even BRINGING this case, and for lying to the court.
    The charges are disproven by these facts:

    1. Skylarov never wrote, or sold the program in any place where the DMCA is law.
    2. Sklyarov never SOLD the program to anyone, he did it as a work for hire for his company. If they used a US company for billing and distribution, that was the actions of the CEO (who was there and wasn't arrested) and others, NOT Sklyarov.
    3. Sklyarov never broke any US law on US soil.

    They have not charged him with the only thing that he DID do on US soil that was a violation of the DMCA: giving his talk at the conference where he explained how to circumvent E-book encryption. The prosecutors are lying to the court because they will not admit that THIS is the actual basis for the case, yet isn't a charge. It isn't a charge because as a charge it would immediately flunk the 1st Amendment test (statutory law ala DMCA cannot override or abridge Constitutional Law, such as the 1st Amendment free speech guarantee).

    • you're suggesting an extremely corrupt system.

      his judge will be picked either by a random draw (the short straw gets it :) or by another judge, a senior judge in the appropriate circuit (ninth I think).

      I don't know which system the US federal court uses. but those two systems are the only ones in the western world.

      and yes, I said short straw. no judge would like this case. protesters? people filling the court?

      no thanks.

    • I'm sure the Feds have handpicked the judge in question to do this hearing...

      Just how exactly does the government get to "pick" the judge? Do you even understand how the American justice system works?

  • Any Finns out there?

    I'm at the moment writing the founding documents for the EFF-Finland (work name, If anyone has better suggestions, that would be good). I hope that the founding meeting could be arranged as soon as possible, preferably still during this month.

    At the moment in Finland there is no organization , which would defend the basic right of the users in Internet. After the new copyright directive is implemented here, the Sklyarov-case may happen here, too. The difference is that currently there's no one to organize the defence. That has to be changed while we still have some time!

    If you are interested to help or join, please contact me.

    Ville Oksanen

    Ob-eBook:

    Microsoft and AAP have teamed up to control the internet-piracy of eBooks:

    http://www.microsoft.com/ebooks/das/antipiracy.a sp

    Using technology developed by Microsoft to protect its own intellectual property on the Internet, the AAP has implemented an aggressive Internet surveillance program, which includes an automated, intelligent Internet search tool that searches for unauthorized distribution of eBook content 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The information and evidence gathered by this tool can form the foundation for subsequent civil and criminal enforcement.

  • Out on Bail II (Score:2, Informative)

    by byoungvt ( 225652 )
    Dmitry was granted bail he will be released from Santa Clara Detention center before midnight Pictures from Rally and details here [n3.net]

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