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The Court rejects Adobe's argument that the EULA gives to purchasers only a license to use the software. The Court finds that SoftMan has not assented to the EULA and therefore cannot be bound by its terms. Therefore, the Court finds that Adobe has not demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of its copyright infringement claim.

The decision did acknowledge that the enforceability of a shrinkwrap license isn't as certain as Adobe or Microsoft would have us believe:

These courts have refused to recognize a bargain in shrinkwrap license that is not signed by the party against whom it is enforced. In Step-Saver, the Third Circuit found that the terms of a contract were formed when the parties shipped, received and paid for the product. Therefore, the software shrinkwrap agreement constituted additional terms to the contract, and under Uniform Commercial Code 2-207 (governing commercial counter-offers), these terms were invalid without express assent by the purchasex. In contrast, other courts have determined that the shrinkwrap license is valid and enforceable. ProCD, 86 F.3d at 1453; Harmony, 846 F. Supp. at 212.

I won't even bother explaining why word isn't open -- that should be obvious to anyone intelligent enough to create an account on slashdot.

So that leaves Adobe Acrobat. Let's revisit the big issues against the company first:

- Dimitry Skylarov
- Killustrator

Now lets remind ourselves of the biggest caveat they have against open source pdf compatible filters:

- PDF saving

Does that explain why the formats aren't acceptable?

If not, lets put it clear, in terms that don't even require open source thinking: When you are presenting prettied up plain text (like those documents) then use a format desgined for the purpose -- HTML comes to mind. Distributing plain text in word and pdf shows you aren't "up" on even the slightest technical issues. It's simply the wrong tool for the job.

IIRC, Disney co-authored the proposed SSSCA. Remember the Boycott Adobe site? There is, by chance, a Boycott Disney site, though it makes no mention of the SSSCA. I'll try to contact the owners. Maybe we can get a bunch of information posted there. Once that happens, I'll try to get the word out to all my friends. Everybody should mail letters to their reps, but in addition to that, companies need to know that they will lose MUCH business when they try to pull off schemes like this.

(Getting the aforementioned company's shares to fall through the floor is left as an exercise for the reader.)

Essentially, you're taking a lawnmower engine and hooking it up to an alternator extracted from a car. The article suggests using a GM alternator which features a built-in voltage regulator. The output of the alternator is about 14v, and you'll hook this up to one of those cigarette-ligher based 12v->120v voltage inverters. Better yet, charge up some batteries and save the excess power for later.

For more info on running your life on 12 volts, check out Home Power magazine, where you can freely download the entire current issue as a PDF.

A story on how Yahoo's testing pop-under advertising, and it's running on... Yahoo.

That would like it if boycottadobe.com was made with Adobe products...

<meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 5">

Oh, er, i mean...

He is interested in receiving and publishing the following kinds of information:

Technical descriptions of the access control and encryption mechanisms associated with PDF files and/or eBooks.

Technical descriptions of remedies for these mechanisms, e.g., patches, key recovery algorithms, modified plug-ins, etc.

Source code for implementing these remedies.

He notes that "A large amount of useful content is now encoded as PDF (Portable Document Format) files, including files marketed for the eBook document reader. Unfortunately, some of this content is not usable in all the LAWFUL WAYS [emphasis mine] a purchaser desires, due to access control mechanisms created by Adobe and adopted by content publishers to the detriment of their [LAWFUL] customers."

He further notes that "Computer professionals who have examined [Adobe's access control mechanisms] have found them easy to defeat."

He notes that his website is for discussion of purely technical information of interest to computer scientists and lawful content users. He is not interested in receiving rants about Adobe or the DMCA, suggesting that individuals go to the Boycott Adobe [and/or slashdot - grin] site for that.

It is suggested that individuals wishing to submit TECHNICAL CONTENT first visit the site to see what others have already submitted to avoid unnecessary duplication (e.g. ElcomSoft, Xpdf, Ghostscript, etc).

It is noted that there is yet no "Haiku" regarding Adobe's "easy to defeat" access control mechanism.


Tangential Editorial Comment by RM3 Frisker FTN ... "Why don't people get as bent out of shape when the other Twenty-Six (?) Amendments are violated (e.g. Second Amendment???)"

I missed the protest, but I did get a chance to put up a bunch of posters. Do what you can to help.

--

these guys are spearheading it I think... http://www.boycottadobe.com/.

The Gallery of Adobe Remedies lists a number of alternatives to Adobe products for dealing with PDF's. For other Adobe applications, see the Boycott Adobe page. It links to replacements for applications like Photoshop and Illustrator.

"... interested in receiving and publishing the following kinds of information:

Technical descriptions of the access control and encryption mechanisms associated with PDF files and/or eBooks.

Technical descriptions of remedies for these mechanisms, e.g., patches, key recovery algorithms, modified plug-ins, etc.

Source code for implementing these remedies.

[visit his website before submitting to see what he is already aware of. His website Gallery of Adobe Remedies already lists ElcomSoft, Xpdf, Ghostscript, but no Haiku ... yet]

Dr. Dave Touretzky notes that his web site is for "discussion of purely technical information of interest to computer scientists and lawful content users".

Dr. Dave Touretzky further notes that he is "not interested in receiving rants about Adobe or the DMCA" suggesting that said rants be submitted to Boycott Adobe wishing to keep his site focused on "Adobe's access control mechanisms and the remedies people have devised [i.e. 'lawful ways a purchaser desires'] to deal with them."

Tangential Editorial Comment by RM3 Frisker FTN ... why don't people get as bent out of shape when the Second Amendment protections [Eric Raymond's Linux Gun Nut Page] are screwed with?

check www.boycottadobe.com

As other slashdotters have pointed out, mere compaining is not likely to do anything in particular. An organized show of support against adobe, and against the DMCA is much more likely to be effective.

What is the best approach to organizing against adobe and the DMCA? Letter writing? Boycott? Something else?

What about flooding local editorial pages of newspapers with well written letters describing the dangers of the DMCA so that our non-linux guru friends (and the media) can understand and support the cause?

Also, I recently applied for a position as a software engineering manager at Adobe, which would be a good job for me and for which I feel I am qualified. Times have been tough for me and my little family and for quite some time I thought I might not speak out in a public way on this matter.

But long ago I decided that staying quiet was the wrong thing to do, so after quaking in fear for a while I decided I'd copy the following letter to the nice lady in the Adobe HR department who has been considering my application.

Subject: Free Dmitry

Friends,

I have long held the belief that computer programs are constitutionally protected free speech. They are, after all, how us programmers communicate with each other. This is also the opinion of at least one federal court, although it is yet to be tested by the Supreme Court.

However, on July 16, Russian computer programmer Dmitry Sklarov was arrested by the FBI for writing a computer program and presenting a paper on it at a security conference in Las Vegas.

His paper, "eBooks Security: Theory and Practice", exposed the woefully inadequate security schemes used to copy protect Adobe eBooks ("secure" electronic publications, basically encrypted PDF files).

If you have PowerPoint, you can get his presentation here:

http://www.download.ru/defcon.ppt

You can purchase, and download a free trial version of Advanced eBook Processor here:

http://www.elcomsoft.com/aebpr.html

Rather thank thanking him for revealing their engineering flaws, Adobe made a complaint to the FBI, and the FBI arrested him under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. He is being held without bail, out of communication with his wife and children, in a foreign country, facing a $500,000 fine and five years in federal prison.

The digital millenium copyright act is clearly unconstitutional, not just in that it violates free speech for programmers, but that it violates fair use - the right of citizens to make limited copies of copyrighted materials for certain uses such as backup and academic research.

If you want to know more about Dmitry's case, please visit:

http://www.boycottadobe.com/

You'll find pictures there of Dmitry, and of his wife and children, who I am sure miss him greatly.

And please consider joining the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is pressing two other court cases to try to have the DMCA ruled unconstitutional and will lend his support to Dmitry once the U.S. Marshalls tell them where he is, you can do so here:

http://www.eff.org/support/

Please pass this mail on to anyone who might be interested to hear it.

Ever Faithful,

Michael D. Crawford
GoingWare Inc. - Expert Software Development and Consulting
http://www.goingware.com/
crawford@goingware.com

Tilting at Windmills for a Better Tomorrow.

www.BoycottAdobe.com is made with GoLive!

In related Unconstitutional-DMCA-violation news, www.boycottadobe.com has launched. We need to defend Dimitry Sklyarov as vigorously as Dr. Felten.

Here is some disturbing commentary:

This just in from Bill Scannell:

I just got off the telephone with Vladimir Katalov.

Katalov informs me that the Russian embassy has been denied access to Dmitry Sklyarov, a flagrant violation of international law. No Russian consular official has spoken to Sklyarov since his detention earlier this week.

In addition, Sklyarov's wife and two children have not heard from their husband and father since his arrest. They are understandably worried sick for his safety.

It is believed Dmitry Sklyarov is being held in solitary confinement.

As an American who honorably served in the armed forces, I am ashamed for the actions of my government. This cannot stand.

Telephone numbers:

US State Department: 1-202-647-6575
Russian Embassy: 1-202-298-5700
Russian Consul (SF) 1-415928-6878

Call. Get your friends to call. Call again.

Please disseminate this information as widely as possible.

-Bill