Slashdot Mirror
Fallout From Def Con: Ebook Hacker Arrested by FBI
Richard and many other people sent in news about Dmitry
Sklyarov, a programmer at Russian software company Elcomsoft, who was arrested after giving a talk at Def Con 9 in Las Vegas titled "eBook Security: Theory and Practice." Elcomsoft publishes a program to remove restrictions from encrypted PDF files, which has severely annoyed Adobe Corporation. Adobe was apparently responsible for the arrest, charging that Elcomsoft is violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by publishing the software and giving the presentation at Def Con. (The presentation, by the way, is great - he compares the claimed features of ebook protection schemes with their actual features.) Also at Def Con 9: Hacking for Human Rights.
Umm...Bush wasn't even in Federal Office when we were given the DCMA. On October 28,1998, President Clinton signed into law the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DCMA).
Another win for the Democrats apparently.
s/persue/pursue/g /want: the /g
s/occuring/occurring/g
s/persuit/pursuit/g
s/imprisioned/imprisoned/g
s/want: The
When Adobe acts like this, it makes me glad that I've never paid for any of their programs.
It would be rather ironic if a Russian citizen would end up fighting an American law restricting his free speech.
Yes, the DMCA criminalizes certain kinds of copyright violations; it also criminalizes some acts, like reverse engineering protection schemes, that were never even grounds for civil action before. This is in addition to any civil lawsuit the offended party may bring against you.
Yes this moves us ever closer to a corporate police state. Some companies, Wackenhut for example, are even positioning themselves to have their own police forces (they already run several prisons).
----
----
Open mind, insert foot.
Yes, he was arrested for both the software and the presentation according to the article.
Down that path lies madness. On the other hand, the road to hell is paved with melting snowballs.
I read the internet for the articles.
What felony? The disemination and discussion of true facts?
...phil
...phil
"For a list of the ways which technology has failed to improve our quality of life, press 3."
Hint: Here in Arizona, an outfit called "The Baptist Foundation" scammed *MILLIONS* of dollars from unwitting retirees across the country who thought they were supporting a religious-related investment fund, people who are now broke and living on Social Security. Guess what: Not *ONE* of the criminals responsible is currently serving time.
-E
Send mail here if you want to reach me.
Well, click here anyhow.
Let's see, the USA tortures prisoners, executes probably innocent prisoners and prisoners who are mentally retarded or who were children at the time of the crime, police brutality is rampant especially against racial minorities, children are often thrown into jail cells with brutal hardened criminals, children held in isolation for months at a time, widespread rape of female prisoners by male prison guards, regularly denies foreign prisoners the right to contact their consulate for legal representation, ...
Of course many other countries are much worse. While we do beat our protesters and frame them for murder, there are no widespread "Disappearances" of critics of the government. Indeed, a brief search of the Internet will find you hundreds of thousands of people criticising the government. In many countries, criticisms such as these that we are making here would be sufficient to have you "disappeared".
-E
Send mail here if you want to reach me.
I have had entirely enough of this new adversarial stance of theirs.
Let me just delete /opt/Acrobat4... Their UNIX software sucks anyway. The rest of it isn't much better.
Any software company that enforces or relies upon the DMCA should go on our blacklist!
1) Speed limits in the US are about the same as speed limits in Europe, other then the German autobahns. However we measure in miles, not Kilometers, so 55 is about the same as 100, which is a typical speed for back roads. Major roads are faster.
2) There are arugements both ways, but in most of europe the same laws exist, they are just less enforced.
3) Accually this is a local issue. (the feds get overinvoved, but since the 18th ammendment was repealed the feds have no power to force it. (Where Jack Danials in brewed it is illegal drink drink alcohol at any age)
4) State issue. I don't want others on the road with alcohol around though. Though I agree goverment should get out.
If he isn't an American citizen, then the Bill of Rights doesn't apply to him.
I am writing to express my disappointment that Adobe would have a person arrested for pointing out flaws in one of it's products. I refer, of course, to the case of Dmitry Sklyarov, who gave a lecture on eBook security at the recent DefCon security convention.
As a customer who cut my chops on Illustrator 1.1, it saddens me to think that Adobe now cares so little about the quality of it's heretofore-excellent products that it seeks to harrass and intimidate those who point out their weaknesses. Some will call it 'hacking' since it involved disabling a security routine, but I see it for what it is - pointing out a flaw in a product. I am thankful to him that he exposed a weakness, thus protecting me from it.
Any company that would have someone arrested for protecting me can no longer enjoy my business.
Sincerely,
Don Negro
Don Negro
Perl 6 will give you the big knob. -- Larry Wall
Unfortunately, unless you were really paying attention, the DMCA passed without much incident or fanfare over here. If there had been more discussion about it, I'm sure it would have never passed into law.
Some of the "security" algorithms this white-hat whistleblower has exposed are incredibly poor. Here are some samples:
If I was a shareholder in any of these companies I would be demanding an investigation. This isn't just shoddy, it's an outright scam! None of these companies should be getting away with this. The customer is being ripped off, yet these shyster companies have the NERVE to use the law against the whistleblowers.
I'm disgusted.
1) Needing a martyr is short shrift to the poor bastard in the crosshairs.
2) He's going to be painted as a "hacker" having been caught at DefCon- they're not going to paint this as a civil rights violation that it is, it's "a criminal being put to justice under the DMCA". It's what transpired with 2600- do you REALLY think this poor SOB is going to get a fair trial under those conditions?
While you're at it, tell everyone you know about this- including Congresspeople. Explain to them what is going on and why it's such a bad thing.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
I called the phone number (408 536 6000) and asked for Public Relations. I got someone's voicemail, and left a somewhat long message about how concerned I was.
The person answering on the main line said I was the third person who called, and he actually put me on hold to find out who in Corporate was actually supposed to get these calls. So keep calling!
It's a strange world -- let's keep it that way
It seems the Elcomsoft page has been /., if it's in Russia it does not help...= cache:http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eelcomsoft%2Ecom%2Fapdfpr% 2Ehtml page, you can download the Advanced PDF Password Recovery here and here
Thanks to google, here's a mirror of the http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q
--
"Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
The warrant names this guy as the source for the complaint (see another post below this heading for links to the court docs).
CNN says the guy is being transferred to Santa Clara County, so Adobe can have its way with him.
---- "If we have to go on with these damned quantum jumps, then I'm sorry that I ever got involved" - Erwin Schrodinger
American tourists have been arrested in Germany for distributing Nazi propoganda over the internet. In the case I'm thinking of, they actually tried to extradite him first, but the US government refused (but didn't notify him.) I don't remember reading about any governmental objections; appearing to support a Nazi is bad political fodder.
GV does not work as well as Acrobat to view PDF files. GV does not support hyperlinks or bookmarks, both of which are nearly essential to navigate long documents. It also has a bad type1 renderer.
xpdf supports hyperlinks, but doesn't yet appear to support bookmarks.
criminal my ass... he hurt Adobe's pride and caught them lying.(advertised features). Nothing has been stolen. They should have gotten off their complacent asses and fixed it.
-- Ted tsikora@powerusersbbs.com
- People may cease to require its product/service
- A superior technology emerges
- (Patents not withstanding) Someone else may produce a better or cheaper version
So a corporation should always be prepared for any investments to either be unsucessful from the start or for revenue from an investment to decrease or cease.Does the DCMA not only prohibit circumvention without the copyright owner's (presumably the owner of the copyright on the "protected" material) permission? In which case, why not simply demonstrate the technique on an encrypted PDF of material to which he owns the copyright?
You can find your congresscritter at Congress.Org and inserting your zip code into the proper fields. When you do this, be sure to include your name, address and zip code in the letter.
Alternatively, you could send the following (NB, I haven't checked for spelling mistakes):
Dear (Senator/Representative) N.
... activity which would otherwise be protected under the First Amendment and the traditions of academic freedom. It is apparent that the DMCA must be changed or perhaps repealed.
I am writing today to express my displeasure concerning the way the FBI has conducted itself in regards to Dmitry Sklyarov and Elcomsoft.
Mr. Sklyarov gave a talk at a computer security conference on the security weaknesses of Adobe's eBook product, which were apparently easily discovered and exploited. Instead of thanking Mr. Sklyarov for his work, Adobe complained to the FBI and Mr. Sklyarov was detained for violating the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.
I believe that copyright holders must have methods to secure their works. But as is obvious thanks to Elcomsoft's work, the protection afforded by Adobe's eBook products is easily overcome. There is no doubt that THOUSANDS of people have been taking advantage of this, silently, and thus ripping off legitimate copyright holders. Elcomsoft has only vocalized what was already occuring.
This is not the first time that the Digital Millenium Copyright Act has been abused like this, and it won't be the last. In its short life we have seen many security consultants and even college and university professors threatened with prosecution under DMCA for exposing weaknesses in computer security
I look foreward to your position on this issue.
Sincerely, (name, address including zip)
Finding God in a Dog
IIRC, there is a clause in the DMCA that protects encryption research specifically. As the presentation was an informational survey of eBook protection claims vs. actual abilities, I don't see how that would be something they could arrest him for.
Now the publication of a tool to circumvent the security of PDF documents, that's another story. Does anywone know which he was arrested for?
Yours truly,
Mr. X
...stupid stupid FBI...
you can now get arrested for what would otherwise be a civil action
Copyright violations can also be a criminal violation.
---------------------------------------------
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
Haven't read a software licence recently, have you? :)
In my experience, there's a sentence or paragraph along those lines in most licences these days. One thing I installed a while back (I forget what exactly) even laid claim to the manuals in the licence.
I don't think that sort of thing would stand up in court if it ever went that far, but it's a demonstration of how far some people are trying to push this sort of "you've only bought the right to use it, and you're lucky we gave you that much" thing.
Cheers,
Tim
It's official. Most of you are morons.
Wasn't Wackenhut basically a front organization for the CIA back in the 60's and 70's? Maybe I'm remembering wrong, or they were just 'contractors' or 'consultants' to the CIA or something like that...
At several Federal Court decisions (see Novell v. NTC) has held that the sale of media containing software is the sale of a copy under the UCC to which the First Sale doctrine of Copyright Law applies. Quoting that decision:
So, yes, Virginia, you do buy a copy of a copyrighted work when you buy software. Any language to the contrary in the license agreement is unenforcable as a matter of law. (Except perhaps in UCITA states.)
I have discovered a truly marvelous sig, unfortunately the sig limit is too small to contain i
Dear: Adobe
Please become an Acrobat and stick your PDF up your own ass using some good Live Motion. Then see how fast you can Type on Call for you Illustrator. Then with it in you ass please go to the local Photoshop and laydown on the Page Maker untill you Indesign. At this point you will need Type Management and have no Postscript to bail yourself out.
Reality has a liberal bias
Instead of being arrested, he should be given a cut of the money the goverment fines adobe and its security partners for. The REAL criminals in cases like this where the money grubbing BS is exposed are often the companies themselves.
And I can count the number of times the DMCA has been used against real criminals on the palm of my hand. Never.
Luckly, slashdot's got a bunch of folks who actually make tech decisions. Let's try and wipe out these security plugins, and make it crystal clear to Adobe that they should be spending more time improving their products rather than going after the guy who blew the whistle on their BS. Call them today, again in a week, again in a month.
Wasn't there a time when crimes needed to be committed within the sovereign territory of the country involved before someone got arrested (Terrorism, murder, et al aside). Since this person didn't crack PDFs within the USA, nor is the software sold here directly by that person (it needs to be imported), what gives the US Govenment the right to arrest him (other then it can).
There was a time when the West condemned the Communists governments for heavy-handed treatment of those who committed "economic crimes against the state", holding up the free market model as an example (including its civil courts as a resolution mechanism).
Who needs to wait for a world government -- its already here -- just open a corporation, make the right size contributions to your favourite party and you too will be "given" the right to be heard.
honestly, I'm too lazy/inarticulate to come up with a well formed letter. If someone wants to post a form letter though, I bet you'll get a lot more e-mails sent from people like myself.
BilldaCat
I may be incredibly lazy, but I'm still a consumer and potential customer.
BilldaCat
A cop sitting with his lights off is not in any way 'entraping' you in to speeding. Speeding is illegal regardless of whether you think a cop will see you or not.
A cop challenging you to a race in an unmarked car.. that *might* be grounds for entrapment. Then again, they may argue you would have done it anyway.
Entrapment is when, like, some undercover agent tries to get you to come rob a bank with him, you agree, the he arrests you for bank robbery.
No. Entrapment is when an officer of the law coerces you into doing something you would not otherwise have done, and then arrests you for it.
I don't normally respond to such obvious flame attempts, but I have to ask one question. Assuming you were being honest about your feelings in the previous post.
1. Why do you believe that Adobe's rights have been violated?
2. What do you believe the average consumers rights concerning use of a companies IP is?
3a. Where is the line between you as a consumers rights, and Adobe and a companies rights?
3b. Which are more important?
Ok, that was 4 questions sorry, got carried away and forgot to preview :) Please answer all questions.
2. What do you believe the average consumers rights concerning use of a companies IP is?
What is granted as the legally binding terms of sale/license. That one was easy.
Yes, but don't you believe that there is a certain inalienable right to the freedom of speach to be able to talk about any problems you find in a product. Now I do believe that you can give up such a right through NDAs and whatnot, but firstly I don't believe that NDAs can be on shrinkwrap license agreements, and especially in more recent cases where there was no NDA but the law of the land. In effect the government is mandating that we have an automatic NDA about any encypted product we may buy.
The police can hold you for up to 48 hours without charging you with anything. Of course, if no one ever broke any laws, the whole thing point would be moot...
ReadThe ReflectionEngine, a cyberpunk style n
Because incredibly lazy people are the ones corporations really care about. I'm sure if I were bombarded with thousands of identical messages, I would change my ways...
ReadThe ReflectionEngine, a cyberpunk style n
It's not the only time. Double jeopardy (sp) protection doesn't really exist. There is this BS, cockamamie thing wherein you can get hit twice: once civilly, and once criminally.
Now, I don't have too much of a problem with that when there are two different aggrieved parties. Or when something clearly causes both a civil tort and breaks a rational, criminal law (this latter to differentiate from the DMCA).
What is new and dangerous is precisely what you have pointed out: corporate enforcement. In this instance, the Adobe Corp. was the only company to potentially suffer a loss. Criminal law is supposed to protect society. The DMCA does not achieve this effect. It protects (in this instance) one specific member of society. The case will likely be tried very similarly as one that Adobe would bring themselves, with only two differences: a change in evidentiary standard (which is so wildly open to speculation on the part of judges and juries as to be inconsequential, and therefore a totally moot difference) and the possibility of jail-time. Ooh. There's the biggie.
Copy a CD, go to jail (after all, you've kept Britney from getting another boob job).
Now, it's time for everyone who said "maybe we were too hard on Adobe for the Killustrator thing" to change your mind again. Adobe sucks. They always have. They always will.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
American courts have held that the Bill Of Rights states rights of all "persons," whether they are citizens or aliens. See, e.g., Kaoru Yamataya v. Fisher, 189 U.S. 86 (1903) (construing U.S. Const. Am. V ("nor shall any person ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law"); holding that aliens may not be deported arbitrarily without "due process of law").
Why can the USA can arrest a russian citizen for breaking an american law IN RUSSIA?
If it is argued that the crime was commited on the Internet, and thus _everywhere_, what do I have to do to make sure my work is legit? Block access to my servers for ALL countries where the action is illegal?
Does this mean that I after publishing something on the Internet I may get arrested the next time I go to [insert name of country here] because the published material was illegal in that country?
What would the US think if an american reporter published information regarded as blasphemy in Iran, got arrested there while visiting the country?
Adobe contacted FBI, which performed the arrest.
The complaint can be found here and the US DOJ press release about the case is here
If J.K.R wrote Windows: Puteulanus fenestra mortalis!
Actually you can be deained upto 72 hours wihtout being charged, its in the US Constitution.
this space for rent
it was the FBI and the article says that he was detained, it makes no mention of an actual 'arrest'.. there's a big difference, they can detain you without any real reason, but they can only do it for so long.
jeebus cripes...
...dave
Think different? I'd be happy if most people would just think...
last i checked they were a software company, not a government agency.
could we please clarify what government agency actually made the arrest and on what basis?
...dave
Think different? I'd be happy if most people would just think...
Last time I threw up a quick mirror in response to a Slashdot story I ended up as a "J.Doe" on the DVDCCA case in California.
DAMN YOU! I wanted to be a J. Doe, and they never even bothered with me!
Maybe I can get Adobe on my ass now... here's my mirror page, and direct links to the presentation and program if you don't feel like reading my plebe-directed rant.
*paints a bullseye on self*
Someday, you're going to die. Get over it.
But PDF is a file format. You can use PDF without using any Adobe products. This makes the software license totally irrelevent.
You've linked to teh Amnesty USA website. Amnesty groups never discuss their host country by policy. This is aimed at preventing reprisals. If the USA group is complianing about French abuses, the USA government has little incentive to react, and the French government little ability.
2) What are the Bill of Rights and Consitution for? Toilet paper lately. 4th amendment has been gone for years - "war on Drugs" exception. 10th is ignored, 2nd is under attacik... and just TRY to use the 5th... see how far that gets you...
... hi bingo
It appears to be in an impenetrable obfuscated format called ".ppt".
In a related Fuck You!, I would rather have my kid looking at beastiality all day than pay money for a web filtering product when I, the customer, am not entitled to know what it filters. The fact that the DCMA has been used to protect corporations against customers in this way is viciously anti-individual, and proves that the DCMA is virulently un-American.
Boss of nothin. Big deal.
Son, go get daddy's hard plastic eyes.
Expanding a vast wasteland since 1996.
The Bill Of Rights doesn't apply to anyone... unless they're acting as an agent of the government.
"Congress shall make no law etc etc..." -- congress can't abridge Dmitri's rights any more than they can yours.
The Bill Of Rights doesn't apply to the people; it applies to the government. Didn't anyone here take Civics?
Ideally, anyway.
-grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
I'm not quite sure what to think about this.
http://www.wackenhutstore.com/sweatshirt.html
On the one hand, it's sending money to an **egregiously** evil corp. On the other hand, it's a shirt that says `Wackenhut' on it.
-grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
xpdf. GhostView.
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
Actually, snail mail will be more likely to be read...
http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/contact.html
San Jose Corporate Headquarters
Adobe Systems Incorporated
345 Park Avenue
San Jose, California 95110-2704
USA
-grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
In the spirit of Open Source, here's another version of this letter:
l #T rustedClientSoftware
Dear Sir/Madam:
It was unacceptable of you to arrest Dmitry Sklyarov and attack Elcomsoft. Copy prevention software:
1. Is doomed to fail:
http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-0005.htm
2. Hurts consumers:
http://www.toad.com/gnu/whatswrong.html
I'll be telling everyone I know to avoid your products until you free Skylarov and issue a full apology.
Become a FSF associate member before the low #s are used
I, um, did. "Is doomed to fail" is a summary of Schneier's article. Likewise "hurts consumers", although I suggest changing it to "hurts ordinary citizens".
Become a FSF associate member before the low #s are used
Posting information is legal. Posting it with the stated intent to damage a companies stock price can be considered illegal manipulation. It can certainly get the SEC to take a look at your portfolio. And God help you if you've been selling short. I doubt he is, but what if a friend or relative of his is?
Best Slashdot Co
That the Securities and Exchange Commission doesn't read slashdot. I think you just committed a felony.
Best Slashdot Co
From http://www.planetebook.com/mainpage.asp?webpageid= 157
"I should say that it will not work," Katalov explained on comp.text.pdf. "We'll just move our site to another ISP, in another country (where there is no Digitial Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA)). And/or make our software available for free, under the GNU license."
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
If your tactic were successful, it would seem to be more evidence for why DMCA is needed... that a lone hacker (albeit in an educational and consumer protection minded way) would be able to damage a large corporation and nullify the investments they made in new technology.
--
>He was arrested for writing software that violates the DMCA.
and how valid is the DMCA in russia? it's perfectly legit software, the DMCA is a yank law, not a russian law.
why do americans seem to think that the laws they make also go for other countries?
//rdj
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
--Sheikh Abd-Al-Kadir, 1587
I don't know about arrests, but under the DMCA, companies can seize property from people they feel have violated their IP. That is the companies themself can perform the raid, not the government.
4 ,0 0.html
Pretty creepy!
Here is the press release about the first such case:
http://www.directv.com/press/pressdel/0,1112,41
[For my money, you should be subject to arrest for giving your conference such an overly-dramatic title. Hacking for human rights, my arse.]
Given what happened, I'd say it was a pretty apt title.
Yeah, but if you crack the encryption on every piece of software known to man while you are living in Washington DC, then fly to China after alerting every government agent that you, a notorious hacker type, are on the way you won't get so much as a single officer meeting you at the airport. Because it's not illegal in China for you to do what you did, you've broken no chinese laws.
Hell, you could probably call them up and tell them that you just finished killing a bunch of americans and when you arrived they still wouldn't care because it's not illegal for you to kill people in America according to Chinese law.
The US shouldn't be messing with this guy.
Kintanon
Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
At some level, the GPL doesn't even give you ownership of software. Ownership is maintained by the copyright holder -- you are granted the right to use (and, subject to argument, modify or reverse engineer) that software. The GPL (or another license) may grant you additional rights -- but they don't make you the _owner_ of the software.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
"So you do own the copy, but not the information." which basically ends up coming down to being allowed to do anything with the copy that you wish except what would be constituted as 'publishing' ...
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
I have a copy mirrored here (in Canada).
cf. FibreSpeed
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
But only where laws like the DMCA exist would publishing a paper on how to circumvent a copyright method be a violation in itself. That's more the point -- without the DMCA, only the actual infringing uses of this information would be illegal, not the published information itself.
For example: knowing how to make a cable TV descrambler was never illegal -- using one to get free cable was.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
from http://www.planetebook.com/mainpage.asp?webpageid= 165
The reason for the arrest has been cited as being the Advanced eBook Processor and his speech at DefCon 9.
----
---- I made the Kessel Run in under 11 parsecs.
I doubt they arested him for making the presentation. The company he works for makes software that breaks the copy protection on Adobe's ebook software. I'm assuming they arrested him because he worked on that software, which they may have found out during his presentation. Adobe has been after his company for a little while now. Read the articles for the details. I'm no fan of the DMCA, but it wasn't very smart of him to come to this country if the software he wrote is in violation of it. I guess he'll be spending some time in jail while the courts decide if what he did was illegal.
What the DMCA needs are concrete examples like this that academic research will be stifled and critics silenced by this crappy law. DeCSS, the SDMI watermark controversy and this presentation at DefCon show that criminals aren't being punished, research and development folks are. The three most prominent enforcements of DMCA haven't yielded a single pirated copy of anyone's IP. This will be a powerful point to make before a congressional subcommittee.
If the industry had been smart, they would have waited until they found 1000 pirated copies of a movie or piece of software. Then they could have self-righteously claimed justification for the DMCA. Now, they're just shooting themselves in the foot.
Dmitry is not being detained for explaining. He is being detained for releasing a polished product for which the sole purpose is to unprotect protected documents.
While that may be nearly as scary, the persecution of Dmitry should not have been such a big suprise.
I do not deploy Linux. Ever.
...that the news article on 'Hacking for human rights ' mentions that
"Hackers in the United States and other countries where abuses are infrequent should not be complacent" ....
Mind you it's worth checking Amnesty International to see their comments on human rights in the USA.
Remember that Congress and the Senate are getting too much email... they throw it away. Sending snail mail has a better chance of getting read.
/dev/null. The law dictates that they faithfully mail whatever you desire.
:(
;)
s p? subject=20
The best way I've found to contact your elected officials is via Microsoft's FIN ("Freedom To Innovate Network"). They'll print out and snail mail the correspondence for you. Since they promise to mail, it would be a fedral offense for them to read this mail, figure it wasn't in MS's best interest, and throw it in
You have to agree to sign up for passport
You can send mail once per day per official.
Make sure to un-check the box that says they can read it -- you don't want MS to know what you're using them for
http://www.freetoinnovate.com/contact/default.a
When I die, please cast my ashes upon Bill Gates -- for once, make him clean up after me!
I went through all your old post searching for misspelled words and I must say that you practice what you preach. However many things I saw were putting down other people and calling them morons. I feel better knowing I only come across as someone to busy at work to use a spell checker. I'd really feel bad if I came across as a complete jerk.
Attn. Lord Nitpick, I spelled checked this one so you can sleep better tonight.
Now I'll wait for you to attack my grammer next.
To Whom it may concern,
As a user of your products I have become very offended today. I feel like your company is trying to insult my intellegence. Your company has choosen to enforce the DMCA by arresting Dmitry Sklyarov.
By arresting Dmitry you are sending a message that you will allow your product to continue using substandard security. You should be applauding Dmitry for showing that your software needs improvement. As a user of eBook I am happy that Dmitry has shown that the security can be broken. Do you actually think your customers want you to hide these problems so only the bad guys can get our data?
Would you want to continue using eBook if you know from now own Adobe will use scare tactics to keep security holes hidden? Put yourselves in your users shoes. I am not going to use eBook from here on out. I will be looking for another product until your views on the matters change. Not only do I feel you should change your decision you must also voice out against the DMCA. From here on out I will never use any products that support the DMCA or any other plan to take away citizens rights.
Thanks for listening,
One more upset customer
OK, so it was very noble of this person to point out the faults in the protection scheme so that others would know that their documents were not so safe after all...
However, if "these are people after all" in Adobe, then why would it be such a bad idea to present this to them first rather than just shoving the information out to the general public.
If a company claims certain features in it's advertising and packaging, then a public examination of those claims are completely valid. Consumer groups have been doing this for ages for everything from baby toys to trucks, bringing the company to task for incorrect and misleading information or just plain bad products. I see no difference in this case. Indeed, if you are selling software which claims to be 'secure' you had better get your claims right. Hiding behind the DMCA should not excuse the company from the trading standards laws or allow the company to wriggle out of the 'merchantable quality' requirements.
This is rather different from products such as web servers having security holes in them - there are reasonable grounds in these cases to inform the vendor of the problem first and only go public if nothing happens.
Cheers,
Toby Haynes
Anything I post is strictly my own thoughts and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the opinions of IBM.
"All HTML pages and supplementary files are compressed with deflate algorithm from ZLIB"
"Compressed data are encrypted by XOR-ing each byte with every byte of the string "encrypted", which is the same as XOR with constant byte"
This is totally mindboggling if true. Are we saying that people can XOR their data stream with a *single byte*, advertise it as "virtually 100% burglar-proof" and then get listened to when they complain about evol haxors cracking their encryption?
There are two kinds of sysadmins: paranoids and losers. I'm both kinds.
Side note: gv works just as well as Acrobat to view PDF files from netscape as a helper app (and PS too, of course). Just add "gv %s" in as the application to handle the file types for PostScript and PDF(edit->preferences->helperapps or something like that). Personally I like gv's navigational structure better anyway.
(Well, /path/to/gv if it isn't in your path, naturally.)
Very rarely I will run across a document that gv just doesn't like but that Acrobat displays fine. This happens maybe once a month, if I'm looking at a fair amount of pdf's.
I think the software dependencies for gv are ghostscript and whatever dependencies it has but I'm not sure. apt-get or rpmfind.net or your ports tree are your friends in that regard.
--
News for geeks in Austin: www.geekaustin.org
News for Geeks in Austin, TX
This has highlighted some false claims made by a company in marketing. Does this mean that next time someone claims their software is secure, it is illegal to prove it is not?
What about consumer protection laws - this is misleading conduct on the behalf of the companies involved.
How about if I remove you from your family and loved ones and lock you up in a prison in, say, Siberia. You will be assured the right to trial, etc. It will take a while, though.
Will you be so ready to make concessions then?
Get the Hell off my planet, you slimy mobster Bush!
Rather worrying - where does this criminalisation of knowledge end?
Ross wrote "Security Engineering" (a mighty tome, should be of interest to many Slashdotters, plenty of info about it on his site).
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
Be assured your constitutional rights to free speech and freedom of the press have been taken away. It is a sad day when a man can be thrown in jail for intelligent speech and writing. But that is what has happened here. Where will the madness created by the DMCA end?
"Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press"
Are you sure you aren't confusing a CIVIL action with a CRIMINAL action of a low enough severity that imprisonment is not allowed. As far as I remember, the Supreme Court said you can arrest even for crimes for which imprisonment is not allowed - that is a far cry from arresting someone for a civil violation. BTW, speeding is a CRIMINAL offense (as are other traffic violations) in many states. For example, Nevada. Plus a FINE is only assessed for CRIMINAL offenses, for civil offenses it is a civil penalty.
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
Market economics mean that the value of this companies' technology is not the devlopment costs. Rather, it's the ability to be usefully to end users.
Poor encryption is not useful, and therefore, these companies should loose value.
If Ford make a shoddy car, is it ok for people to tell others, even though it might hurt their stock price?
If XYZ, Inc., invented electronic paper that lost all it's data after one month, but had just started shipping it, shouldn't investors know about their scam?
I think so.
WhiteWolf666 an exBush supporter. All you new-school,compassionate,save the children Republicans can rot in hell
Do these actions always backfire?
* Attempted censorship. A thousand people immediately buy the book and/or see the movie.
* DCMA. A thousand people that knew nothing about CSS immediatly download DeCSS and buy a T-Shirt with the code.
* DCMA (again). A thousand people immediatly attempt to download the slashdotted powerpoint show.
Am I missing something regarding the effeciveness of these sorts of laws? (Other than, of course, ruining the lives a few individuals who are made the scapegoats.)
Waltz, nymph, for quick jigs vex Bud.
Once upon a time I really needed to print a .pdf that was not supposed to be printed, so I got Ghostscript, the relevant encription modules, and changed the postscript source (yes, the modules are made in postscript) to let me print the damn thing...
Easy, fast, nice...
It was my first and only experience in postscript programming.
This is not new stuff, and I don't really see any problem with it.
You cannot proceed from the informal to formal by formal means
The Bill of Rights applies to all people that the US government interacts with. The Border Patrol cannot abuse Mexican immagrants any more than LAPD can abuse US citizens. Manuel Noriega was afforded all of the rights in the constitution, even though he was not a citizen. The Bill protects ALL people, not just those born here or who those who passed a test.
Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
(third paragraph) "persuit" should be spelled "pursuit"
(last sentence) "yout" should be "your"
NO. They should have arrested him in the middle of the presentation for maximum effect, and yes they can warn him but are under no burden to do so. However, it is unlikely that they were even present at the conference (in this capacity)-- and even if they were, maybe once they saw this complex and new "crime" being committed they felt they should wait for the okay from their own FBI lawyers (rather than the Adobe jackals) before proceeding.
The crime here is not cracking the "protection" but sharing the method used to perform the crack. While it is not a crime to describe in detail how to kill someone (if you do it without being inciteful), how to manufacture drugs, how to build a bomb, how to cheat on your wife, how to molest children, it is a crime to discuss methods of cracking anti-consumer "protections" on copyright restricted materials on digital media. This Russian guy broke that blatantly illegal law on US soil (using information he obtained at home in Russia where he may not have been violating any laws). Ergo, he gets arrested.
To quote Bulldog, "This sucks. This is total BS."
I do not have a signature
By the way, please moderate this guy up some more, mass action is a way to get attention.
... User unknown)
... while talking to inner-relay-1.adobe.com.:
... User unknown ... User unknown
blamkin and gfreeman are absent,
ttownsley doesn't exist seemingly
From: blamkin (via the www vacation program)
Subject: Out of the office on vacation until July 30
I will be out of the office on vacation until July 30, and will not be checking email. If you have an urgent issue, please contact my assistant, Laura Giffin at 408-536-4375 (lgiffin@adobe.com)
If you are sending me an email that requires my immediate attention when I return, please mark it Urgent and resend it. I will get back to you as soon as I can the week of July 30.
-Bryan
From: gfreeman (via the www vacation program)
Subject: absence from the office & no email access
I will be absent from the office from July 16 through August 3 and will not be accessing email during this period. In my absence, Lew Epstein (lepstein@adobe.com) will be assuming my responsibilities. For matters requiring prompt attention during my absence please contact either Lew or Lisa Sellers (lsellers@adobe.com).
Thank you
Graham
----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
(reason: 550 5.1.1
(expanded from: )
----- Transcript of session follows -----
>>> RCPT To:
550 5.1.1
One shall speak only if what one has to say is more beautiful than silence
No, it's not entrapment. Entrapment involves a law enforcement agent enticing someone to commit a crime they otherwise would not have committed, had the agent not been involved.
I am writing today to express my displeasure concerning the way Adobe has conducted itself in regards to Dmitry Sklyarov and Elcomsoft. It would seem that, rather than thanking Mr. Sklyarov for exposing serious flaws in your products, and then correcting them, you have chosen to pursue a course of litigation and intimidation via the misuse of law enforcement.
I believe that copyright holders must have methods to secure their works. But as is obvious thanks to Elcomsoft's work, the protection afforded by Adobe's eBook products is easily overcome. There is no doubt that THOUSANDS of people have been taking advantage of this, silently, and thus ripping off legitimate copyright holders. Elcomsoft has only vocalized what was already occurring.
As an Adobe customer, here is what I want: The pursuit of better products, and not more litigation. We have enough of that already. I fear one day that my children may be imprisoned for pointing out flaws in corporate products, or for engaging in legitimate research of code and computer products. Perhaps, if you have children, they will be too. So I urge Adobe to "back off" as it were and refocus the money that would have been spent on lawyers into developing a more secure and better eBook system.
Thank-you for your time, and I look forward to your reply!
While I don't advocate and don't intend to cause harm to anyone's person or Adobe's physical plant, I would shed no tears if Adobe's HQ burned to the ground, preferably with the decision-maker responsible for this inside.
I believe this is what they call a "paradox."
"And like that
If I were part of a company screwing over someone else's copyright or exploiting their crappy code, my company would be subject to a law suit. I can't imagine we'd all be hauled off in the paddy wagon. But an individual doing this can be jailed?
I'm not being sarcastic [this once]. I seriously don't get this.
[For my money, you should be subject to arrest for giving your conference such an overly-dramatic title. Hacking for human rights, my arse.]
But the greater evil here is clear to see. In the graphics world Adobe = Microsoft, a single company holding the reigns on all of the industry's mission-critical tools. Time to get a better text tool for GIMP and get it to the people.
Billions of people can't tell what they think in their countries, are killed, imprisoned without judgement, screwed in their basic human rights for just expressing their opinions. China killed more than 1700 only this year. Now with the information technology, their voice can be heard.
It's time to be peacefully subversive.
Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education. Bertrand Russel
Don't just lament how wrong this is. TELL Adobe what you think of them and their actions. But PLEASE, be polite. Messages like "j00 suX0r Adobe!" get thrown in the PLOINK-bin faster than you can blink, and without a second thought. But a well-written message detailing why you are not happy with them, and what they can do about it, would be most helpful. Here are some PR contacts at adobe:
jcristof@adobe.com
dstyerwa@adobe.com
lvacante@adobe.com
ablatchf@adobe.com
skrueger@adobe.com
gbabbit@adobe.com
wsaso@adobe.com
Don't forget to give them a ring on the tele:
(408) 536-6000
And lastly, we have the executive's email addys (I think. I have not verified these addresses, so they may not work. The ones above will for sure though.)
jwarnock@adobe.com
cgeschke@adobe.com
bchizen@adobe.com
snarayen@adobe.com
mdemo@adobe.com
gfreeman@adobe.com
cpouliot@adobe.com
jstephens@adobe.com
ttownsley@adobe.com
mdyrdahl@adobe.com
blamkin@adobe.com
Go out there and tell them! Corporations are run by people, just like us. Sometimes those people do very stupid things and need correction; that is what I plan to do, and everyone who reads this message should do the same.
-- russ
Natural != (nontoxic || beneficial)
While I don't advocate and don't intend to cause harm to anyone's person or Adobe's physical plant, I would shed no tears if Adobe's HQ burned to the ground, preferably with the decision-maker responsible for this inside.
CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.
Also, the presentation makes clear that many of the formats use weak encryption, perhaps with the intent of hiding behind the DMCA and adding legal clout to their licensing term (xor encrypting with a byte derived from the string "encrypted" comes to mind).
This is despicable and harms society in ways which are beyond most people's comprehension. Security depends on peer review and criticism because there are always more people outside your organization that would like to get in than you have staff to keep track of these things. Peer review of encryption schemes is necessary to maintain computer security in all aspects of our society. Hiding behind the DMCA at best causes a false sense of security for publishers and at worst harms all computer security by dampening peer review or all encryption schemes.
The presentation was great. (Hint-- Fight the DMCA-- widely distribute it!).
Sig: Tell all your friends NOT to download the Advanced Ebook Processor:
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Anywhere sad enough to hire me despite that stuff would be a cool place to work, I reckon ;)
--
"I'm not downloaded, I'm just loaded and down"
Last time I threw up a quick mirror in response to a Slashdot story I ended up as a "J.Doe" on the DVDCCA case in California. Not sure how they think Californian law works in the UK, but there you go...
When will these people learn that you can't pout the toothpaste back in the tube? *sigh*
--
"I'm not downloaded, I'm just loaded and down"
Uh, no. I realize that many here consider RMS divine, if not dreamy, but he is flat-out wrong. There has never been a government anywhere at any time that did not have as its top priority itself. In all governments, be they communist, democratic, republican, socialist, monarchist, whatever, you will find that it is a government of the government bureaucrat, by the government bureaucrat, for the government bureaucrat.
I was (un)fortunate enough to work for a NASA contractor in DC during the government shutdown a few years ago. We discovered some amazing things. First, we didn't need the civil servants to do our job. Second, without them, we got a lot more work done because they weren't in the way. Third, it was a lot quieter. Fourth, the network was quicker. Fifth, if they are considered 'non-essential', why were they hired in the first place?
Every government action I've ever seen comes down to one of the following:
- They have to enforce a silly law that was passed by Congresscritters who believe the government should poke its nose everywhere.
- The bureaucracy attempts to expand its wealth and power at the expense fo the wealth, power, and freedom of the taxpayer
- The bureaucracy fights to preserve their wealth and power against a mob of angry taxpayers
- The bureaucracy blames others (often the evil forces of capitalism if there is no Republican handy) for the problems it creates and perpetuates
And finally, I have no sympathy for those who demand the government do get more power then whine when the government uses that power to do something they don't like. You'd think empirical evidence would tell them otherwise.I do agree that we should fight the government, good and hard, for our freedoms. But to expect any government to do what's right when the civil servants can't be fired and when government agencies face no competition is to have both your feet planted firmly in the air.
The Independent: Reverend Spooner Arrested in Friar Tuck Incident - ISIHAC, Historical Headlines
Move that case into this post-DMCA case we live in today, and you would likely see the publisher of the magazine thrown in jail for creating an anti-circumvention device, and the PR people saying that this is a great victory for everyone because those evil hacker people were thrown in jail. Of course they'd also neglect to say that this information would probably become much more wide-spread than it otherwise would have been, and that a lot of innocent people would be adversely affected because the manufacturer would have little motivation to fix a glaring security flaw.
The result? The flaws are not fixed and there is the possibility of even more damage. People still know the flaws, but the problem is not fixed.
D - M - C - A
If god had intended you to be naked, you would have been born that way.
As Richard Stallman said before:
He was talking about DMCA and the new Free Software laws in other countries.
So, if there's nothing like DMCA in your country, fight for your rights, don't let them cut back your rights!
Don't worry, I'm too busy [to|every]day
-=-=-=-=
I know life isn't fair, but why can't it ever be un-fair in MY favor!?
Was he arrested for the speech he gave in Las Vegas, or for breaking the DMCA laws while he was in Russia? The article doesn't say why he was arrested, but that's how everyone is making it sound (and last I check DMCA laws didn't apply to russian citizens who are in Russia). Anyone found more info on this yet?
Help find a cure for cancer!
If he isn't an American citizen, then the Bill of Rights doesn't apply to him.
The Constitution and the Bill of Rights applies to everyone who resides in the United States. Even if he does not live here, he is visiting, while he is here he is entitled to the same treatment as anyone else, his citizenship has no bearing on this at all. He is innocent until proven guilty and has the right not to incriminate himself. He is entitled to a Lawyer and a fair and speedy trial. Now if only we could get those rights enforced. Otherwise the INS would deal with illegal aliens with machine guns.
Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power - Benito Mussoli
Someone here went to DefCon and saw this. What exactly went on, play by play?
"Anonymous Coward" is for whistleblowers, not unpopular opinions.
I don't think that would go over well. Can anyone explain a difference to me? Or would the U.S. accept this arrest without problem?
Judicative
Legislative
Corporative
-- sigs are like parking spaces - all the good ones are occupied
Right on! Just like it's MY legal right to grow or purchase whatever mind-altering drugs I wan.... Oh wait. No it's not.
m00.
I've done my duty and emailed Adobe politely about this abuse of a bad law. Perhaps at the next DefCon, presentations on how to circumvent this Adobe flaw will be distributed to the public as encrypted PDF's, so that DCMA supporters will not have access to content they find objectionable.