US Won't Drop Charges Against Sklyarov - More Protests Planned

Oolon was the first to write in with news that the EFF has concluded their meeting with the US Attorney's Office, to no good result. Recent DMCA/Sklyarov news: Rep. Rick Boucher is supportive of reforming the DMCA but not very optimistic about getting it done soon. egerlach sent links for protests planned this Monday: Boston, Minnesota, San Francisco. Phil Zimmerman will be speaking about Sklyarov and other subjects this Tuesday. There's more information at the Free Sklyarov site as well.

Comments

Re:He's guilty

[Zack]

No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it.
-- American Jurisprudence, Second Edition, Volume 16, Section 177

Although I'm sure explaining this to the people trying to arrest you might be difficult.

"You see, the law you're trying to arrest me for breaking in not constitutional, therefore I am not bound to obey it. So you see... oww! Hey! that hurts! OWW!"

-- Zack

public outcry?

[mosch]

What public outcry? The only thing I said was "fucking retard".

--

Educate Others!

[David Greene]

Here's a copy of a hastily-written e-mail I sent to some members of my family. Feel free to pass this along to others if you think it's useful. Please correct any errors (typos, facts, etc.) that you find. IMHO the most important thing us average users can do is educate.

Hi there,

I usually don't like to send these sorts of things around, but this hits VERY close to home. A programmer has been arrested for analyzing encryption software and writing a tool for disabled people to be able to use their (legally purchased) Adobe eBooks. You may have heard reports about a Russian "hacker" being detained by the FBI. Don't be fooled by the pejorative used to describe him. He is a Ph.D. student (like me) with a wife and small children. He was arrested after giving a talk in Las Vegas about the software and the weaknesses in Adobe's encryption methods.

He was arrested under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) which makes development or possession of any software to circumvent encryption or copy protection measures on digital media illegal. This makes it illegal, for example, to develop a DVD player for operating systems such as Linux that vendors refuse to support their products on. DVD's contain encrypted data and it is therefore illegal to write or possess any software to legally watch your own DVD's unless that software has the approval of the content producers.

The encryption restrictions of the DMCA are particularly distasteful given the fact that copying and decryption are orthogonal issues. There is nothing inherent in the DVD format (as an example) to prevent copying. The encryption is there only to restrict USE. Your use. Your ability to watch movies when, where and on what devices you want.

When the DMCA was being debated, many researchers put forth arguments that it would have a chilling effect on speech. Such arguments were dismissed as unwarrented paranoia, but these proved to be quite accurate, as a Princeton professor was recently prohibited (through threat of a DMCA lawsuit by the Recording Industry Association of America) from presenting a research paper detailing an analysis of the SDMI digital watermarking method for audio media.

In general, the DMCA severely hinders the analysis of security protocols, greatly harming the very infrastructure it claims to protect. In addition, were the DMCA law 20 years ago, the personal computer revolution would have been harmed immensely and economic giants such as Compaq and Dell would not exist due to the "illegal" (under the DMCA) reverse engineering of the IBM PC BIOS back in the early '80's.

Some members of the programming/computer science/research community have drafted a statement that will be sent to Congress and anyone else that can help change this situation. Please take a moment to read this and become educated about the DMCA. Most reasonable people agree that protection is needed for digital intellectual property. In fact, it already exists in the form of current copyright law. The DMCA grants no new rights to IP owners while taking away many rights from everyone, including previously court-upheld fair use rights (i.e. the right to make backup copies of your legally purchased materials, the right to parody, etc.).

The DMCA is something that threatens all of us, but in my case, it threatens the very industry in which I work. It severly limits what I can do with my skills and provides incentive for much research and development (and associated economic benefits) to move outside the United States. If you agree with the community statement, please consider adding your name to the list of signatories. The statement can be found at

http://www.dibona.com/dmca/

Please pass this information on to others if, like me, you feel things ought to be changed.

Thanks for your time.

--

Re:Educate Others!

[paulbc]

I like your letter, and I think it gets at a couple of things I've noticed:

• Very little mainstream media coverage since the arrest
• DMCA opponents much more vocal than DMCA proponents on this matter
• No attempt to put any kind of spin on the arrest in order to legitimize it

Why do I find this so insidious? Well, certainly it's tempting to say that the mainstream media won't cover this story because of centralized corporate control that supports the DMCA. I don't know if that's really it. Maybe the story is just too esoteric to make exciting copy for the average person. Any thoughts?

But isn't it interesting that we aren't seeing a lot of editorials explaining in detail why a non-dangerous alleged offender of a disputed law *should* be held without bail? I mean, if someone can point me to an article that says "Yes, for the good of society, Sklyarov should be under lock and key and here's why." then I'd be very interested in reading it. But it took just a feather's touch of pressure to get Adobe to back down from that position. It's untenable under any reasonable standard of the legitimate use of force.

Finally, there's no PR campaign from the pro-DMCA, pro-arrest camp. Why? Well, because there's no way to *put* a positive spin on using excessive force against a relatively powerless individual to settle a corporate dispute. So in this case, the best spin, the best PR, is simply no publicity at all. The average American who has heard the story at all simply believes that a "Russian hacker" has been apprehended by the FBI. This vaguely suggests that there must have been some sort of national security threat. The supporters of DMCA would like it for things to stay this way.

Here's the sad truth of the matter: power doesn't need reason or persuasion to justify itself. That's why those in favor of Sklyarov's arrest have been eerily silent. Of course, we supposedly live in a democratic society, so power supposedly resides with the people.

Well, the people do have power if enough of them raise their voices. Right now we just have the tech community raising a voice. And that's a wonderful thing, and I guess for such a small community it holds a lot of clout (heh, imagine a general IT strike for even one day).

But this is an issue that politicians will take seriously if there's enough public response. As the subject line says, we just need to educate more people about the implications of something that sounds rather obscure. Well, it's worth a shot.

Get Adobe to pay for his legal defense!

[Mongoose]

Adobe can't have it's cake and eat it too. Everyone should try to pressure Adobe into paying for his defense. This way they can't just start 'dumping' on the DoJ.

On protesting in China

[Pac]

I assume you aware that China has a totalitarian government that arrests, prosecutes and condemn its citizen at will. I also assume you have not forgotten the Celestial Peace Square incident, when the chinese govvernment used tanks and army troops against unarmed civilians.

So I can not really figure why you you think the chinese could really protest against the arrest of americans without jeopardizing their own safety.

Please do not assume the whole world lives under the same legal protections and human rights garantees you do. Why do you think the International Amnesty members never write letters to their own governments?

Re:On protesting in China

[Rimbo]

Please pardon me for giving you that notion. I have a very close friend who was in Tianmen Square at the time the army began shooting, so I have great sympathy for dissidents.

My comments were not intended to criticize Russian and Chinese citizens, but rather to celebrate the fact that in America, the government, media, and people are still able to learn and express themselves and are willing to do so to make things better.

America is not perfect in this regard, but I wholeheartedly believe that humanity can make it better -- and not just in America, but worldwide.

Re:Where's the ACLU on this?

[MAXOMENOS]

There is, however, mention of the DMCA and the ACLU's amicus brief supporting fair use.

If I had to make anything of it, it's that the ACLU, like most of the rest of the political world, is horribly and depressingly ignorant of what's going on. We need to make them aware.

Isn't it ironic, don'tcha think?

[VValdo]

Yesterday, many news sites reported China's freeing of Gao Zhan, a US-based scholar convicted and sentenced for spying for the US.

Meanwhile, here in the US, a foreign citizen is still held hostage not for anything as serious as spying, but for challenging the authority of a corporation.

-------------------

Stop the presses....hold the phone...reality check

[morris57]

The email that is linked to in the story says the meetings ended with no promise to drop charges against Skylarov. Fine.

But, one of the attorney's with the EFF (Forgot her name) was on NPR's Talk of the Nation: Science Friday less than an hour before this /. article was posted. She said the DOJ (or FBI or whoever they met with) had listened politely and said they would consider dropping the charges, BUT that no decision could be made at that time.

If what she says is true (and I'm more apt to believe the words of someone who was actually at the meeting) then I think /. is mis-representing the story. (Not that it is a surprise.)

Personally, I think there is a HUGE distinction between "hasn't decided whether to drop charges or not" and "won't drop charges".

Adobe should put their money where their mouth is

[powerlord]

Adobe should donate a VERY LARGE sum of money to the EFF to help cover the costs they are incuring to handle this mess that Adobe caused... if they are really so apologetic and resentful.

I didn't say they should pay for his defense, since I don't know if I would trust whomever they bought.

Has anyone talked to RedHat?

[powerlord]

From the Association of American Publishers membership page: http://www.publishers.org/home/abouta/invite.htm

Who Is Eligible?

Regular Membership in the Association is open to all U.S. companies actively engaged in the publication of books, journals, looseleaf services, computer software, audiovisual materials, databases and other electronic products such as CD-ROM and CD-I, and similar products for educational, business and personal use . This includes producers, packagers, and co-publishers who coordinate or manage most of the publishing process involved in creating copyrightable educational materials for distribution by another organization.

"Actively engaged" means that the candidate must give evidence of conducting an ongoing publishing business with a significant investment in the business.

Each Regular Member firm has one vote, which is cast by an official representative or alternate designated by the member company.

Associate Membership (non-voting) is available to U.S. not-for-profit organizations that otherwise meet the qualifications for regular membership. A special category of associate membership is open to non-profit university presses.

Affiliate Membership is a non-voting membership open to paper manufacturers, suppliers, consultants, and other non-publishers directly involved in the industry.

(Emphasis mine)

So... has anyone spoken to RedHat to find out if either they are already a member, or if they have any interest in joining? Also, any universities care to join to give us an "Inside View" into whats going on (although non-profit members also have non-voting status).

Re:He's guilty

[Rocketboy]

It's exclusively the job of the court to interpret the laws and also to determine if they are unconstitutional

Well, sort of. It is rare, although perfectly legal, for a jury to, for example, decide that the law under which a defendent is being tried is unjust and therefore refuse to convict. This principle upholds the ancient right of a democratic people to return to themselves the power and authority they may have temporarily granted to others. This right is fundamental to democracy and violation of this right directly leads to armed rebellion and insurrection, as governments always seem to forget sooner or later.

Things don't often go that far, primarily because citizens in our society (USA) are remarkably poorly educated about their rights and responsibilities as citizens. My wife would argue that since it is obviously in the best self-interest of government that the average citizen remain in ignorance of his/her rights, and since the government runs the schools, that this is deliberate. Me, I'm open to argument. We treasure our heritage of 'civil disobedience' as the primary means by which we express displeasure with our government and judiciary, but just as one medicine can't cure all illnesses, one means of protest should not be expected to right all injustices.

The (condensed) point is that citizens of a democracy are not bound, legally or morally, to blind acceptance of the dictates of those in power, regardless of how they came to be in power. The fundamental characteristic of a true democracy is the ability of those governed to correct injustices perpetrated on them by authority. Thomas Jefferson believed that the only way a free people could maintain their liberty was to occasionally reminded the government that the consent of the governed is subject to change. While no one is advocating violence (certainly I am not,) there are alternatives. Passive resistence can include refusal to cooperate (denying information or assistance to government, for example,) or the supplying of false information (yes, sir: I've got 15 kids here. No, you can't see them: they're all out right now.) There's also active resistance short of armed rebellion, including the refusal of a jury to convict someone of breaking an unjust law. All of this does require a significant minority of citizens willing to act together, which is where things most often break down, but that's another topic, I suppose. (It'll have to be: I've got a meeting in 5 minutes.)

Re:He's guilty

[CharlieG]

"My dear lady, you can pass any laws you like. If they are reasonable, I'll obey them. If not, I'll ignore them."
(from "The moon is a hash mistress")

That's a bit offensive

[werdna]

However much I agree with you, the analogy holds no water whatsoever, apart from both individuals being arrested for violations of a crime.

The crime Rosa Parks violated was unconstitutional in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment because, had a similarly situtated white woman been there, it would not have been a crime.

The DMCA's constitutionality is undisputed, except as applied in the Felton case (suing over a threatened lawsuit, not an actual judgment under the DMCA) and the DeCSS injunction (suing over the overly expansive LANGUAGE of an injunction order, not the DMCA in itself).

DMCA is wrong -- its bad policy. There are certainly theorists who argue that even distribution of executable object code is free speech (Professor Junger, for example). But hey, there's a huge difference between these highly theoretical arguments and the blatant 14th Amendment egregiousness that infected the South in the 60s.

There is a reason that the American public ultimately got behind the civil rights movement -- they understood that it was wrong and why it was wrong. I have yet to poll a newbie without loading up the questions to find someone who "gets it."

This is not to say that killing the anticircumvention provisions of DMCA is not a righteous cause -- its that the present incarceration of a Russian Hacker is so far from a Rosa Parks scenario that you are simply deluding yourself.

Re:I wonder how DMitry feels

[csbruce]

about his status as Civil Rights Hero.

Perhaps he feels more like a victim of the illegal laws of a banana republic.

Re:Disruptive actions

[Malcontent]

Don't call it a blackout. Call it a moment of silence. As a protest have everybody who can disconnect whatever machine(s) they are in charge of machine from the network (whatever network that might be) for a couple of minutes. If enough people in charge of routers do this the internet would shut down for a minute or two.

If the entire internet shut down for a minute or two no real harm would come but the message would be sent loud and clear.

If the event was executed correctly and your boss got mad at you you could always point your fingers at everybody else and say "gee boss our systems are working fine but there seems to be a internet wide strike" it's not like your boss would know.

If that fails you can always rely on "just reboot your machine it should work fine afterwards" it's not like they haven't heard that one before.

I wonder how DMitry feels

[wiredog]

about his status as Civil Rights Hero. Must be rough on him. Still, Rosa Parks just wanted to rest her feet, and look what she started.

Re:I wonder how DMitry feels

[darkonc]

Not quite. Rosa Parks was selected by the NAACP to challenge the segregation laws

I'm going to quote, here from the book "Martin Luther King, Jr. -- Civil Rights Leader, by Robert Jakoubek. (I thought that I had King's own autobiography, but I can't find it, right now).

.... Thursday evening, December 1, 1955, a small, neatly dressed black woman in Montggomery left work at quitting time, walkd across the street to do some shopping at a pharmacy, and then boarded a bus for the ride home. She took a seat toward the rear, in the row just behind the section marked Whites Only. Holding her packages, she was glad to sit down. After a long day, her feet hurt.

As the bus wound its way through Montgomery, it steadily filled with passengers, and soon every seat was taken. When two white men boarded and paid their fares, the bus driver called over his shoulder for the first row of blacks to move back. After some delay, three blacks rose and stood in the aisle. But Mrs. Rosa Parks, her feet aching, her lap covered with packages, did not budge. The driver shouted, "Look woman, I told you I wanted the seat. Are you going to stand up?"

Gently but firmly, Rosa Parks said, "No," and for that she was arrested and thrown in jail....
. . . .
The next morning, King was warking at the Dexter Avenue church when his telephone rang. It was E.D. Nixon, a plainspoken Pullman sleeping-car porter and a leader in the Mongomery NAACP. "We got it," he cried. "We got our case!" He explained to King about Parks' arrest and said that this was what they were looking for: an incident that could be used to mount a legal challenge to Montgomery's segregation laws.

Rosa's decision to not stand up was, by all accounts that I've seen an impulsive one. What was notable about it was that it was at a time when leaders of the community were looking for an incident to rally around, and they chose her arrest. It was a synergy of need and opportunity.

This is not to say, however, that she was a country bumpkin who didn't know what she was getting into when she "quietly but firmly said 'No.'". She was an active and respected member of the NAACP who would do things like take the stairs rather than ride a 'blacks only' elevator. So when she stayed seated because her feet were tired, she wasn't just thinking of the next 60 seconds, or even the next 60 days. She looked years into the future and decided to take a stand for her feet by staying seated. The rest, as they say, became history.

Dmitry's case may end up being the spark for a similar historic synergy, or it may turn out to be a flash in the pan. We shal see where it goes.
--

Re:I wonder how DMitry feels

[Pinball Wizard]

Rosa Parks just wanted to rest her feet

Not quite. Rosa Parks was selected by the NAACP to challenge the segregation laws that existed at the time. Her "sit-in" was a planned protest and she was specifically chosen because she was a nice church-going older lady(read: not an angry young male) who was in good standing in her community.

The anti-DMCA movement could use a Rosa Parks! Imagine the reaction if we could find a nice, sweet older (American, church-going, etc) lady who was willing to be imprisoned because she circumvented copy protection. Instead we have a Russian Hacker. A double negative connotation.

Intelligence: Finding an error in a Knuth text.

Re:I wonder how DMitry feels

[hillct]

It's disappointing that he has not been given a bail hearing (as far as I know)but Dmitry is in a position to change American law - which is probably of little interest to him other than it's what got him whrown in jail - but also to change the way laws are executed across borders. The FBI strategy of luring targets into the United States to prosecute them is distainful and will probably be put to great scrutiny as a result of this arrest.

As for being a civil rights hero, who would want to be that. Given the alternatives, come on, I'm sure he'd rather live his life without this whole experience; but experience, but if it wasn't Skylarov it would be someone else.

What makes him a hero? well, I think Emerson put it best: "A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer."

Dmitry was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but he is providing a service to all of us by standing for our rights - the rights of people in a foreign country (to him), and for that we must be thankful and do whatever we can to help minimize his incarceration.

We rely too heavily on organizations like EPIC and the EFF to do our work for us and we should be ashamed of that. We need to take responsibility for the laws under which we live and properlyinstruct lawmakers with regard to issues like information provacy, copyright, and Intelectual property in a digital age, such that errors that result in such injustices as this aren't allowed to take place in the future.

--CTH

Re:He's guilty

[Simon Brooke]

Let's remember something: we may not agree with the DMCA, but it's the law. It's the prosecution's job to bring law breakers in front of the court. It's exclusively the job of the court to interpret the laws and also to determine if they are unconstitutional.

Hang on, there, guy. Sklyarov was an employee of a company (and, incidentally, the principal of the company was in the US at the same time he was). Prima Facie, the company may have broken US law - but they broke it in Russia, where it wasn't illegal. Sklyarov did not sell or distribute the software he's alleged to have co-written anywhere - the company that employed him did. And he wrote it, not as a private individual, but as an agent of a company under the direction of that company. So whether the company is guilty or not, Sklyarov does not personally have any case to answer - and how you prosecute a Russian company for doing in Russia something which is legal in Russia I don't know.

Does anyone have a surface mail address for Dmitry

[Simon Brooke]

One very concrete way we could show support for Dmitry is to send him postcards. This is a technique used by Amnesty International to show support for political prisoners. There are something like half a million registered Slashdot users, and if half a million postcards from all over the world landed up at San Whatever-it-is Penitentiary next week it would get noticed.

So: anyone got the surface mail address of the place he's in, and how you write to a prisoner there?

Re:American programmers in Russia

[jyuter]

If an American were to be held in another country, you'd also have massive media attention and public outcry. Remember the whole caning thing a few years ago? People were upset that Singapore used it's legal system, which allows for caning (as I recall it was an act of vandilism), on an American (name escapes me) and people here went nuts.

In order for this to have a similar effect, you would need the Russian people, if not all of Europe to make this an issue. Then, maybe you'd have enough international pressure on the US to do something.

mirror and more city links.

[cananian]

A mirror of freesklyarov is at http://osiris.978.org/~brianr/mirrors/freesklyarov .org.

Direct links to boston, LA, and seattle information are at boston.freesklyarov.org, la.freesklyarov.org, and seattle.freesklyarov.orb.

Protests are also scheduled in NY and LA. There's interest in the UK as well, see ntk.net for more details.

Re:mirror and more city links.

[cananian]

Actually, http://boston.freesklyarov.org/mirror/freesklyarov .org is more up-to-date. Use that mirror instead.

Re:American programmers in Russia

[aidoneus]

Ever hear of this guy? Edmond Pope is a US Citizen (I'm a friend of his daughter) who was held in Russia for a year, convicted of spying for purchasing plans that have been publically available for almost 10 years. There was almost no outrage here in the US, except here in his hometown of State College, PA. President Clinton even refuse to meet with his wife, for fear of damaging US-Russian relations. even though he was extremely ill (leukemia), Russian doctors refused to allow his doctor to see him, and there was no international outcry over his treatment.

And you think it wouldn't happen to an American? My thoughts are with Sklyarov, and I plan on continuing to write to my legislators and spreading word of his abuse under a law that has no place in this country.

( for the wary, the link is to http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/columnists/tm oran/tm33.htm)

Russian Government?

[Fyndlorn]

What is thier position about the situation? I havn't heard anything about this yet, and was wondering if they had made any statements either affirming or condemning the arrest.

Adobe wins

[Bill Daras]

- Adobe goes after Sklyarov, gets criminal charges filed against him and makes an example out of the guy for their benefit.

- There is a public outcry and protests. Adobe sees this as a direct threat to their corprate image and as a direct result....their sales.

- Adobe meets with EFF, and drops their support for the case, post-indictment.

- It is a PR victory for Adobe, they say they made a mistake, and their critics back down, the protests stop and Adobe looks like a good company that made a bad mistake and is owning up to it.

- Since this is a criminal case, not a civil one, Adobe cannot drop the charges against Sklyarov. The prosecution continues, Adobe looks like an innocent bystander in the whole matter and one of the "good guys" or at least no longer the enemy. With their corprate image restored, it's a win-win situation for them. Sklyarov goes on trial to be made an example of, and no one is viewing them as the "big bad corporation" anymore.

It was a cunning, calculated move, and I wonder how long it will take people to realize this. Everything Adobe wanted has been accomplished. They win. Sklyarov and everyone else loses.

Re:Adobe wins

[smack_attack]

Uhh, that's all nice a sugar frosted feeling, except you left out a minor point... Adobe still looks like pricks, what's worse, they look like they don't have a backbone either: by hiding behind a PR front that is pumping out their newfound support and aologies to Sklyarov.

In all seriousness, the fact that this case is actually going to be proscecuted mya very well make many of these coporations quite nervous... it gives the DMCA a chance to be taken into court on the grounds of being unconstitutional. Although the case would drag on for quite some time, it may lend some momentum to having this Act repealed.

Then again...

---

Re:Keep the pressure on Adobe!

[heikkile]

This is what I wrote to Adobe today:

It has come to my attention that you asked the FBI to arrest Dmitri Sklyarov on grounds of delivering a speech at an academic conference. You may now have retracted the original request for practical reasons, but you still seem to be supporting the laws that made such act possible. This I find to be morally and ethically wrong.

Therefore I state that I will not purchase a single Adobe product, and that I will advice all my customers, friends, and family to do likewise until all of the following have come to pass:

a) Dmitri Sklyarov is free, and has received a reasonable compensation for the time he has been imprisoned,

b) You have publicly denounced your support for the laws that made this farce possible,

c) You have taken some concrete and effective steps to free Sklyarov and to repel the unjust laws that were used for his imprisonment.

Yours sincerely etc

I hope some native speaker of American English will correct the inevitable typos and grammatical errors, and that others may find this a useful template for a letter. If not, post good reasons why, and come up with a better letter...

Disruptive actions

[Wintermancer]

Protesting? As in, standing around with a bunch of placards and signs? I thought that went out of fashion with the break-up of Sonny and Cher.

How...archaic.

Seriously, you want to make people sit up and take notice? Co-ordinate an "internet" black-out. Just change the routing tables on those pricy Cisco routers for a few days, particularly ones pointing to-and-from .gov domains. In fact, re-route it to the MPAA, RIAA and anyone else who has a stake in the DMCA.

That should get some media attention. To increase the likelyhood of media attention, just re-route all traffic from the NY Times, Washinton Post, CNN, ABC, and LMNOP Inc. That should make p = 1.0 of media exposure.

Week are geeks. Hear us roar. But expect some serious lagtime on that ping. And email? Talk to the hand....

Worried about being laid-off? It's happening to all propeller heads nowadays, so don't fret too much. There's plenty of company at the bottom.

chinese, russians, americans

[Rimbo]

I actually find it quite comforting. China arrests academics, and who comes to their aid? Americans, through diplomatic action and grass-roots outrage. A Russian gets arrested by a bad American law, and who comes to his aid? Americans, through a multitude of organizations (bug especially the EFF). Where is the Russian government in all this? Where were the Chinese protests of those arrests?

America has its bad laws just like any other place, but at least there are people who still give a damn. And as long as that's true, and as long as we aren't silenced, there's hope.

Here's to giving a damn.

Re:chinese, russians, americans

[Johnny5000]

You raise an interesting point, but we have to assume that

A- Russians and Chinese citizens know about this and arent doing anything about it. Knowing how the American media works, the rest of the world could be on fire and it wouldnt be reported in the US press. For all we know, they *do* care in Russia or China, or (whatever other country)

and

B- Russians and Chinese citizens know about this.
Maybe it hasnt been reported much in their media, since I dont have access to their newspapers, etc, I dont know.

-J5K

p.s. One of the reasons there wasnt much protest in China over the arrest of the academics could be that most people didnt know about it (if they had known, I couldnt tell you if they would protest or not, but...) The arrests were more for the benefit of upper level chinese govt officials than they were to drum up anti-US sentiment among the general population.

We need a protest in Las Vegas

[Frank T. Lofaro Jr.]

We need a protest here in Las Vegas. He was arrested here, for speaking at a security conference (DefCon) here, and is being held here. The FBI has a field office here in Las Vegas too.

Re:Welcome to the United States...

[gilroy]

If by "technically", you mean, as it applies to law and political acts, then, no. Treason is

the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance or to kill or personally injure the sovereign or the sovereign's family

There is an older sense which is closer to what you want:

the betrayal of a trust : TREACHERY

but that wouldn't be an actionable thing and you sure as heck wouldn't execute people for it. But beyond that, it can be argued (for it has been argued) that the people supporting the DMCA and the people incarcerating Sklyvarov are doing what they feel to be in the best interest of the nation. It just happens to coincide with their own best interest...

I guess what I'm saying is, don't throw around the justifiably serious charge of treason just because people disagree with you. Yes, the DMCA is a bad law. Yes, its passage was a classic snapshot of all that is ailing the legislative process in America these days. Yes, the reps and senators who wrote it, voted for it, and are still supporting it probably were swayed by the gobs of money thrown at them by the networks, the content providers, and the software issues. Yes, it sacrifices time-honored proctections of the public for the narrow self-interest of some corporations.

For these reason -- as well as the basic affront to the Constitution that it is -- the law is bad and should be amended, repealed, or overturned. For these reasons, its supporters are misguided at best and quite possibly cynically manipulative.

But they are not traitors. Do not so quickly cut people off from the body politic based on a difference of opinion. Do what we can do: Call your rep. Write your local TV station. Run for office.

Re:Isn't this covered by U.S. law?

[gilroy]

Nice quote. But the Declaration of Independence is not a "law" and has no force thereof.

The right way to fight this is on constitutional grounds, as the Constitution is a law... the supreme law of the land.

Die Hard 4

[derrickh]

If a US Citizen went to Russia to give a speech, and was then arrested on the say-so of a large russian corporation for violating a badly written law... what would happen?

I don't exactly know, but I'm 100% sure that Bruce Willis or Steven Segal would star in the movie version.

D
Mad Scientists with too much time on thier hands

Re:Die Hard 4

[zhensel]

Or if US academics were in China and then got arrested under a bad Chinese law... oh wait - that happened.

Re:He's guilty

[InsaneGeek]

I don't believe he was arrested because of writing the code or being in the company, etc. BUT he was arrested because he gave a talk on how to circumvent the encryption *while he was in the US*.

I believe the US government was more then willing to completely ignore the matter (happens all the time, getting a warning instead of a speeding ticket), but Adobe called up their lawyers and basically required the government to act on a law that's on the books (could you imagine the lawsuits over law enforcement refusing to enforce a law on the books). Once he was arrested a chain of events occurs (and from what I can tell he technically *did* break the law while in the US), which doesn't really give any shortcuts out; one pretty much has to follow the court process till the end. When one is arrested the government is commited to due process, which Adobe forced them to do.

Sklyarov from all accounts *did* break a law (whoops on him), it is a law full of loop holes that are being used for unintended purposes (shame on Clinton & congress), and Adobe is using the US government to run ruckshaw over a foreigner, and twist the law to things that the original drafter hadn't really intended it's use for (context wise)... shame shame on Adobe. Of course now Adobe wants to hide it under the run and act like they never meant for this to happen when it was them in the first place.

On a side note, I tend to agree with how the once you are arrested method currently works, other than it can be painfully slow; but once someone is arrested there is no turning back, so the arresting officer needs to make *damn* sure that something did occur, elsewise be expecting that "unlawful arrest" lawsuit to be coming over the fence. If they could just arrest and release people as they wish without any checks and ballances with no end trial, imagine the amount of abuse that would occur.

The heat should not leave Adobe's feet on this one, Adobe's fault should not be forgotten (and sadly it almost seems their PR dept has gotten if forgotten), since it is their fault that they twisted the law in this manner.

Where's the ACLU on this?

[Reality Master 101]

I'm not the biggest fan of the ACLU, but I am surprised that they haven't weighed in on this.

On the other hand, the cynical side of me is not surprised, saying, "of course they haven't weighed in -- they've been in the back pockets of big media for years".

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Re:Where's the ACLU on this?

[Reality Master 101]

Considering the ACLU is, oh, 1000 times larger than the EFF and considering the government actually cares what the ACLU thinks, I think they could be helpful.

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Re:Where's the ACLU on this?

[Reality Master 101]

In fact, I just used the ACLU's search page, and remarkably there is zero mention of Sklyarov, not even on their Cyber-Liberties page.

The silence is remarkable -- and deafening.

All you ACLU fans should take note of this.

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Laughable

[Prior Restraint]

From the Wired article:

"Nothing has changed since 1998 that would lead members of Congress to upset the careful balance that was struck," says Bob Holleyman, head of the Business Software Alliance.

What is this guy smoking? "Careful balance"? The whole problem with this law is that there's no balance at all! It's completely one-sided, giving copyright holders dictatorial power over consumers.

Guilty until proven Railroaded(er innocent)

[haplo21112]

This is exactly why, cases like his, and Felton's need to go to court, and need to have excellent lawers presenting them. The only way to get a bad law struck down is to go to court and prove its a bad law these days. Once Congress has pocketed the $$$ they are not gonna do a damn thing to reverse the assine law that they wrote, no matter how much we complain, and protest. Politicians don't listen to the people that elect them at all anymore. I write letter after letter to my congresspersons(as well as many others) I never get a reply so much as yes we got your letter. I know the govenment was setup is this representative system for a reason, it seems to me that if our reps are not voting in congress the way we the citizens feel, then there is something wrong with the system. The real fact is that our tiny voice is lost in the vast expanse, of those who don't know, don't care, are too stupid to care, or have to much cash with which to enforce thier opinion. I want campain finance reform that says Politician's must run on their own money and taking money/goods/services from anyone else is a Bribe pure and simple.

Legitimacy in the eyes of the public

[SigmoidCurve]

One of the major lessons of the civil rights movement, and the reason it succeeded when it did, is that it gained a critical mass of support among whites.

As long as the public sees this as "a bunch of hackers" or "hippie anarchists" running around demanding the release of foreign national accused of committing a felony, nobody will take it seriously.

What we need is to have some establishment companies themselves coming out publicly against this as an abuse of the law they lobbied to pass, in the same way that the civil rights movement only gained popularity when a significant number of whites stood up and said these Jim Crow laws were wrong. Adobe has already recanted on their desire to prosecute Dmitri, if they went one step further and condemned the FBI action as overstepping the DMCA, it would make more people sympathetic to the cause.

No, I don't know how to do this.

czep

You want a reality check?

[abe ferlman]

Here's a reality check for you. This guy is in JAIL. In a foreign country. He came here, as a graduate student, to give a talk at a conference, and he's been arrested and jailed and so far as we know unable to contact his family.

The reality check is that your distinction doesn't matter- the fact that they are aware of the situation and *have not yet dropped* the charges is sufficient cause for alarm.

Bryon

Keep the pressure on Adobe!

[DreamingReal]

Despite the fact that the US Government has now become the heavy in this debacle, everyone should remember who got the ball rolling: Adobe.

We need to keep the pressure on Adobe. We need to let them know that the boycott will continue. We need to let them know that they cannot pressure the FBI to press charges against someone and then back-off when they witness the PR fallout. Keep writing the letters. Keep sending the emails. Keep encouraging people to boycott this company!

If corporations do not understand that there will serious consequences to both their reputation and bottom-line when they pursue prosecution under the DMCA (regardless of how they feel the morning after!), then they will continue to do so under the flimsiest pretenses.

They want to make an example of Dmitry? Fine, then we'll make an example of Adobe.

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Re:what a terrible idea.

[DreamingReal]

I guess the problem is the toothpaste is out of the tube at this point. As one of the other replies to my post stated, Adobe may have gotten what they really wanted and now it's just damage control. My point is that any company can do this - pursue charges and then back off and say "Hey we made a mistake, mea culpa mea culpa" once the government takes it over. They have their cake and eat it too.

I'm not suggesting we punish companies out of vindictiveness - I'm suggesting that we make it clear to corporations that they need to choose their battles carefully. Corporations can ruin people's lives by following Adobe's example - and allowing them to do so in ambiguous cases like Dmitry's is something we cannot do.

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Re:surface mail address for Dmitry

[budgenator]

The site www.freesklyarov.org/status.location.html gave the present address as:

Dmitry Skylarov
North Las Vegas Dept. of Detention/Correction
2222 Constitution Way
North Las Vegas, NV 89030

note his name is miss-spelled in the jail database, and as a US Marshal inmate, he may be moved at any time.

American programmers in Russia

[BCGlorfindel]

I can't imagine the kind of outrage the American Congress would be expressing if an American programmer was being held in jail inside of Russia for a law which does not exist in America. I would think that the American politicians would at least recognize the horribly arrogant nature of something like this going on. Worse, what would Bush do if it were an American held by China? The DMCA pushing the agendas of Big Business is a small issue in my eyes when compared to the dangers this case presents on a more global level. America already has a bad enough rep. in most foreign nations, this only pushes it even further.

Write your congressman!

[pgpckt]

I got off my butt and wrote all three of my elected representative on Wednesday asking then to "repeal or amend" the DMCA. I highly recommend killing a tree and writing them a letter, as email is not treated as well in most circles. Send a letter to Washington instead of preaching to the choir...convince the people that can make the DMCA go away!

To find out who your Representative is, see: http://www.house.gov/writerep/

To find out who your two Senators are, see: http://www.senate.gov/senators/senator_by_state.cf m

Remember to be polite and clear but firm. Tell them why the DMCA is bad and how it upsets the balance between fair use and copyright holders. Make sure to spell and grammar check it (it won't be effective if it is full of grammatical errors) and make sure it is not inflammatory or threatening.

Lastly, donate a buck to the EFF. They are the ones that will help you speak louder then you can by yourself.

Do your civic duty. Stop complaining to all the people that can't help you (the /. crowd) and start complaining to the people that can (politicians).

This could be a good thing

[All Dead Homiez]

Though the Congress and the courts may be leery of overturning the DMCA because their pockets are lined with cash from large, moneyed interests, the Skylarov criminal trial leaves the door wide open for jury nullification. If the EFF provides a sufficiently good defense team, they will have no problem demonstrating the fascist nature of the DMCA to a competent jury. This could be their big chance to stop the oppression and corporate censorship dead in its tracks.

-all dead homiez

Re:Free Skylarov

[Dmitry Skylarov]

I know, it is so bad!! Even people on teh Slashdot and teh protest sites are is spelling Dmitry's name wrong! They probably have not even not been to RUSSIA!! Ha.

But that is not mattering great, teh important thing is to fight the fight to get me out of teh jail before I am anal sodomize!!

Thank.

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