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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.
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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.
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.
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This is my SIG. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
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".
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.)
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.
War is necrophilia.
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.
Best Slashdot Co
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.
I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
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?
I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
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.
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.
m oran/tm33.htm)
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/t
If I could only live my life with my threshold at 4...
- 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.
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.
.gov domains. In fact, re-route it to the MPAA, RIAA and anyone else who has a stake in the DMCA.
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
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.
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.
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.
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
The right way to fight this is on constitutional grounds, as the Constitution is a law... the supreme law of the land.
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
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
The first, last, and only tech news site on the net
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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Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
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.
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
Dictionaries are for loosers.
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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We want some answers and all that we get
Some kind of shit about a terrorist threat
- Ministry
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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We want some answers and all that we get
Some kind of shit about a terrorist threat
- Ministry
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
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.
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!
f m
/. crowd) and start complaining to the people that can (politicians).
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.c
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
Lawrence Lessig is my personal hero.
-all dead homiez