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Sklyarov Case Exposes DMCA Contradictions
aePrime writes: "This article on the New York Times describes how the case against Dmitri Sklyarov is bringing up some contridictions within the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. One is allowed to bypass security measures to backup data, but one is not allowed to write the software to bypass the security. It mentions how this first case to be prosecuted under the law may indeed cause changes to the law." A lot of bad laws have stuck around for longer than the DMCA has yet, but the more this kind of analysis is seen, the sooner sanity can be restored.
The US seems to have a lot of double standards
Indeed. I don't know all of the details in the case, but there are some Americans in jail in China right now for violating Chinese law on China's turf... and the US Gov. is protesting it. It had a few headlines while protests were going on in the US over Sklyarov's arrest. I didn't bother reading the articles, mostly because I found the irony - and hipocrisy - so sickening.
I like to play children's songs in minor keys.
"We're all sons of bitches now." --J. Robert Oppenheimer
Fight Spammers!
If you're going to argue the case, at least get the facts straight - there was a criminal complaint against him before he came to the US (it's dated July 10th), and he was only arrested once the FBI found out that he was in Las Vegas (on July 17th).
He was arrested specifically because the copyright to the Advanced eBook Processor was assigned to him - leading the FBI to believe that he is the one responsible for it. He was also arrested because the software could be purchased in the United States and was purchased in the United States. This doesn't make the DMCA any more fair, but at least realize that he wasn't arrested for speech, but for trafficking in an illegal copyright-circumvention device.
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
For those of you who have been elsewhere for the past few months, you can check out the following page on the subject at the EFF. Another page has a link to the act, in PDF.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
Here's the pertinent FAQ over at EFF. It gives you links to a Paypal account set up for Dmitri as well as links to various mailing lists, web sites, et cetera.
It's always a long day... 86400 doesn't fit into a short.
http://archives.nytimes.com/2001/08/13/technology/ ebusiness/13NECO.html?0813inside
Can't article submitters please take the easy step of replacing www with archives? It works every time.
Lawrence Lessig is my personal hero.
as usual I will have pictures and info up from tonights rally ASAP. Also Dmitry is the topic of a KQED radio program at 9AM Featuring the EFF vs. AAP. I will put the streaming link up for the broadcast on my site! http://sjrally.n3.net> BJY
This is a red herring. If you want to back up your Adobe ebooks, you just copy them the old fashioned way. 'cp' would be fine. 'gnutar' would be just peachy. You can even restore them onto your PC and you're good to go.
Adobe *tells* users to back up their ebook data files before upgrading the reader. That would be rather silly, if it weren't possible.
The only problem is that Adobe makes it a pain in the ass to make your ebooks readable if you change PCs. No decryption software necessary.
By the way people talk, you'd think that Adobe ebook files *can't* be copied, *can't* be backed up, and *can't* be made to work on another computer without some cracking software. This is not the case.
We need to have as many technical and scientific minds work with the lawyers of the EFF all through this case. This being the first case testing this abomination of a law, we need to make sure that it is rightly patched and/or overturned. We don't want to fall for a 'quick fix' that seems to be better, when in the long run the law still favors the wrong side. Make sure the lawyers know what to get fixed and how to fix them properly for the benefit of everyone.
I'm sure the media cartels are grinding their gears to find the right obfuscated solution that may satisfy people now, yet still retain the draconian measures currently in place. Just getting his release is not enough, the law must be made right.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
While sitting in your warm bedroom or at your cool office saying how great it was that he was arrested so that the law can be challenged in court, Dmitri is most likely sitting in a one room cell with little but a cot, metal toilet, and TV down the hall. His family is most likely sick with worry since they realize that there is little to nothing that they can do. Any time an American (born or recent addition) is imprisoned for a crime in some foreign, there is often a public (US) outcry. In the Spring of 1994, an 18-year-old Michael Fay, was caned in Singapore for spray painting cars. Many in the United States expressed outrage at the primitive brutality of the punishment. Even President Clinton expressed his dismay and criticized the punishment as cruel and close to barbarism and torture. I really doubt Dmitri is glad to play a small part at the legal challenge of the DMCA. If you were in that position, your lawyer would most likely suggest (and you would accept) that if you can be quietly get let off with time served and a small fine that you accept it. If my lawyer were to suggest, 'we're going to fight this until your bitter end', then I'll be asking for new representation. Poor Dmitri is being used as a pawn by both sides. Corporate America is using him to scare the programming community into submission (i.e. you're next) and the community is using him to strike down a law.
Cave, wreck, and deep diver.
http://www.ccusa.net/tp/
Rolls of 1000. Run wild, capitalism.
Woot w00t w007.
Nobody seemed interested in explaining just why someone who has had US Intelligence Russian language and interragation training happened to coincidentally win a scholarship to Russia.
None of that training is particularly unusual. If the military trains you as a linguist, there are really only three jobs you'll end up in as an enlisted schmoe: 98G-Voice Intercept Operator, 98C-Intelligence Analyst, and 97E-Interrogator. I myself was trained as a Russian linguist by the US Army. I initially was going to be an "interrogator", but that job title is quite misleading. A military "interrogator" is actually little more than a translator with some extra training in interviewing people. Interrogation only happens if POWs are captured in wartime. I chose to become an "analyst", which is far more spy-like but still not really noteworthy. Most people in Military Intelligence don't go on to become CIA agents. Most of us decided that the military is a crock and left after our enlistments were up. I don't find it at all surprising that this guy decided to pursue the one interesting/useful thing the military taught him (the Russian language) and earned a scholarship to go to a country where he could expand that knowledge.
In short, don't assume that just because someone was once in the military that they are forever a slavish toady of the US intelligence machine bent on spying for their country to thwart the "red menace".
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
Arrest her! She is a hacker-theif!!
Actually, you don't. If a jury votes "not guilty" in a case, the law is still on the books, and still enforceable. All the jury decides, in a criminal case, is guilty or not guilty. Wether or not the law is constitutional is decided in the appellate courts.
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The part most people have a problem with is Title 17, section 1201. That's the section that contains the circumvention and reverse engineering verbiage. Also take a look at section 1204. That's where the criminal provisions are.
I like to play children's songs in minor keys.
"We're all sons of bitches now." --J. Robert Oppenheimer
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach