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Felten Will Present SDMI Research At USENIX

Posted by timothy on from the cat-out-of-bag-alive-or-dead dept.

iamblades writes: "Edward Felten is scheduled to present his research papers on SDMI on Wednesday at the annual USENIX security conference. Apparently the RIAA backed off their harrassment, which makes sense, as SDMI is almost completely dead already." And a Semi-Anonymous Coward writes: "Despite the RIAA's attempts to silence the Princeton Professor and his students, USENIX will broadcast the SDMI Crack Live via the web. The broadcast will be available for the world here along with a discussion concerning your Freedom."

3 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. Re:How does this affect the pending case? by Jim+Tyre · · Score: 5, Interesting
    So, how does this affect the lawsuit?

    The lawsuit proceeds. Somewhat by coincidence, our latest set of court papers were finished today, look for them on EFF's site later today or tomorrow.

    -J, one of the Felten team lawyers

  2. How does this differ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    From what our Russian friend did? Or is equal protection under the law also now a selective option...either Felton should be arrested or Skylarov should be freed. Actually this might help Skylarov in some respects as an end game, in case of a worst case scenario, by providing another option for appeal. Selective prosecution is a basis for appeal.

    1. Re:How does this differ... by analog_line · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Since when was "equal protection" a law of physics. This isn't conservation of energy we're talking about here. Laws are always, have always, and will always be selectively enforced based on the political agendas of those with the power to enforce them.

      Felton is a professor at one of the most distinguished universities in the country. Skylarov is a "Russian hacker". Which do you think would be arrested 9 out of 10 times? It's disgusting. It shows the true colors of the society once again. Everything in our powre should be done to see that something's done to change it and get Dimitri back to his family as soon as possible. However, it's not surprising in the least that the distinction was made. "Equal protection" also doesn't necessarly apply to non-citizens, which leaves Dimitri out in the cold.

      This whole situation ought to be a lesson to security researchers outside the US. The US government as it stands will arrest you because they don't like you. I'd recommend you don't attend any conventions or other meetings in the US, because if you've done anything close to what Dimitri did, you run the serious and real risk of being arrested until we natives can find some way to get the law changed to something sane.