Sklyarov Update

Seth Schoen writes: "Dmitry Sklyarov's arraignment has been rescheduled to Thursday, August 30. It's at the same location where it was originally supposed to take place this past Thursday. The arraignment is scheduled for 9:30am PT, Thursday, August 30. The hearing will be held with US Magistrate Judge Richard Seeborg presiding, in courtroom 4, 5th floor of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Branch, 280 South 1st Street, in San Jose, California." Schoen continues: "This week is also LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in San Francisco. Since many Sklyarov supporters are Linux users, there should be a lot of activity around the conference. Two events have been scheduled this week in San Francisco to take advantage of LinuxWorld:

Free Dmitry party and fundraiser, Wednesday, August 29, 7:30p to midnight, 201 Ritch Street, 2nd floor. (This is walking distance from Moscone Center, where LinuxWorld is being held.)

This party will feature speeches by Lawrence Lessig and Richard Stallman.

Free Dmitry protest march, Thursday, August 30 (same day as the arraignment), leaving Moscone Center at 11:30a, parade through the city to the Burton Federal Building in Civic Center.

Five other events that same day have so far been reported to the freesklyarov.org calendar: Boston, MA; Moscow, Russia; London, UK; Los Angeles, CA; Black Rock City, NV (at the Burning Man festival)."

Comments

Finally, some news from Russia

[sconeu]

Moscow, Russia

Why has Putin been silent on this? You think that there would be *SOME* sort of official/semi-official protest from the Russian government!

Re:Finally, some news from Russia

[Rimbo]

When this whole thing started, I remember thinking about this very thing...where is the outrage from the Russian government? The citizens of Russia probably don't have the same quality of information channels Westerners do, which is probably why it's taken this long for the first protests to be organized. But I seem to recall when a few Chinese-American and even Chinese nationals living in the USA were arrested for similar reasons in China, President Bush didn't hesitate to ship Colin Powell overseas to secure their release.

But then, seeing how our people have the freedom to learn and speak out against policies we disagree with, and seeing how our government works not just for citizens but for anyone who wants a piece of the pie to have our freedoms, I can't help but be thankful that I'm lucky enough to live here.

I just hope the DMCA is ditched soon enough that I won't end up changing my mind.

Re:Finally, some news from Russia

[Rimbo]

Yeah...I wonder what percentage of those folks are in because of the ill-advised "War on Drugs?"

Re:Finally, some news from Russia

[ehintz]

When this whole thing started, I remember thinking about this very thing...where is the outrage from the Russian government? The citizens of Russia probably don't have the same quality of information channels Westerners do, which is probably why it's taken this long for the first protests to be organized.

Uhmm, sorry to burst your bubble there, but this is at least the third protest in Moscow, with the first being waaay back on 25 July. Read about it, and all the others (and see pictures) here.

policies we disagree with, and seeing how our government works not just for citizens but for anyone who wants a piece of the pie to have our freedoms, I can't help but be thankful that I'm lucky enough to live here.

Our government works "not just for citizens"? I'm not quite sure I remember the last time our government worked for citizens (other than corporate ones), but it sure as hell was a long damn time ago. Perhaps that sentence would read better if you simply remove the word "just". Dima sure as hell doesn't feel like our government is giving him some of our "freedoms". Here's how I'd suggest rewriting that line: our government works not for citizens but for anyone who wants a piece of the pie, or to have our freedoms. Seems a lot closer to my reality now...

Re:Finally, some news from Russia

[Kierthos]

Very true. Headline News has a "Global Minute" where they barely gloss over stories taking place outside of the U.S. (well, unless it's Isrealis attacking Palestinians, or vice versa... that seems to make the main news segment all the time). And I know of several supposedly international organizations that are so U.S.-centric that it's not even funny.

But you also have to realize that for a lot of news agencies, this isn't what they consider news. It's an "evil hacker" being prosecuted. And since many of the news agencies are owned by companies that support the DMCA (AOL Time-Warner springs to mind), they don't want to report the fact that someone has been arrested for performing an act that is legal in Russia but illegal in the U.S.A.

Ironic that the U.S. has the totalitarian jack-booted thugs now and Russia is claiming for release of one of their citizens...

Kierthos

Re:What has Dmitry been up to?

[SuiteSisterMary]

Seems like he'd at least take a little bit of advantage in a forced stay in NorCal

I was illegally arrested and held in Northern California for breaking a stupid law and all I got was this lousy tee shirt.

is there a schedule of planned protest?

[Rev.LoveJoy]

Does anyone have a link to any planned picketing?

I am within driving distance of the court house and this is something I feel strongly enough about to take a day off work and make the 4 hour trip. It would be nice to coordinate my efforts with other like-minded individuals and present a unified front against this type of corporate harrasment against the rights of the individual.

Anyone with information, it would be appreciated.

Thank you,
-- RLJ

Re:is there a schedule of planned protest?

[FredGray]

Yes...have a look at sf.freesklyarov.org.

How are his wife and kids?

[Hobart]

Does anyone know how his wife and kids are holding up during this ordeal?

Is there a way that we can contribute monetarily to helping them through the hardship of not having Dmitry around?

Re:How are his wife and kids?

[Linux Freak]

I don't think the original poster was suggesting Russians can't take care of their own affairs, but that Skylarov was arrested unfairly under an American law and so it should perhaps be Americans who contribute financially as a means of retribution.

Re:How are his wife and kids?

[logicnazi]

That just BS money is all it takes. Fuck you can even higher protester to protest for you. Protesters w/o engough cash volounter their labor for the project but I doubt (given the relative power of lobby groups and protesters) that it is any more effective.

I wopuld therefore imagine his presence at the events is worth some amount of cash

Re:How are his wife and kids?

[logicnazi]

Ok sure sending $5 isn't enough...but maybe $50 or $100 is enough. My point was merely that people who actualy go out and protest themselves are not inherintly more effective than those who merely give paypal money. One donates their time directly the other donates their time via their job.

Re:How are his wife and kids?

[Stephen Samuel]

Yes. The 'right thing' is to make sure that he doesn't go to prison.. but in the meantime he, and his family are going through some probably high-stress times. I would expect that most of the people who would consider sending money to help out him and his family are people who have also been to / organized rallys and / or written letters to various people.

This is almost as bad as the people who say 'don't vote because there are better things you can do'.

My activism started with voting. It didn't end there. Similarly, I think that helping the person who has been personally affected by this DMCA bullsh*t is an appropriate thing to do. A more reasonable admonition would be simply to remind people that their activism shouldn't end there...

Encourage action. Don't discourage action that is different than your own preferred path.

Mailing List

[Foxxz]

Neale Pickett was heading the protests in seattle. he also has a mailing list setup over at woozle.org.

-foxxz

How long can the US DoJ go on?

[redelm]

Strange things happen under law, but since Adobe has withdrawn it's complaint, how long can the US Department of [in]Justice continue to persue the case? It's going to be real hard to convict Dmitry if Adobe says on the stand "No, of course Rot13 is not encryption. We mistakenly thought so at one time, but the computing community rather dramatically pointed out our error."

AFAIK, UK law allows prosecutions to proceed in the face of reluctant or hostile complaintants. US law is far more complaint dependant.

Re:How long can the US DoJ go on?

[RiffRafff]

"Strange things happen under law, but since Adobe has withdrawn it's complaint, how long can the US Department of [in]Justice continue to persue the case? It's going to be real hard to convict Dmitry if Adobe says on the stand "No, of course Rot13 is not encryption. We mistakenly thought so at one time, but the computing community rather dramatically pointed out our error."

"AFAIK, UK law allows prosecutions to proceed in the face of reluctant or hostile complaintants. US law is far more complaint dependant."

Not if the violation(!) is a felony (in the "federal law broken" aspect of the term). If a person is murdered, for instance, the gummint will still pursue the case even if the people most affected by the killing refuse to prosecute.

And I believe Adobe knew this, and realized full well that Dmitry would still be prosecuted after they "withdrew" their complaint.

Re:How long can the US DoJ go on?

[COAngler]

"Strange things happen under law, but since Adobe has withdrawn it's complaint, how long can the US Department of [in]Justice continue to persue the case? It's going to be real hard to convict Dmitry if Adobe says on the stand "No, of course Rot13 is not encryption.

Just as a point of clarification:

In the United States, in criminal matters, the plaintiff is The People(TM). NOT the individual victim. When I wrote someone a summons for vandalism a week or so ago, the form said The People of the City of XXXXXXX, by and for The People of the State of Colorado, vs Defendant.

It's not unheard of for a victim to decide he doesn't want a case pushed. In point of fact, it happens in about 80% of a certain category of violent crime in my area[1]. However, prosecutors are VERY STRONGLY discouraged from dismissing a case because of an uncooperative victim, because such a practice lends itself to tampering with victims or witnesses.

Imagine it: You commit a felony crime against someone. He calls the police. A report is taken and referred to the District Cartooney, who files a C&I [2] with the court charging you with the crime. You subsequently influence the victim, somehow, to decide that he doesn't want the case pushed. That's a BIG part of why charging decisions are not left to victims. What kind of influence made him drop the case? What kind of influence did the Mafia use for decades? Hint: Modern street gangs use it too, which is why you can have killings in broad daylight in public where "nobody saw anything."

In cases without mandatory charging laws,[3] a complaint can be dismissed by a prosecutor. It's called "discretion." It's, unfortunately, most obvious in sexual assault cases, as it's damn near impossible to make a case without a cooperative victim on the witness stand. Once the case is bound over for trial, the DA has no obligation to drop it, but no prosecutor is going to push an unwinnable case. Refusing to testify can be contempt of court, but the usual practice is to consider that certain classes of victims have suffered enough.

Getting back to the point: It's not Adobe's decision. It's the US Attorney's decision, for the US Cartooney in the district in which the charges were brought (Northern California?). Ina case like this, in which the victim's victimhood is unclear and the defendant's criminal purpose is doubtful, a prosecutor would probably be very receptive to such a suggestion by Adobe. However, the US Cartooney is the ONLY person with the power to dismiss the charges. (Or the judge, but he can only do it if there's no probable cause to believe Skylarov did the prohibited act. Given where the case stands, that means the judge has no power to dismiss the charges.)

[1] Domestic violence offenses. But those aren't news for nerds, and I guess they don't constitute stuff that matters to anyone but the victim, her kids, and the cops who have to rescue her ass every other month.

[2] Complaint and Information, the name of the document that's filed with a court to begin a felony criminal case. In my state, they're filed with the county court and beging with "The District Attorney in and for the Sixth Judicial District informs the court that..." which explains the odd name.

[3] In my state, Domestic Violence and restraining order violations. A peace officer who develops probable cause to believe someone committed either is legally REQUIRED to arrest that person and book him into jail. A prosecutor is FORBIDDEN to drop the charges unless he can satisfy the court that guilt cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. THis is because we let DV's go for so long without taking them seriously, and the price for that is being paid in a lot of blood and tears.

Legal Arguments, etc.

[Alien54]

While there will be many protesters, and this is very helpful, what is also needed is effective legal counsel.

I am sure that they will appreciate all of the legal help and donations that you can scrounge up.

On the other hand, if all of the attendents at the Expo were able to block the San Jose traffic for a few hours with their march, it might help with the publicity on a national scale.

maybe

- - -
Radio Free Nation
"If You have a Story, We have a Soap Box"
- - -

Growing awarenesss

[YIAAL]

Check out this oped by Linda Seebach. It's nothing folks here don't know, but it's put together clearly and beautifully for popular consumption. I think it's a sign that the general public is catching on to the dangerous idiocy of the DMCA.

Re:Growing awarenesss

[HongPong]

It was a pretty well-done article, easy for the layman to understand. Thing is, I read the Strib religiously, and this op-ed piece has not been in the regular opinion pages (though maybe it will in Monday's paper). Apparently if it has been published, it was buried in the Metro section. I hate when that happens. Fine piece though, and I (as well as a Michael Cox) said so in their feedback.

It took a while, but with this and a Washington Post article, finally some serious reporters are catching on to how the Skylarov case and the DMCA are ridiculous! (I am a happer Star Tribune subscriber now!)

Boston Rally

[jonathanjo]

We're rallying in Boston on Thursday the 30th, the day of the arraignment. The protest is happening in Copley Square in front of the Boston Public Library, at noon. We're hoping for our biggest turnout since the first protest right after Dmitry's arrest. For more information see boston.freesklyarov.org.

whatever happened to...

[nido]

the right to a speedy trial (6th Amendment)? "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, ..." It seems that it's been several months since Dmitry was first arrested, surely he has the right to be arraigned within less than a week. But then again, you only have rights if you know how to demand them, as a russian he wouldn't know the ins and outs of American jurisprudence (not to imply that more than a handful of Americans know how to successfully demand rights from freedom violators)..

Re:whatever happened to...

[mr_burns]

Actually, he's getting a much speedier trial than Kevin did. He DID get a bail hearing pretty soon after he arrived in San Jose...and he DID get one in Nevada. His arraingment is only a couple weeks after the bail hearing. So he's getting pretty speedy service as far as our judicial system is concerned.

The issue is that he should not be there in the first place. It doesn't help, distorting the events here. they speak for themselves:

He was doing something that restored fair use to humanity.

What he did is legal where he did it.

The law they're using against him is unconstitutional.

They are doing this very professionally and efficiently.

Making the DOJ look like a bunch of potentates doesn't work against the censoring parties as bad as being a very skilled and professional tool of illegal corporate oppression.

t-shirts

[HongPong]

Everyone who gets arrested or fined in connection with the DMCA deserves a free DeCSS t-shirt. Definitely.

Agreed to...

[Psarchasm]

CNN...

"Sklyarov is due to be arraigned Thursday, but both sides will ask a federal judge to postpone the hearing by a week, lead defense attorney Joseph Burton said Wednesday."

Now I'm not saying that the ENTIRE delay was agreed to by his lawyers - but we are talking about a landmark case here.

Life means life

[nick_davison]

In a recent press release, George W. announced:

"In America, bail means life! We will not stand for prisoners being released on bail, after serving only a short term, when it was always intended that they should serve life."

I don't know what's scarier, the notion that it's the kind of slip dubwuh could make, or the notion that it appears to be becoming true.

Not likely...

[Kasreyn]

...because along with the hundreds of peaceful protestors waving anti-DMCA signs and singing anti-DMCA filk, there will be 12 cretins throwing rocks at the police. The media will arrive, get the rock throwers and their gassing/arrest on tape, and then call it a day. Joe Schmoe in Albequerque will turn on the TV that day and "learn" that the protests in San Jose were another bunch of hundreds of brutal anarchists throwing stones at the police. What a shame, he'll think, and change the channel.

Publicity? Bah. Good luck.

-Kasreyn

Here's the line that scared me:

[Kasreyn]

"...In June Felten sued the recording industry, asking for immunity from prosecution, and in turn representatives of the industry said they never intended to sue Felten."

Reread this. He asked a group of corporations for "immunity from prosecution". Basically, they are treated like a government now. Think on this awhile: We seem to have two governments at the moment, one which is by the people and for the people, and one which is by the CEO's and for the CEO's. The latter seems to be devouring the former.

But what happens if we have a civil war...?

-Kasryn

Re:Here's the line that scared me:

[lizrd]

Reread this. He asked a group of corporations for "immunity from prosecution". Basically, they are treated like a government now.

Actually he sued the Department of Justice as well. He was actually asking the governemnt (you know, that thing that prints the money that the <scary voice>evil corporations(tm)</scary voice> use to manipulate the same), or more correctly John Ashcroft in his official capacity as Attourney General, for protection from prosecution under the DMCA.

Re:The real test case

[KjetilK]

Yep, and then continue to lobby for an explicit ban on lynx, wget, telnet etc... You know, in these troubled times, it is more likely that IE will not have File/Save As... and that lynx, wget and telnet will be banned than that the DMCA will be struck down.

here's what I was looking for...

[nido]

A quote from one of the handful of people who know how to demand their rights:

"BTW, when you are in custody, they have only 30 days to get you to trial, which they [prosecutors - krkrbt] CANNOT do due to incompetence. When you bail out ["bail out" = post bail - krkrbt], you lose some good strategies, plus you give them an additional 15 days (50% more time) to get you to trial. And when you waive your right to a speedy trial, it can go on for years. This is why a few nights in jail to get a good false arrest case can be worth it. You could have had them, according to already decided cases [wish I could find the case-law for these numbers.. email me some other time. -krkrbt]. You let the tiger's tail go. Good luck!! You might be able to grab it again. They [governmental prosecutors -krkrbt] are often incompetent, and unable to recognize your prior errors."

email me if you'd like to know more about the author of the quote (where it came from, etc).

Re:he's gonna get his ass raped and torn wide open

[jcr]

Thanks, officer. It's good to be reminded that the FBI is the same outfit that harassed Martin Luther King with death threats.

-jcr

If you go to the "Free Dmitry" party..

[jcr]

Just in case the JBT's try to hassle you, make sure you don't take any ID with you.

If the pigs raid the party and demand to know who you are, tell them that the USA is not yet a place where a citizen has to comply when a JBT demands his papers, and they can go fuck themselves.

Note: Make *sure* that you're not actually carrying a California driver's license with you, because there is a blatantly unconstitutional statute here that says that if a California cop asks you for the license, you do have to show it, even if you're not driving a vehicle. (The theory being that the license is a document which belongs to the state, not to you, even though you paid for it.)

Now, the chances are that there will be quite a few lawyers at the party, so the pigs probably won't have the nerve to try anything, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared. Take your camcorder and camera. In fact, if you can, take a news reporter with you.

-jcr

Re:If you go to the "Free Dmitry" party..

[Phillip2]

"Take your camcorder and camera."

Great idea. After all if it worked for Rodney King it can work for you too.

Phil

Honor action. Re:How are his wife and kids?

[Stephen Samuel]

(I guess I wasn't done).
Each person does what is appropriate to him or her. One person may give $100 to cover personal hardship. Another person may organize a demo. Someone else may have access to directly (or indirectly) lobby a Senator. Some other person may have the expertise to research for the defence.

NONE of those actions is bad. ALL of them are needed. Very few people are going to be able to do all of them. What each person does may be unique to his or her own circumstances.It may also be uniquely valuable to the process.

Giving money to Sklyarov may give him the financial breathing space that he needs to stay put and really fight this issue, rather than bowing to some plea bargain so that he can get back to a normal life. This is no less important than any of the other political work that is going on around this issue. If someone could arrange for his family to come out here, it might also make it easier for him to fight this issue powerfully.

I think that we should be thankful for anything that moves this issue forward, and then look to what's needed next.