Slashdot Mirror
U.S. To Drop Charges Against Sklyarov
Schmerd writes: "The New York Times has a story saying that charges will be dropped against Dmitry Sklyarov in exchange for his testimony against his employer ElcomSoft." Si adds: "It looks like Dmitri might be home for Christmas. This is not the end of the trial, but it appears Dmitri has been freed, pending certain stipulations." jij adds this breaking news article on the Associated Press wire as well. (The AP story is also at Wired). Update: 12/13 22:23 GMT by T : sam@caveman.org links to a slightly more in-depth AP report at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
I thought he was out by now. No one seemed to have been shouting about freeing Skylarov for the past couple months, after all.
Flame me if you must, but following Sept. 11, Dmitry's "crimes" don't seem quite as heinous as previously depicted.
I knew this would happen. You know why? Cause it was stupid. And usually when stupid things happen, someone made a mistake. Mistakes usually get corrected, just like this one. Sure it probably sucked being in jail for months, but look around where you are, is it really that much worse than what you see?
I mean, this is great for Dimitry, but it seemed like a perfect case to test the DMCA against the First Amendment.
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
Is this really a positive step? Wouldn't it have been better to have the law struck down in court as unconstitutional?
Of course, it's definitely better for Dmitry.
Twoflower
--
Twoflower
Isn't he part owner of the company he works for?
So he'd be going free in exchange for testemony against himself???
I like you, Stuart. You're not like everyone else, here, at Slashdot.
So, all he has to do is sacrifice is livelihood by ratting out his employer? When is are the Miranda Rights going to be officially changed to "Your money or your life."
Takahashi Rumiko made beats! DON, taku, DON, taku. . .
So his employer goes and stands by him throughout the entire ordeal...
And this is how he repays them?
Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. He should refuse, and stay in jail until they work out something fair like dropping all charges against him and his employer.
Anything less and he's a weak-hearted coward.
Dragging people kicking and screaming into reality since 1996.
It looks like Dmitri might be home for Christmas
Does he celebrate Christmas?
I'm not trying to be a smartass, honestly....
Karma: T-rexcellent.
If I've read the articles correctly, Dmitri does not have to testify against ElcomSoft. He just has to testify, whether for or against, it doesn't make a difference.
One has to wonder if this was their plan all along.
Shop smart, Shop S-Mart.
In today's agreement, Dmitry will be required to testify for the government and ElcomSoft expects him to testify for their case as well. The story Dmitry has to tell is exactly the same regardless of which side calls him to testify. Dmitry's story has not changed since that day in July, when the FBI arrested him in Las Vegas, and he is quite happy to tell his story again and again, if need be.
- from the planetpdf article
To say that he is going to testify "against" his employer seems to be a bit much. The various articles say that he will testify and that it is unsure which side will call him first.
[waldo@tux]$ whois freesklyarov.org
AgentZero Technologies
955 Massachusetts Ave #130
Cambridge, MA 02139
US
Domain Name: FREESKLYAROV.ORG
Record last updated on 13-Dec-2001.
Record expires on 18-Jul-2002.
[waldo@tux]$ whois freedsklyarov.org
No match for domain "FREEDSKLYAROV.ORG".
Hmm...
-Waldo Jaquith
One sentense: Congratulations to all the people that beleived in teamwork, online community and and people that pursued this issue until the end without letting their hopes up; this is a nice step.
--- Metamoderating abusive downgraders since my 300th post.
The Times carried the AP wire. Wired carried the AP wire. You also linked to the AP directly. Don't the editors read before they publish? They're all the same!
If you look at the facts this is a good deal for everyone.
Dmitri gets to go home.
He gets to testify about writing a legal program in Russia.
The DMCA test case becomes US vs ElcomSoft.
Unfortunately, I doubt the chilling effect on presenting scientific/research papers will get explored. Although he would be able to persue a judgement like Felton went for and not get it thrown out like his was.
-Jerry
The DMCA still will be tried, and may or may not withstand judgement. However, no single person is getting the shaft from the long arm of the law which will help make this much easier on everyone involved on the defensive end.
...
Let him testify, my guess is his testimonial will serve ElcomSoft better in defense.
... So, if he weighs the same as a duck
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
So the government still thinks they're in the right, they're just turning the targets against each other.
This is NOT a step in the right direction.
I for one am happy to know he is free to be seeing his wife and children; I know if I were kept a long time from my soon-to-be-husband Yves for a great part of a year, I would do anything to see him again, and I think you would too.
Sincerely yours,
Chloë
had better be willing to go to jail for his beliefs, in Russia, for an indefinite amount of time. Because otherwise, stfu.
I don't know what this whole thing is about. Could someone give me a rundown of this case so far? Who is Dimitri Skylarov? What did he do? Why are we all supporting him? In explanation, please include : OBJECTIVE or SUBJECTIVE.
Everything is mainstream now.
The article states Dmitry lives in San Mateo with his wife and 2 kids. Did that change since the trial and he decided that he really did like the good ol' USA?
/. reviewing of facts was bad.. geez.
At least they put on that Defcon was about hacking, you wouldn't want people to actually know it is a security conference that a lot of legitimate people speak and learn at.
I thought
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
The fact that it was a good test case is probably amoung the foremost of the reasons it was dropped.
Say what you will about evil crackers and hackers who restlessly violate people's property. Dmitry was obviously not one of these people. He wrote a tool to do something that is still quite legal in Russia, and is considered to be quite a scholar and expert by many. Any competent lawyer would have been able to present him as such. He would have a huge chance of getting
The U.S. has zero chance to uphold the DMCA unless they get precident behind it that come from using it to prosecute someone who they can present as having evil purposes... such as any of the alleged DoD crackers arrested this week.
As long as the people who get involved in lawsuits are fairly upstanding individuals, they can't afford to prosecute. Once they come across someone who would probably be sent up the river even without the DMCA, then they'll prosecute.
Just watch...
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
I doubt that the DMCA will ever be tested in the US Supreme Court, especially in a criminal case. The corporations who put the law in place won't risk lost profits by letting the DMCA be test against the Constitution at the highest level. They will continue to beat people (and small companies) with it, then they will either get the case dropped or thrown out.
There is something severely wrong with the check and balances system of the US Gov't. Laws don't have to be constitutional to be passed. Corporations (or AG Ashcroft) just have to keep the nconstituional laws from being tested all the way up to the SC. What we really need is a judiciary review of new laws (before they go into effect) which pits them against the constitution.
-JungleBoy
"You never know when some crazed rodent with cold feet might be running loose in your pants."
-Calvin
Oh how nice of them to not charge him if he sells out. But they shouldn't have arrested him in the first place.
In the future does every foreigner need to consult a lawyer before travelling to the U.S.? Since anybody might be arrested there for crimes which might not even be illegal in his country and might not even be committed in the U.S.?
Is U.S. law now world law? Many questions about this case remain unanswered. The only thing I know is that I will now no longer be able to travel to the United States without being a little bit frightened that just by being an Open Source Programmer and only abiding to my own country's law might bring me an arrest warrant and imprisonment in the U.S.
Jeff
"...Joe Burton, lead attorney for ElcomSoft, reacted to today's outcome saying "I want to make a statement on behalf of ElcomSoft, my client -- Both my client and I have, since the beginning of this case, maintained Dmitry's innocence on any and all criminal activity. From day-one of the arrest ElcomSoft has been willing to have the Government proceed against them and NOT Dmitry. Burton further states "you may remember that ElcomSoft offered to take Dmitry's place and substitute the company as the sole defendant in this case -- The company knows that neither Dmitry nor they committed any criminal acts and believes that in the end, they will be found innocent of any and all charges the U.S. Government is bringing against them as well...."
you know, this guy has a real class act employer.
"the best safety of the frontier...will be secured by total annihilation of the few remaining indians" L Frank Baum 1890
It makes you wonder...
Go Lakers!
Free at last.
We can make whatever political statement we like about the American laws he may or may not have broken.
But I'm pretty sure he's going to be happy to go home to Russia and see his wife and children.
You know, Russia. Where he's safe from government persecution.
Well, now he can go back to Russia and pick up on his day job again, which is developing that program his company sells for harvesting email addresses from online forums for spammers to use.
Yep. That's where he gets his money. By selling his skillz to the spammers. They'd never be as effective at harvesting email addresses as they are without the closed source product his company will sell them.
Now that he's out of jail can we get back to hating him for being the spam-enabling fuck that he is? Can we? Please?
...he is going to be turning state's witness on his employer. I don't see how this is a victory for anyone but the state. Last time I checked the quality of living in a US prison was roughly on par with a middle class existence in the former Soviet Union. Three squares and a cot is a lot more than many russians can claim to have. I think if were him I'd give "the man" the finger and go back to my cell. Besides, what possible impact would a convicion in this country have were he to actually go back home? Would anyone there pay it any heed?
Lee
Muslim community leaders warn of backlash from tomorrow morning's terrorist attack.
I think I know what clearance t-shirt he'll be putting on his ThinkGeek wishlist.
...a la the Damian Conway purchase. Anyone in the right place to set up a little "hey, sorry our country hassled you, here's something for your trouble" fund? Or am I just being naieve thinking, well, among other things, that I can spell naieve?
Liberty uber alles.
Again a successful strike against the habit of the US to extend their legislation to other countries.
This must be stopped because if the US do this China and Iran will do it, too. And women might be arrested on tourist trips in the middle east for having a homepage which shows pictures of them to other men or even show them without their head covered with a sack.
From the legal point there is no difference between the laws in Iran/China and the US, if US laws hold on all the internet, then China's/Iran's does it, too.
Owner of a Mensa membership card.
What does it matter if he testifies against his company? The US can't do a darn thing to them since they aren't in this country. Look at the DeBeers monopoly. Diamonds aren't rare at all, but DeBeers made some strategic agreements with countries to keep most of the supply locked up. Now the DeBeers executives will be arrested if they ever enter this country. That judgement hasn't done a darn thing. DeBeers still operates and so will ElmComsoft(SP?). I think it's just the justice department's way of saying, "Yeah, it's a stupid law, but we'd look stupid if we just let you go, so we're going to ask you to do something stupid so we can save face."
*Condense fact from the vapor of nuance*
flamity flame-flame! OH, sorry ... you're quite right, i agree ... just got excited about someone asking to be flamed ...
He should be able to sue for something. Damned if I can think what, though.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
What does the infamous-uber-cyberjournalist-
wannabe Jon Katz think about this?
People DON'T want to know.
Thank you and have an Afghan opium-filled day.
So mr ? typed in 'killall X' at the konsole and then his desktop disapered! the lovley KDE with all its lovley icons, eyecandy to the max with the ease of windows had died, and he faced a horible fate!
[mr?@tuxbox /home/mr?]
He was powerless to stop it, how could something so terrible happen? No body really knows, but the X window enviroment can be kicked in to oblivion so easily. Luckily he remembered that legendary 'startx' command. Beware the K of the KDE! Be more careful mr ?!
After living in jail with criminals for few months? Now he is robably thinking of revenge!
damn, he should have gotten capital punishment for doing evil things to adobe
I don't live in CA and couldn't get there anyway but why don't all the people who protested for him through a party in his honor before he goes home. Show him that not all Americans are jackasses and celebrate his freedom at the same time. Obviously he'd rather go home to his wife and kids but the party could easily be before he is allowed to leave California, it would at least lighten up the time before he gets to go home.
"A witty saying proves nothing." - Voltaire
This story probably wont generate a slashdotting, in some part because of the number of different sites linked to.
But somebody always has to complain about something then, dont they.
for some reason, the wired print version has more info, including this bit:
i have to say, i'm very impressed with ElComSoft's generally enlightened attitude.wouldn't it be ironic if a russian company played a role in freeing america from an unjust law?
This is the voice of World Control. I bring you Peace.
I'm relieved to know that he is going to be the set free. I've been very vocal about this at my school ever since it happend. This has been a global embarrassment for our country and our system of laws.
But the DMCA needs to be defeated by an amendment, not by the court system. If the DMCA were found to be flawed by the courts, all they would do (I believe) would be to change it just a little just for the particularities of that case. We need to keep pushing our congressmen to do away with this horrible law once and for all.
Footnote - I'm just repeating what I heard Isaac say once on Off the Hook. So credits to go him.
Charging a buisness based in another country with a crime. so what? Even if the US wins what will they do? Send in hit squads to take the companies president hostage or what? Granted its good for us since it still wil hopefully let us challenge the DMCA but the US attornery must be a moron. Its a lose lose situation for him.
Either he loses the case or he wins and it accomplishes nothing.
Anyone know what they could do to a company that is based overseas besides trying (and I stress trying) to stop letting them do buisness in the USA?
I hope he has something to sue those f-ckers on. If they did that to me, and I found out that there was nothing I could do back, I would be so pissed off that I would go hi-jack an airliner and crash it into the court.. or congress.. or maybe the whitehouse. The bloody american government does this sort of thing to foreigners and then has the cheek to wonder why people bomb them.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
It's called the first amendment. Free speech in Perl should be as protected as free speech in French. Can anyone honestly say, "It should be legal to tell someone how to make a pipe bomb but not how to decrypt a DVD" with a straight face?
So, Dmitri is forced to testify against his employer. How is this any better? It's Adobe that should be getting the slap on the wrist. Since when is ROT13 a decent crypto algorithm? They should use something better like TwoFish or something. Please, my old Boy's Life magazines had better crypto algorithms from time to time!
A minor victory against faceless corporations at least.
Magius_AR
I would be first in line to purchase it.
"There ought to be limits to freedom"
This farce, was ill conceived. The program was written in Russia. It was not against the law there, but US douchebags thought they would make a "statement". How pathetic are US anyway? Back-ups of software for archival purposes have been legal for years. Was everyone asleep at the wheel on this one? Shit, I am embarrassed at being an American. "Slick Happens"
Kevin Mitnick should be a free man. I know someone who is going to buy their freedom for $13 and it has to do with the US vs. USA freedom/citizenship conspiracy knowledge. Kevin won't be able to buy his freedom unless he knows the right people... And I know the right people...
I am afraid my english is not so good, and unfortunately my poor phrasing is often causing silly double entendres. Please forgive me! :-)
Sincerely yours,
Chloë
Are they legally allowed to wait until someone breaks the DMCA "a lot" ??
I know.. I know.. legal questions and slashdot shouldn't mix, but I'm curious
for a trial of the DMCA itself. I for one have been anxious to see a DMCA dispute go all the way to the Supreme Court, but I guess the DMCA lobyists and backers aren't as anxious to test their legal grounding.
If anyone is interested in exactly what this program is and what it does. Here is the trial version produced by ElcomSoft. They had to strip it from their site. But here is the URL for the download. I would suggest version 2.2. Version 2.2 decrypts %25 of the e-book. The full version was originally sold for $99.
It will be interesting to see if anyone will hack this version and make it able to decrypt %100 of the E-Book.
http://diddl.firehead.org/censor/adobe_ebook/
--------------------------
Is this a sig?
--------------------------
How is this selling out, and why would it be a bad thing? His duty to his employer doesn't extend to concealing any illegal activities the employer may have committed.
He was out of jail, but not out of the proverbial frying pan. He couldn't leave, and he could still have been convicted and stuck in jail later.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
But at least he isn't in jail. Since Adobe feels that the original charges against him were unjust, and they put him in this bad spot, shouldn't they be paying his legal fees? Perhaps more importantly, the DMCA, while never "enforced" is still used to SLAPP . My bet is this case won't go to trial (much like Felten's case) because the prosecution is better off leaving a law that is likely to be overturned under vigorous prosecution on the books, and the publishers and entertainment industry are better served by having a SLAPP device even if it is unlikely to lead to conviction. The way I see it we are all still losing until this law is overturned.
For more on this article, click here:/ ryder.arrest/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2001/SHOWBIZ/News/12/13
Take that, Big Business and Big Government.
The US gov is being too soft... spies should be kept locked up forever!
Score: Communist conspiracy: 1, US:0
Dmitry goes home (deserved) but has to give testimony of hiy employer. The case is not dismissed, will go against Elkomsoft. The US Justice will find or construct enough evidence to win the case. It offers Elkomsoft to drop charged in exchange for know-how and services in terms of password cracking and deciphering systems. If they don't they shatter the company.
Might just happen. Maybe not. Who knows, but it sure is a scary thought.
+++ath0
Preemptive First STFU, Katz post![*]
*moderators: STFU Katz is always ontopic!!!
I was at Defcon this last year, though I did not go to Dmitry's lecture. It seems like ages since I've been there (Vegas was hotter than a blast furnace and I doubt I'll go back) and I just can't imagine what it must have been like for him to be here all those months. Good luck Dmitry!
Shut the fuck up bitch. I don't see you hosting DeCSS and ElcomSoft's software the turning yourself in to the Feds so you can be a martyr for the cause so why the fuck should he?
This is fantastic news for Sklyarov, personaly. And I for one am glad to see this played out on the more traditional copyright battlefeilds... between companies without worrying about anyone going to jail. Not to mention against people in another country as well. So unless Russia agrees to extradite these people not to much can happen to them, other then having their US (and possibly other WIPO nations) frozen.
But ultimately, this is still a loss for our freedoms and everything. Adobe had to consider the public outcry in the computer world. The Hollywood conglomerates won't. The US DOJ still proved that they're willing to go out and do 'the real thing' against individual programmers. And there was no legal victory for the EEF or any of the anti-DMCA people (not that I think Sklyarov should have martyred himself). Hopefully we'll be able to get the thing overturned, but it's going to be harder to defend a Russian company with the lead programmer testifying against them, then the sympathetic coder with a family back home.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Does this really widen the page? I want to know!
W WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW">It should would be nice if it did!</A>
<A HREF="http://WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Regards
Mikael
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 13, 2001
The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that Dmitry Sklyarov entered into an agreement this morning with the United States and admitted his conduct in a hearing before U.S. District Judge Whyte in San Jose Federal Court.
Under the agreement, Mr. Sklyarov agreed to cooperate with the United States in its ongoing prosecution of Mr. Sklyarov's former employer, Elcomsoft Co., Ltd. Mr. Skylarov will be required to appear at trial and testify truthfully, and he will be deposed in the matter. For its part, the United States agreed to defer prosecution of Mr. Sklyarov until the conclusion of the case against Elcomsoft or for one year, whichever is longer. Mr. Sklyarov will be permitted to return to Russia in the meantime, but will be subject to the Court's supervision, including regularly reporting by telephone to the Pretrial Services Department. Mr. Sklyarov will be prohibited from violating any laws during the year, including copyright laws. The United States agreed that, if Mr. Sklyarov successfully completes the obligations in the agreement, it will dismiss the charges pending against him at the end of the year or when the case against Elcomsoft is complete.
Mr. Sklyarov, 27, of Moscow, Russia, was indicted by a federal Grand Jury on August 28, 2001. He was charged with one count of conspiracy in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, and two counts of trafficking for gain in technology primarily designed to circumvent technology that protects a right of a copyright owner in violation of Title 17, United States Code, Section 1201(b)(1)(A), and two counts of trafficking for gain in technology marketed for use in circumventing technology that protects a right of a copyright owner in violation of Title 17, United States Code, Section 1201(b)(1)(A).
In entering into the agreement with the government, Mr. Sklyarov was required to acknowledge his conduct in the offense. In the agreement, Mr. Sklyarov made the following admissions, which he also confirmed in federal court today:
"Beginning on a date prior to June 20, 2001, and continuing through July 15, 2001, I was employed by the Russian software company, Elcomsoft Co. Ltd. (also known as Elcom Ltd.) (hereinafter "Elcomsoft") as a computer programmer and cryptanalyst.
"Prior to June 20, 2001, I was aware Adobe Systems, Inc. ("Adobe") was a software company in the United States. I was also aware Adobe was the creator of the Adobe Portable Document Format ("PDF"), a computer file format for the publication and distribution of electronic documents. Prior to June 20, 2001, I knew Adobe distributed a program titled the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader that provided technology for the reading of documents in an electronic format on personal computers. Prior to June 20, 2001, I was aware that documents distributed in the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader format are PDF files and that specifications of PDF allow for limiting of certain operations, such as opening, editing, printing, or annotating.
"Prior to June 20, 2001, as a part of my dissertation work and as part of my employment with Elcomsoft, I wrote a part of computer program titled the Advanced eBook Processor ("AEBPR"). I developed AEBPR as a practical application of my research for my dissertation and in order to demonstrate weaknesses in protection methods of PDF files. The only use of the AEBPR is to create an unprotected copy of an electronic document. Once a PDF file is decrypted with the AEBPR, a copy is no longer protected by encryption. This is all the AEBPR program does.
"Prior to June 20, 2001, I believed that ElcomSoft planned to post the AEBPR program on the Internet on the company's website www.elcomsoft.com. I believed that the company would charge a fee for a license for the full version of the AEBPR that would allow access to all capabilities of the program.
"After Adobe released a new version of the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader that prevented the initial version of the AEBPR program from removing the limitations or restrictions on an e-book, I wrote software revisions for a new version of the AEBPR program. The new version again decrypted the e-document to which it was applied. The version of this new AEBPR program offered on the Elcomsoft website only decrypted a portion of an e-document to which it was applied, unless the user had already purchased a fully functional version of the earlier version and had both versions installed on the same machine. The new version was developed after June 29, 2001. At that time, Elcomsoft had already stopped selling the program. The version of this new program offered on the Elcomsoft website did not provide a user with an opportunity to purchase it or convert it to a fully functional one, and was developed as a matter of competition.
"On July 15, 2001, as part of my employment with Elcomsoft, I attended the DEF CON Nine conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. At the conference I made a presentation originally intended for the BlackHat conference that immediately preceded the DefCon Nine in July 2001 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The same group of people organizes both BlackHat and DefCon Nine. Since there was no available slot for a presentation at BlackHat at the time when the paper was sent for the committee consideration, the organizers of both conferences suggested that the paper be presented at the DefCon rather than at BlackHat. The paper that I read at DefCon is attached as Exhibit A. A principal part of my presentation is comprised of my research for the dissertation. In my presentation when I said "we", I meant Elcomsoft."
Mr. Sklyarov's employer, Elcomsoft, remains charged in the case, and the Court in that matter has set hearings for various motions on March 4, 2002, and April 1, 2002.
The prosecution of Elcomsoft is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Scott Frewing and Joseph Sullivan of the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property ("CHIP") Unit are the Assistant U.S. Attorneys who are prosecuting the case with the assistance of legal technician Lauri Gomez.
Pawlo.com
The Supreme Court took this power upon itself, way back when (sorry, I forget the case where they decided it).
The case was Marbury vs Madison. Probably the singularly most important Opinion ever delivered by the SC
Actually the case wasn't decided at all... it was never actually *heard* by the SC because a law passed by Congress had been used by Marbury to try to get "original jurisdiction" of his case in the SC and the SC decided that the law extending the SC's scope of "original jurisdiction" was what was found to be unconstitutional and hence the case had to come up thru the lower courts before it could even be heard in the SC. Marbury was trying to "short circuit" the judicial process and jump immediately to the top. Incredibly, it can be viewed that this monumental decision of the SC actually "reduced" its power in one way (deleting additional jurisdiction which Congress had granted to it) which increasing its power in another (grabbing the authority to nullify Congress's legislations).
ElComSoft's chief executive, Alex Katalov, said he was pleased that the company, not Sklyarov, would bear sole responsibility for the charges.
Hands down, Mr. Katalov is the coolest employer I've ever seen. Since Dmitry's arrest, he had been front-and-center, doing what it took to get Dmitry free regardless of the risk. Thomas C. Greene raised this issue in an article in The Register a while back and it got my attention. But I am very impressed that he continued to put responsibility on his company when Dmitry would have provided a convenient scapegoat.
concealing any illegal activities the employer may have committed.
The question about legality is the not simple as what they are accused of is n9t illegal in Russland. How would you feel if your caompny was charged with something say illegal in Saudi like selling alcohol and then had to go to jail . testify on the Henious nature of booze?
Help fight continental drift.
There is a big difference. Deffered is kind of like probation. "Do this for this long and we will remove the charges completely..If you don't the full charges will be reinstated and since we now have your confession your goose is cooked". This is often used to allow the prosecution to "drop" charges while saving face. Sometimes used to gain testimony, sometimes to force the person to adhere to certain conditions and often used to give a win-win spin to the case. "he did technically break the law, but we see no need to prosecute...blah..blah ...blah...
From The US Attorneys Office
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 13, 2001
The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that Dmitry Sklyarov entered into an agreement this morning with the United States and admitted his conduct in a hearing before U.S. District Judge Whyte in San Jose Federal Court.
Under the agreement, Mr. Sklyarov agreed to cooperate with the United States in its ongoing prosecution of Mr. Sklyarov's former employer, Elcomsoft Co., Ltd. Mr. Skylarov will be required to appear at trial and testify truthfully, and he will be deposed in the matter. For its part, the United States agreed to defer prosecution of Mr. Sklyarov until the conclusion of the case against Elcomsoft or for one year, whichever is longer. Mr. Sklyarov will be permitted to return to Russia in the meantime, but will be subject to the Court's supervision, including regularly reporting by telephone to the Pretrial Services Department. Mr. Sklyarov will be prohibited from violating any laws during the year, including copyright laws. The United States agreed that, if Mr. Sklyarov successfully completes the obligations in the agreement, it will dismiss the charges pending against him at the end of the year or when the case against Elcomsoft is complete.
Mr. Sklyarov, 27, of Moscow, Russia, was indicted by a federal Grand Jury on August 28, 2001. He was charged with one count of conspiracy in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, and two counts of trafficking for gain in technology primarily designed to circumvent technology that protects a right of a copyright owner in violation of Title 17, United States Code, Section 1201(b)(1)(A), and two counts of trafficking for gain in technology marketed for use in circumventing technology that protects a right of a copyright owner in violation of Title 17, United States Code, Section 1201(b)(1)(A).
In entering into the agreement with the government, Mr. Sklyarov was required to acknowledge his conduct in the offense. In the agreement, Mr. Sklyarov made the following admissions, which he also confirmed in federal court today:
"Beginning on a date prior to June 20, 2001, and continuing through July 15, 2001, I was employed by the Russian software company, Elcomsoft Co. Ltd. (also known as Elcom Ltd.) (hereinafter "Elcomsoft") as a computer programmer and cryptanalyst.
"Prior to June 20, 2001, I was aware Adobe Systems, Inc. ("Adobe") was a software company in the United States. I was also aware Adobe was the creator of the Adobe Portable Document Format ("PDF"), a computer file format for the publication and distribution of electronic documents. Prior to June 20, 2001, I knew Adobe distributed a program titled the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader that provided technology for the reading of documents in an electronic format on personal computers. Prior to June 20, 2001, I was aware that documents distributed in the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader format are PDF files and that specifications of PDF allow for limiting of certain operations, such as opening, editing, printing, or annotating.
"Prior to June 20, 2001, as a part of my dissertation work and as part of my employment with Elcomsoft, I wrote a part of computer program titled the Advanced eBook Processor ("AEBPR"). I developed AEBPR as a practical application of my research for my dissertation and in order to demonstrate weaknesses in protection methods of PDF files. The only use of the AEBPR is to create an unprotected copy of an electronic document. Once a PDF file is decrypted with the AEBPR, a copy is no longer protected by encryption. This is all the AEBPR program does.
"Prior to June 20, 2001, I believed that ElcomSoft planned to post the AEBPR program on the Internet on the company's website www.elcomsoft.com. I believed that the company would charge a fee for a license for the full version of the AEBPR that would allow access to all capabilities of the program.
"After Adobe released a new version of the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader that prevented the initial version of the AEBPR program from removing the limitations or restrictions on an e-book, I wrote software revisions for a new version of the AEBPR program. The new version again decrypted the e-document to which it was applied. The version of this new AEBPR program offered on the Elcomsoft website only decrypted a portion of an e-document to which it was applied, unless the user had already purchased a fully functional version of the earlier version and had both versions installed on the same machine. The new version was developed after June 29, 2001. At that time, Elcomsoft had already stopped selling the program. The version of this new program offered on the Elcomsoft website did not provide a user with an opportunity to purchase it or convert it to a fully functional one, and was developed as a matter of competition.
"On July 15, 2001, as part of my employment with Elcomsoft, I attended the DEF CON Nine conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. At the conference I made a presentation originally intended for the BlackHat conference that immediately preceded the DefCon Nine in July 2001 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The same group of people organizes both BlackHat and DefCon Nine. Since there was no available slot for a presentation at BlackHat at the time when the paper was sent for the committee consideration, the organizers of both conferences suggested that the paper be presented at the DefCon rather than at BlackHat. The paper that I read at DefCon is attached as Exhibit A. A principal part of my presentation is comprised of my research for the dissertation. In my presentation when I said "we", I meant Elcomsoft."
Mr. Sklyarov's employer, Elcomsoft, remains charged in the case, and the Court in that matter has set hearings for various motions on March 4, 2002, and April 1, 2002.
The prosecution of Elcomsoft is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Scott Frewing and Joseph Sullivan of the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property ("CHIP") Unit are the Assistant U.S. Attorneys who are prosecuting the case with the assistance of legal technician Lauri Gomez.
A copy of this press release and key court documents filed in the case may also be found on the U.S. Attorney's Office's website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can <http://www.usaondca.com>.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's Office should be directed to Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. Jacobs at (415)436-7181 or Assistant U.S. Attorney Ross Nadel, Chief of the CHIP Unit, in San Jose...
Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
The US DOJ might want to include their customers like FBI??
Help fight continental drift.
There was a case a few years ago here in Michigan where a father had his child taken from him because the boy had several broken bones, and someone at Child Protective Services decided that this was grounds for an abuse charge. Within hours of filing the charge, though, the boy's medical condition (extremely low calcium in his bones, making them brittle and prone to breaking) was brought to light, but the clerk at CPS decided to suppress this information. It took almost two years, and put the father $180,000 in debt, to get his children back.
And no, he was told he could not sue a government agency for damages. So he works three jobs to keep up with his creditors and the clerk, IIRC, continues to "protect" children.
That was back in '97. I regrettably don't have a link to the story (but a google search found this page that indicates it's happened all over the country), so maybe that clerk's been fired for all I know. But when I read the news originally, it made me want to puke.
"Hardly used" will not fetch you a better price for your brain.
From the US attorneys office of North California and their press release.
:-?
"For its part, the United States agreed to defer prosecution of Mr. Sklyarov until the conclusion of the case against Elcomsoft or for one year, whichever is longer."
Er, so that means the case is not dropped just deferred, but they aren't going to prosecute him until the case against Elcomsoft is resolved.
Mr. Sklyarov will be prohibited from violating any laws during the year, including copyright laws.
Er, so he doesn't get special permission to break laws ?
"Elcomsoft, remains charged in the case, and the Court in that matter has set hearings for various motions on March 4, 2002, and April 1, 2002."
I don't think this case will get resolved for _years_. There's not that much of a dispute about what actually happened, it's just the interpretation of whether it's illegal or not....and it seems that the US government don't want to see this case resolved quickly, and so it isn't going to be sped through the courts or through the appeals.
Hey, does that mean that my Free Sklyarov T-shirt is now a collectors item ?
"Free software as in beer, copy protection as in racket" - Telsa Gwynne
I hope all the Dmitry supporters are pleased that he's shown himself to be a backstabbing rat. Anybody want to take bets on how long it takes before a Russian investor of ElcomSoft decides to corner him on some cold winter's night and puts a bullet in the back of his head? :)
As far as I understand it, he was released on bail for a while. Unless he was under 24h surveilance he could have easily made it to Mexico or Canada at which point he could have caught a plane to Russia.
I'm sure it's all very illegal to do that, but really, who cares? It's just a US court charging him with a US law, paid for by US corps.
Once he made it home to Russia I would imagine he'd be hard to extradite. He might never be able to travel to the US again, but that's not really a big drawback, especially for him... I doubt even if all charges were dropped tomorrow (with no conditions) that he'd ever come back willingly.
So, why not just skip the country? It's painfully obvious that he has no moral reason to stay and suffer punishment.
Is it a matter of difficulty? I've never (before Sept 11, at any rate) had any problem crossing the US/Canada or US/Mexico border. (I assume that's a skin-color related difficulty, and mostly when coming *from* mexico.)
I sure as hell wouldn't stick around, risking 20 years (or more) in prison in a foreign country when I could flee to my home country where everyone agreed that I hadn't committed a crime.
no no, they are just saying testify because it is assumed that it will be on the DOJ side. he is making the deal with them, so he is going to be their witness...................
:-p
Of cource, this is the same DOJ that let MS off the hok after having they had the company's face ground into the pavment, so I guess anything is possable
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
Hes a conservative. Conservatives want LESS government laws and intervention and are about freedom. Then again most people here aren't old enough to remember Tipper Gore and the RIAA in the 80's (Are they republican?)
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
We just know you don't want us as an enemy after what we just did to the Taliban.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I think it's about the best news I've heard all month. I'm certain it is from Dmitry's standpoint.
Now on to less important things: What does this mean for the case and it's value as a test of the DMCA? For one thing, without the rallying point of Dmitry's imprisonment, either his jail time before being released on bail or, more imprtantly, the potential of him seeing a lot of jail time if the case were lost, this case is going to end up being a lot lower profile than it might have been. I think this is mainly what the government is hoping for here, something they hope will be an easy trial with a low profile.
I think that the argument that he's being forced to testify against his employer is plainly bogus. Will he be testifying? Sure, either in person or in a deposition. Will it really be against his employer, ElcomSoft? Hard to say, but I sincerely doubt it. He doesn't see any of what either he or his employer, ElcomSoft, did as illegal or wrong and nor do ElcomSoft. By the standards and laws in Russia where the majority of the "crime" took place, it wasn't either illegal or wrong.
And before someone gets in mind to correct me, yes, I do know that that isn't the only issue involved here; there's also the matter of ElcomSoft's program being sold here. That's going to be the real sticking point of the case and really the only one where the government has any kind of legitimate gripe.
I think this could (could, mind you, not will) still end up being a good test of the DMCA, depending on how willing and able Elcomsoft is to do what it takes to fight this case. It could (again, could) go quite a way toward establishing precedent on the jurisdictional issues as well.
That the case was dropped was clearly good. This guy doesn't have to go through that clearly unconstitutional/nonsensical rubbish.
But the case was dropped so he can testify against the company. This is not so good. ElComSoft is based in Russia. The US has NO RIGHT to try to exercise power or enforce its laws in OTHER nations. This is a violation of sovereignty, and it leads to disturbing possibilities that other nations will take this as a precedent to trial and charge our US citizens for "actions they committed in the US" that were legal in the US, but not legal in their country (i.e., if I went to China, they could, using this as precedence, trial me for criticizing the Chinese government while in the US).
Furthermore, how exactly does the US plan to put ElComSoft on trial? The company is in Russia, and the US govt has no means to enforce any punishment against the company. What the company did was legal in Russia, as was what Dmitry did was.
Furthermore, what he did her in America was also legal: explaining how his product works. Even had he advertised the program here and pointed people to a website where they could buy it, the law still shouldn't be able to touch him, if you think about sovereignty issues. The place where you can buy the product from is in Russia -- a "cyberspace" location on a server in Russia. The US has no jurisdiction over anything in other nations. Period. And you can't arrest people for pointing out where information can be obtained on the web, not even undert he DMCA (that only applies to hyperlinks to DeCSS; note, a recent court rulings have overturned the ban on DeCSS).
But it is nevertheless good that Dmitry is free and can go about as he pleases. I'm sure he's really looking forward to going back to Russia. Nothing like living in a broken down cobble in Siberia and eating a few crumbs of bread a day, then having to go to the Moscow hospital where surgical tools are rusted.
social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
So, if it is an agreement, what will the 'other' side win? I mean, DMCA laywers must have thought of some kind of plan to take advantage on this situation.
Perhaps they think it will be impossible to really lock Sklyarov. Perhaps they are trying to show that even overseas companies can be prosecuted. Perhaps they need Sklyarov on some kind of eyewitness position and NOT as someone being accused (I am no legal mumbo jumblo expert).
Perhaps all the bad press canalized over they suing Sklyarov made they change their minds, so they are cooling off the whole deal. I mean, he was the mainly one being 'protected', and not the company.
Maybe the free speech as code talk can really work, and they forseen this possible situation changed tacticts.
What I really mean is, that our little friends defending DMCA would not do this for free.
Buy a Nintendo DS Lite
Good grief, and now updated to include the Seattle Post!
It's more in-depth, yes, but when the AP updated, so did the Times and Wired!
GUYS! ALL FOUR ARE THE SAME!
sheesh
It's funny because this situation illustrates it extremely well.
On the one hand, there's the Big Bad Microsoft, hand in hand with all the content providers, all wanting to narrow what people can do with the "digital content" they buy. As someone who loves music (fortunately, the kind that doesn't sell that much and can be bought at used cd stores for very little) I find the thought of not being able to rip the cd's to my laptop (so I can listen to whatever I feel like listening to without having to carry a bunch of cd's from one place to another), disturbing. If I paid for the thing, I should be able to do what I wanted with it, shouldn't I? I'm revolted at the degree of selfishness and greed that's taking over content producers, and while I understand that they have an obligation to the shareholders and owners, I find it very sadening to see that the maximization of profits leads to so much trampling of other freedoms.
On the other hand, there's this whole bunch of people, in their rightful indignation, ready to take arms against the enemy. You know, it's kind of funny the way we end up being so concerned about some things and not at all concerned about others. In fact, this could be a great way to stop watching so many movies, or to stop hearing so much music, or even to stop being so much time at the computer. The problem here is that we are getting so attached to these virtual fixes that the ones that provide them will (obviously) look for way of earning more from it. Doesn't it say so much about our present condition?
Everyone's loving things more (and probably using people more). So why don't we stop? There's such a big world out there (and a real one, for that matter), so many opportunities to have a life, so many things to do... I can say for sure that I would like to learn a lot of stuff, read a whole ton of other stuff, and to be a lot more sociable than what I currently am.
And, you know what? If people stopped caring so much with the small things, the ones that produce them probably wouldn't be so busy trying to rip everyone off...
Strange world that in which we live...
but the other issue i'm not sure if you caught it... he's been charged with breaking a us law on russian soil... no matter what the us law is justifiable or not, how can we (the us) enforce our laws outside of our jusisdiction?
I believe sex is highly over rated... unless it involves me
Careful, this link sends you to a page that opens infinate windows.
man its about time
-Pip
can be found here.
Fuck you.
That sums up part of the deal. For one year, he has to not break American law WHILE HE IS LIVING IN RUSSIA.
Is this Pournelle's American Empire at last? Has anyone noticed that the DOJ now claims worldwide powers?
So fast, so fast it's happening...
The entire premise of the damn DMCA is ridiculous.
Jailing anyone for distributing code that gets around technological restrictions is legally as feasible as jailing anyone who sells wire cutters. After all, you *could* use them to bypass security fences.
I don't have a solution, but I certainly admire the problem.
I would mod you up if I could. Not because I agree with you but because you have realized that fundamentally names are, well names. Ironically the politician who most acuratly fits your ideology is a liberal, defined in the classical sense: a so called Classical Liberal. John Lock comes to mind. Even more ironically a "true" conservative is the same sense is someone who wants government to push morality on the populus. (More or less, I am talking about Edmond Burke for instance). In the last 200 years the definitions have changed. Liberal today means a socialist liberaism while conservatism has moves toward the classical liberal view (I'm generalizing but you get my drift).
My real point is that we as a society assign names and labels arbitrary to classify. We group everyone on the left as liberal and everyone to the right as conservative. Libritarians will tell you they don't really fit in either. Even the definitions of left and right are arbitrary.
However, there is a good reason we do this. It is easier for us as humans to assign labels. Imagine if on the election ballot instead of Republican, Democrat, etc. we had a string of descriptive adjectives like (to quote you first):
Unfortunately by assigning names to group we deprive ourselves the valuable tool of critical thinking. Instead of analyzing exactly what a politician wants and will do we instead look towards the label assigned and imprint that label on the politician. Being able to think critically about a deicision is much harder than assigning labels, people do it all the time. I am gald to see that there are still some people who are willing to look past assigned names and, in this case, vote their conscience.
he is not in violation of the DMCA. He states that he originaly wrote the code as part of his PHD dissertation. According to the DMCA (this is from the Official U.S. Copyright Office Summary):
Title 1, Section 2, Circumavention Exceptions;
3. Encryption reasearch (section 1201 (g)). An exception for encryption research permits circumvention of access control measures, and the development of the tchnological means to do so, in order to indentify flaws and vulnerabilities.
You people don't seem to get this. Sept 11 doesn't mean that we can let the government take away freedoms to protect them. I though I wouldn't have to say this on slashdot, but I guess times have changed. In this country we celebrate our freedom, go to war for it, and get into long expensive legal battles to get it back. The idea that Dmitry is finally able to go home is a step in keeping freedom alive. Yes the atrocities on the 11th were quite bad, but don't forget about freedom because you think it might protect you to be in bondage to the state.
Remove *your pants* to send me email.
I'm not sure what the profitability of the product is anymore, but "Scew Adobe" and "fight the man" are not valid justifications for stealing from legitimate software companies. Say what you will about unfair pricing. Perhapse it's legitimate to crack the software and cut a check to the authors. In any case, if someone isn't holding a gun to your head to use their software and they'd like money for their software, you should compensate them at least a penny if you actually use their software (as opposed to feeding a curiosity or just trying it out), out of principle. I don't care who you are or what arguments you have about the economy of scarcity being irrelevant. It's just common courtesy.
About the holding a gun to your head thing: I'm not sure how I feel about copyright infringement against monopolies, legal or otherwise.
I'd much prefer that you contribute code or money toward (pay a friend to code) producing a better free competitor to the product you'd like to illegally copy.
I think illegally free software is one of free software's biggest competitors. I think microsoft clamping down on casual copying will help the free software people.
Copyright Violation:"theft, piracy"::Anti-Trust Violation:"thermonuclear price terrorism"<-Overly dramatic language.
> Hands down, Mr. Katalov is the coolest employer
> I've ever seen.
Elcomsoft is responsible for about 5% of Internet spam. These people profit every time you get another turdlet advertizing "Hot teen sluts". Elcomsoft makes Advanced Direct Remailer, Advanced Email Extractor and a whole bunch of spam tools. These guys are crooks and should be put out of business.
> you know, this guy has a real class act
> employer.
This "class act employer" is responsible for a good chunk of Internet spam. Elcomsoft makes Advanced Direct Remailer, Advanced Email Extractor and a whole bunch of spam tools. Elcomsoft's web site had been in the MAPS RBL. They still keep selling their spam tools. These guys are crooks and should be put out of business. It just a coincidence that they are appearing in a freedom of speech litigation.
"The US can't do a darn thing to them since they aren't in this country." The US can establish jurisdiction over Elcomsoft because they have appeared in court subject to jurisdiction here. You're right, if Dmitry had never entered the company, or Katalov didn't appear before the court, then they could only file charges, but couldn't ge their hands on them from Russia. Unfortunately, that is not how this story played out.
US law seems unpredictable to a scary degree, I for one would never consider relocating to the US due to this. This feeling is certainly shared by many other non-US residents.
When the economy is recovering next time, this may become a problem. To those of you out temporality of work, how about spending your effort changing this situation to the better?
-- From Denmark
The Saudi's aren't the only ones banning the "beer of kings":
http://www.american.edu/TED/budweis.htm
Yes, this is off-topic.
From the DOJ press release,
DOJ press release:
Mr. Sklyarov will be prohibited from violating any laws during the year
...
Jeroen
This is kinda true. He has to testify as a government witness, but he doesn't have to lie on the stand (which would be illegal anyway :)
In other words, he can say what he likes in response to the questions of the DOJ lawyer, but the DOJ gets to pick the questions.
If this all seems unusually Machiavellian to you, well, it is.
my old sig used to be funny, but then slashcode ate it and now it's not funny anymore
Now discussion will be about Sklyarov's upcoming testimony and the ABM treaty can be swept aside until it is no longer breaking news.
I thought the US or some poeple in US has claims worldwide power since DeCSS?
Kiwaiti
Member of the Legion Of Microsoft Haters
Moderation Totals: Flamebait=2, Insightful=1, Interesting=2, Overrated=1, Underrated=1, Total=7.
Insightful, Interesting, Overrated, Underrated I can see. Flamebait? This is barely tinder, much less flamebait!
Send the Republicans back to their country clubs if they can't handle this modicum of criticism.
(This is getting a little bit closer, but not much.)
Hmmmm..... So if I, an individual citizen, break the DMCA, I go to jail and pay a very large fine. If I become "Individual Citizen, Inc." and break the DMCA, I don't go to jail and I pay a small fine. The CEOs who wrote the law were smart enough to protect themselves.
Now what am I gonna do with all these "Free Sklyarov" bumper stickers?
make Linux, not Microsoft. sin(beast) = -0.809016994374947424102293417182819
What they have a super crime prevention device that stops crime in its racks?
BTW. Why whould this be different him than everybody else?
I'm convinced that lawers have no brains, or have brains and don't use them.
make Linux, not Microsoft. sin(beast) = -0.809016994374947424102293417182819
At least the US probably won't go in and get him e.g. Bin Laden...
However, there have been a good number of cases, usually in the 'drug war' where political pressure was used to encourage other countries to turn over their citizens to the US.