[free-sklyarov] Re: Continuing the fight

Matthew T. Russotto mrussotto at speakeasy.net
Sat Dec 15 23:02:25 PST 2001


On Sunday, December 16, 2001, at 12:00 AM, Seth Finkelstein wrote:

> On Fri, Dec 14, 2001 at 11:36:46PM -0700, Richard Stallman wrote:
>> The dropping of charges against Sklyarov is a good thing, but we must
>> not think of it as our victory, because we did not win it.  Rather, it
>> is largesse from powers that feel completely triumphant.  They believe
>> that their successes in court, together with the example presented by
>> Sklyarov's treatment so far, make their dominion so strong that
>> nothing can challenge it.
>
> 	Indeed. I concur, but from a slightly different analysis.
> Arguably, this isn't even "largesse". The dismissing of charges is
> based on Sklyarov's agreement to "cooperate with the United States in
> its ongoing prosecution ...". It seems that overall, Adobe and DMCA
> advocates will get the best of both worlds. With Sklyarov's testimony,
> they're set to establish a strong DMCA court decision. Given the
> prior jailing of Sklyarov, they've already intimidated people.
> Dropping the charges against him personaly in returns for testimony
> helping to win the case, and establish law, is a logical maneuver.

These were my remarks on the subject, which didn't get posted owing to 
some confusion with my e-mail address:

Yep, the government has gotten all it can by prosecuting Dmitry -- 
namely terrorizing (and I do not use that word lightly -- facing several 
years in federal prison can be quite terror-inducing) programmers and 
others into DMCA compliance.  So it's no harm to them to release him.  
Now that they've had the DMCA backed up legally by the 2nd Circuit, they 
can seal their victory with a successful prosecution (and probable 
appeal) of Elcomsoft in the 9th Circuit (home of the movie studios).  If 
they can get the Supreme Court to deny cert (probably not hard, with no 
conflict between circuits), we're finished.

Stay in Russia, Dmitry.  What you do is likely to be illegal everywhere 
else for the forseeable future.  If I had any talent for (human) 
languages, I'd consider a move myself.





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