[free-sklyarov] picketting Adobe?

[Derek Balling]

At 10:09 AM -0700 7/19/01, Klepht wrote:
>The point is very, very simple: FAIR USE. "Fair use" means that if you
>buy something, you get to use it however you want. If you buy a
>newspaper, you can use it to line your birdcage. If you buy a book,
>you can give it to your Mom to read. If you buy a piece of software,
>you can make a backup. If you buy an electronic book, you can change
>the font so it doesn't hurt your eyes.

>People understand "fair." People understand "computer files." People
>understand "my computer, my files." People understand "a man is in
>jail unfairly."

Again, you're preaching to the choir. _I_ understand the correlation 
between fair-use on books and fair-use on e-books, but the media has 
biased the "masses" against "hackers" through years of bad press.

As I write the paragraphs below, I want to be clear that I *don't* 
believe these things I'm saying, but that it is "the response" you'll 
get if you make these arguments to the uneducated masses.

>1. Adobe Inc. wants to take away YOUR rights to use files you paid
>    for, on YOUR computer, as you see fit. They don't trust you to be
>    honest, so they use software to take away as many of your rights as
>    they can.

It's "copy protection", and the majority of the people will read that 
"copy protection breaking" as "bad", even if it isn't. They'll also 
note that "he had to break an encryption algorithm designed to 
protect the copyrighted work" (which sounds scary, like something bad 
people do), and they'll accept it at that.

>2. A programmer from Russia named Dmitry Sklyarov figured out how to
>    stop Adobe from doing this.

Bad bad Russian hacker.

>3. Because of a misguided law called the DMCA, someone who writes
>    software that protects your rights as a consumer can go to jail.

He didn't "protect my rights", he was an evil russian hacker who was 
hacking Adobe's secret codes.

>4. When he was visiting the U.S. for a conference, Adobe asked the FBI
>    to put him in jail, which they did.

Yayyyyy, we caught one of those hacker guys!

Seriously, if you can't get them on the other issues, and I don't 
think the non-computer-literate are going to be hooked, this is just 
"the justice system doing its job".

>5. And we think that's unfair.

You're not a hacker, too, are you?

>6. So we want Dmitry Sklyarov out of jail immediately.

You're making demands? You're not going to like, hack the air-traffic 
control system to get what you want, are you?

>7. And we want the DMCA repealed.

More demands?


Seriously, don't get me wrong, I'm ALL FOR what you're saying, but I 
think you miss that the average person is a sheep, who accepts as 
undiluted truth what is spoon-fed to them via the media. They're 
already convinced hackers are evil creatures, who exist solely to 
steal their data, breaking the secret codes that keep their data 
private. In their eyes, this is just a Russian punk, who broke 
Adobe's codes, got busted, and now has a bunch of other criminal 
hacker-types demanding his release. (the "...or else" will never be 
spoken, but the unwashed masses will think it is there, even though 
it isn't, because they view the hacker-types with suspicion).

D


-- 
+---------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| dredd at megacity.org  | "Conan! What is best in life?"          |
|  Derek J. Balling   | "To crush your enemies, see them        |
|                     |    driven before you, and to hear the   |
|                     |    lamentation of their women!"         |
+---------------------+-----------------------------------------+