[free-sklyarov] URGENT: Dmitry's arraignment postponed

[Stanton McCandlish]

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Advisory

REVISED: 6pm PT, Aug. 21, 2001
------------------------------

Russian Programmer to Appear in California Court

Dmitry Sklyarov Issues Statement Thanking Supporters

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, August 21, 2001

Contact:

     Robin Gross, EFF Intellectual Property Attorney
       robin at eff.org
       +1 415-436-9333 x112 (office)
       +1 415 637-5310 (cell)

     Cindy Cohn, EFF Offline Legal Director
       cindy at eff.org
       +1 415 436-9333 x108 (office)
       +1 415 823-2148 (cell)

     David Greene, First Amendment Project Director
       fap at thefirstamendment.org
       +1 510-208-7744

   San Jose, California - Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov will appear
   in a California federal court next week, for an arraignment on charges
   of trafficking in a copyright circumvention device.  For
   programming a software application that appears to be legal in Moscow
   where he wrote it, Sklyarov -- who is out of custody on $50,000 bail
   -- faces a potential prison term of five years and a $500,000 fine.

   The arraignment was scheduled for 9:30am PT, Thursday, August 23, but
   has been postponed as of this afternoon, exact time and date
   to-be-determined. The hearing should 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 (but these
   details could change).

   Nonviolent protests will be scheduled outside the hearing in San Jose,
   and in Moscow (Russia), Cambridge (England), London (England),
   Minneapolis, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Black Rock City,
   Nevada.


   Dmitry Skylarov issued the following statement thanking the activists
   who have taken up his cause:

     To everyone who spent their time helping me:

     During the three weeks I spent in jail I learned that many people
     were protesting against my arrest. I also learned that Adobe
     withdrew its support of my arrest after meeting with EFF. But I was
     not able to see that or to read letters and articles about my case.

     After being released from jail on August 6, I was really surprised
     and impressed by the scale of the action and the number of people
     involved in the protests. I'm not an IT superman. I'm just a
     programmer, like many others. It was unexpected by me that so many
     people would support a guy from another country that nobody heard
     about before.

     Your support means a lot to me and my family and makes a difference
     for all.

     This experience is going to change me in a profound way that I
     cannot even appreciate fully as yet. Thank you very much.

     Dmitry Sklyarov

   Directions and map to San Jose Federal Building:
     http://www.cand.uscourts.gov/cand/CourtInfo.nsf/6f311f8841e7da248825
   6405006827f0/f3b46c67b334132e88256682007f6ba9OpenDocument

   Background on the Sklyarov case:
     http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/

   Calendar of protests related to the Sklyarov case:
     http://www.freesklyarov.org/calendar/


   Coincidentally, the same afternoon nearby in San Jose, a California
   state appellate court will hear oral arguments regarding whether
   dozens of Internet publishers can be ordered to "stop the presses"
   pending the outcome of a California trade secrets trial.

   In January 2000, as part of a trade secrets case brought by the motion
   picture industry, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge William
   Elfving ordered that Andrew Bunner and numerous other defendants halt
   Internet publication of the source code for DeCSS pending the outcome
   of a trial. DeCSS is free software that allows people to play DVDs
   without technological restrictions, such as platform limitations and
   region codes, that are preferred by movie studios.

   Bunner, represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the
   First Amendment Project, is appealing this prior restraint on his free
   speech rights. The case is In Re: DVD Copy Control Assoc., Inc. v.
   Bunner, case no. H021153. Oral arguments will begin at 1:30 PM before
   California's Sixth Appellate Court, located at 333 West Santa Clara
   Street, Suite 1060, San Jose, CA 95113.

   Directions and map to San Jose Appellate Court Building:
     http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/courtsofappeal/6thDistrict/
   location.htm

   Background on the DVD Copy Control Assoc., Inc. v. Bunner case:
     http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DVDCCA_case/


About EFF:

   The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties
   organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded
   in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and
   government to support free expression, privacy, and openness in the
   information society. EFF is a member-supported organization and
   maintains one of the most linked-to Web sites in the world:
     http://www.eff.org/

About FAP:

   The First Amendment Project (FAP) is a nonprofit, public interest law
   firm established in 1991 to protect, defend, and further the rights to
   participate in and know about government activities and speak freely
   about public issues:
   http://thefirstamendment.org/

                                  - end -
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--
Stanton McCandlish      mech at eff.org       http://www.eff.org/~mech
Technical Director/Webmaster         Electronic Frontier Foundation
voice: +1 415 436 9333 x105                    fax: +1 415 436 9993
EFF, 454 Shotwell St.                    San Francisco CA 94110 USA