[free-sklyarov] An Alternative Line of Argumentation

Izel Sulam izel at sulam.com
Sat Jul 21 20:31:50 PDT 2001


Declan McCullagh declan at well.com wrote:

>A mild addition: What happens when a company has decent (or at least
>better than crappy) products, security broken, DMCA prosecution happens?

DMCA prosection will not happen, because the security will be broken 
overseas, and whoever did it will know better than to ever set foot in this 
hellhole we call the USA.

And all previously US-based security conferences will move to Canada within 
the next 12 months, and our most valuable CS professors will immigrate to 
Canada, etc, etc.

But seriously.

Declan, you seem to be operating under the assumption that this case is our 
only chance of getting the DMCA repealed. This is clearly not true on its 
face. In fact, there are a bunch of reasons why using this case to try and 
get the DMCA repealed would be unwise.

1) Dmitry is not even an American citizen. He does not belong here. He 
belongs in his home, with his family.
2) The DMCA is our problem. It is cruel for us to keep a poor foreigner in 
jail while we go through the slow, repetitive and redundant motions of our 
fucked up legal system.
3) This case is fraught with dangerous undertones of communism and 
hackerlike activity, which scare the sheeple and can sway public opinion. 
The best kind of case that would get the DMCA repealed would be a clear 
Free Speech or academia case, such as the Felten case. The public and the 
courts have much more respect for American professors than (those whom they 
perceive to be) dangerous communist hackers.
4) I already posted about this, but whitehouse.gov was attacked by a 
Chinese communist worm just a few days ago. Neither the public nor the 
courts will have much affection for (what they perceive to be) Yet Another 
Communist Hacker.
5) Due to these reasons, I put it to you that our number one priority 
should be to Free Dmitry. Also to ruin Adobe's public image beyond repair. 
Not to get the DMCA repealed. Not right now. We must pick our battles 
wisely, and this battleground is not one on which we can defeat the DMCA.

I rest my case.

Comments, suggestions welcome.
- izel  





More information about the Free-sklyarov mailing list