[free-sklyarov] Re: evil communist hacker

[Oscar Wilde]

<< Neither the public nor the courts will have much affection for (what they perceive to be) Yet Another Communist Hacker. >>

What kind of evil hacker (a) signs his work with his real name and (b) travels to the USA on his own volition to give a PowerPoint presentation on the weaknesses of a commercial software provider's security implementation?

Sklyarov is at least as sympathetic a figure as Jon Johanssen, the Norwegian teenager who released DeCSS. As a mere employee of the company that holds the rights to the program in question, he is unjustly accused of "trafficking". He's a pawn in a commercial dispute between two software companies, one of which, because of the DMCA, is able to use the FBI to pursue its case and have US taxpayers pick up the tab. This is the angle Richard Smith has been emphasizing, and I'm gratified that he's been getting good ink with it.

Oscar