[free-sklyarov] Free Dmitry Sklyarov Rally to be held Monday 23 July 2001 in New York City

Jay Sulzberger jays at panix.com
Sun Jul 22 20:17:44 PDT 2001


====================================
Demonstrations to be held Monday in over 20 cities worldwide
against the arrest of Russian programer by FBI

New York Protest will be in front of the New York Public Library
on Monday, 23 July, on 5th Avenue between 41st and 42nd, at 12 noon.
====================================

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


CONTACT INFORMATION:
        LEONID GORKIN
        509 E 78TH STREET, APT 6D
        NEW YORK, NY 10021
        212 794 1565
        LGORKIN at EXCITE.COM OR LGORKIN1 at NYC.RR.COM


TELL THE TRUTH, GO TO JAIL

RALLY FOR DMITRY SKLYAROV

(NEW YORK CITY, 22 July 2001) Last week, at the request of The
Adobe Corporation, Dmitry Sklyarov, a cryptographer, was arrested
and handed over to the federal prison system.  The alleged crime:
He presented his research at an information technology industry
conference in Las Vegas.  Mr. Sklyarov's analysis revealed that
Adobe uses a weak security architecture in its e-book product.
This sort of independent critical review is a normal and
necessary part of establishing the credibility of claims made
about a security enabled product.  This act of revealing flaws
in a product was once legal in the US, but now, thanks to the
controversial 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) it
is a federal offense.

Citing the DMCA, the Department of Justice charges Mr. Sklyarov
with trafficking in a "circumvention" device.  In other words,
software that makes it possible for people who have paid for
a book to then read that book:  Another thing that was once
legal in the US.

The DMCA is a fatally flawed piece of legislation.  It is
tailor-made law, bought and paid for by the publishing industry.
It was sold as a measure to 'protect copyright holders' but as
implemented it will destroy libraries and remove the written
record from the public domain.

The fight to transform the DMCA into a law that balances
the needs of society with the privileges granted to copyright
holders is being led by the the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
In a July 20, 2001 letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft
the Executive Director of the EFF, Shari Steele, wrote:

        When the DMCA was passing through Congress in 1998, the
        copyright industry promised it was needed as a shield
        for protection. Now as law, it's used as a powerful
        sword to squelch speech and competition and kill fair
        use. Congress never intended for the DMCA to destroy
        fair use, in fact it expressly tried to protect it.

But there was no protection for Mr. Sklyarov.  Unable to
strike at Elcomsoft, a Russian company that sells a decoder
for e-books, Adobe Corporation convinced the FBI to attack
Elcomsoft's employee, Mr. Sklyarov.  In response to the outrage
sparked by the arrest, Adobe Corporation has offered to meet
with the EFF on Monday, presumably to find a way to free
Mr. Sklyarov.  However, the government is not obliged to
dismiss the case should Adobe ask it to do so.

New Yorkers (no affiliation with EFF) will demonstrate their
support for Mr. Dmitry Sklyarov in front of the New York Public
Library on Monday, 23 July, on 5th Avenue between 41st and 42nd,
at 12 noon.  The message is simple: Free Dmitry!




More information can be found at:

 1. http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/
 2. http://www.freesklyarov.org/toadobe.html
 3. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,45298,00.html
 4. http://lwn.net/daily/alan-quits-als.php3
 5. http://www.freesklyarov.org/
 6. http://www.boycottadobe.com/
 7. http://www.shrouded.net/nmdmitry.htm
 8. http://two-bit.northpark.edu/free-sklyarov/reuters-sklyarov.txt
 9. http://cryptome.org/usa-v-sklyarov.htm
10. http://two-bit.northpark.edu/free-sklyarov/chicago-protest-information.txt
11. http://two-bit.northpark.edu/free-sklyarov/sklyarov-chi-press-release.txt
12. http://www.elcomsoft.com/aebpr.html
13. http://www.elcomsoft.com/AEBPR/PDFSecurity.pdf
14. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Adobe/Gallery/
15. http://noframes.linuxjournal.com/articles/currents/0034.html
16. http://www.ala.org/
17. http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36584-2001Feb7.html
18. http://www.nyu.edu/dental/vitalbook/index.html
19. http://www.nyu.edu/dental/vitalbook/faq.html
20. http://www.emarketer.com/analysis/ecommerce_b2c/20010314_b2c.html
21. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Adobe/Gallery/ds-defcon2/ds-defcon.html
22. http://www.visi.com/~tneu/voidwhereprohibited.html
23. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
24. http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/Graphics/


------------------------
Here is the same list with some small comments to
introduce each URI:

Another day on the job
1. http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/

Letter from an Adobe fan
2. http://www.freesklyarov.org/toadobe.html

That chilling effect...
3. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,45298,00.html

This one's already chilled
4. http://lwn.net/daily/alan-quits-als.php3

"This is America?"
5. http://www.freesklyarov.org/

Hit 'em where it hurts
6. http://www.boycottadobe.com/

New Mexicans act up
7. http://www.shrouded.net/nmdmitry.htm

The news wire
8. http://two-bit.northpark.edu/free-sklyarov/reuters-sklyarov.txt

The charges
9. http://cryptome.org/usa-v-sklyarov.htm

These guys are better organized then we are
10. http://two-bit.northpark.edu/free-sklyarov/chicago-protest-information.txt

And their press release is better, too
11. http://two-bit.northpark.edu/free-sklyarov/sklyarov-chi-press-release.txt

That pesky Russian company.  In addition to the uses cited in the
complaint there are a number of uses mentioned that call into
question the "primary purpose" of the "circumvention device"
as claimed by the FBI.  It looks to me like the primary purpose
is to enable all the traditional fair use activities for e-book
content.
12. http://www.elcomsoft.com/aebpr.html

Ooops, looks like someone comitted a thought crime!
13. http://www.elcomsoft.com/AEBPR/PDFSecurity.pdf

If Touretzky can publish with impunity why persecute Dmitry?
Is it a case of "programming while Russian?"
Note that Touretzky gives it all away: Both the decoder
and the full-function key.  Note also that this does
nothing for you unless you have paid for the e-book.
14. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Adobe/Gallery/

Professor Bryan Pfaffenberger's excellent article:
"In this essay, I'll argue that Sklyarov's case proves beyond any
doubt that the DMCA should be overturned by a high court action."
15. http://noframes.linuxjournal.com/articles/currents/0034.html

The librarians
16. http://www.ala.org/

Fear of librarians
17. http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36584-2001Feb7.html

"Participation will be mandatory"
18. http://www.nyu.edu/dental/vitalbook/index.html

"We don't believe you won't like it"
19. http://www.nyu.edu/dental/vitalbook/faq.html

"In fact, two-thirds of all respondents were 'not at all likely'
to purchase an e-book"
20. http://www.emarketer.com/analysis/ecommerce_b2c/20010314_b2c.html

More thought crime
21. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Adobe/Gallery/ds-defcon2/ds-defcon.html

"What if..."
22. http://www.visi.com/~tneu/voidwhereprohibited.html

Stallman saw it coming
23. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html

Dmitry Sklyarov's family
24. http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/Graphics/

--- END ---





More information about the Free-sklyarov mailing list