[free-sklyarov] Big Brother is watching you

Nick Moffitt nick at zork.net
Tue Jul 24 18:22:19 PDT 2001


	I just had the pleasure of speaking with Rick Moen a few
minutes ago, and expressed my admiration of this particular e-mail.

	Since it seems to have been a conversation-killer (I would
presume due to its thoroughness), I thought I would reply to it here
to remind people of the points it makes.

	For reference, the original can be read at
http://zork.net/pipermail/free-sklyarov/2001-July/001407.html

Begin Rick Moen (who is by no means a lawyer) quotation:
> The Sklyarov case is one of _criminal_ law, which is wholly
> different.  Perhaps people confuse the two because "B" is still
> called the defendant, but "A" is relevant to the case, if at all,
> only as a witness.  

	This reminds me of the explanation of why the FBI wouldn't
deal with Clifford Stoll in the beginning of The Cuckoo's Egg.
Namely, the monetary damages he claimed were not above the (then)
$5,000 threshold for investigation (let alone arrest).

	The FBI, when deciding whether or not to take a case, will try
to evaluate whether or not they can get the Department of Justice to
prosecute.  The damages claimed have to be sufficiently high for this
to happen.  Most people who claim in the range of $10k-$100k will
receive the superficial services of the Bureau during investigation,
typically little more than a phone number and address to which
information may be sent for consideration as evidence.

	Adobe, no doubt, claimed damages in the multi-millions.  This
puts them on the A-list for the case being heard.  However, as Rick
said, they're really just witnesses.  They'll provide information, but
do little else.

	In other words, Adobe are just a bunch of tattletales who are
now begging for dad not to take the belt to their younger brother.

> Stepping back from the legal framework for a moment, it's
> interesting to note that Dmitry _absolutely_ qualifies as a
> political prisoner.

	This sentence is right now second in line after the Pravda
quotation for the honor of being in my .signature.

-- 
"The only thing is certain: Russian petty computer hooligans are very
slovenly, while FBI agents are very persistent in hunting them." --Pravda
	01234567 <- The amazing* indent-o-meter! 
        ^	    (*: Indent-o-meter may not actually amaze.)




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