[free-sklyarov] [Free-sklyarov-announce] Upcoming regional events; Sklyarov's address; EFF; background material

[Seth David Schoen]

Here's an announcement message I just sent to the announcement list.

----- Forwarded message from Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org> -----

Four announcement items:

(1) Monday protests; flyer distribution; organizing update.
(2) Dmitry Sklyarov's mailing address.
(3) EFF meeting planned.
(4) DMCA harms reading list.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I have received word that events are planned for Monday, July 30, in
San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and Minneapolis.

The San Francisco event has already been announced here; I've heard
about the others via the free-sklyarov list.  Of course, other events
are possible too.  This is not necessarily an exhaustive list.

http://freesklyarov.org/

has been carrying the most up-to-date information (although you'll
also want to check the regional site or mailing list).  Not all of the
details for the Monday protests are up at freesklyarov.org yet!

I believe there is also an event for Saturday in San Jose, but I don't
believe it's been announced to the press, so it may simply target
those individuals who happen to be in San Jose that day.

In addition, several local groups are doing small-scale ongoing flyer
distribution.  For example, in San Francisco a team of about six or
eight volunteers has been taking turns distributing flyers at the San
Francisco Public Library, near City Hall, and at the entrances to
public transit stations.  Over the course of two days, this has meant
that over 1,000 flyers have been handed out (which is small compared
to the population of the Bay Area, but we can keep this up and reach
several thousands).  Even if there is no large-scale public rally or
demonstration in your city, you can raise public awareness with
small-scale literature distribution.  It's more fun if you bring a
friend!

Many of the discussions about regional event organizing have moved off
of the free-sklyarov list and onto various regional mailing lists.  If
you'd like to be involved with upcoming events in your area, _please
join your regional mailing list_ or at least contact the designated
regional contact person.

The regional mailing lists all have _substantially_ lower traffic than
the high-volume free-sklyarov list.  It is much easier to keep up with
any of these.

Again: PLEASE STAY IN TOUCH with your regional group, if you have one.
The turnout last Monday was excellent; it can be matched or exceeded,
but only if you stay in contact with others in your area.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Alex Fabrikant has obtained a mailing address for Dmitry Sklyarov:

   Dmitry Sklyarov (note "aka Skylarov")
   North Las Vegas Dept of Detention/Correction
   2222 Constitution Way / North Las Vegas, NV 89030

Note that Sklyarov could be moved at any time, so you may send him
letters, but it's not guaranteed that he will receive them.  This
address was confirmed as valid as of Thursday.

Sklyarov would no doubt enjoy receiving your messages of
encouragement.  It's probably not particularly fruitful to make
requests of him (what with his being locked up in jail).

Also note that prison officials are permitted to read his mail, as
well as to censor certain kinds of correspondence.  I don't know
whether mail in Russian will be delayed; the prison officials would no
doubt be happier if you wrote in English.

If he is moved to San Jose, it should be straightforward to get a new
address and pass that along.  We can all hope that the EFF's
discussions today at Acting U.S. Attorney Shapiro's office are
successful and that there will be no need for any future mailing
address outside of Moscow.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The EFF has a meeting at the U.S. Attorney's office in San Francisco
first thing Friday morning (the same office which is the target of
independent protests scheduled for Monday, and some actions called for
Saturday).

http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/20010725_eff_sklyarov_announce.html

You can contact the U.S. Attorney's office to express your opinion
(please be polite and so on; you may want to read some of the items on
the reading list below).

http://www.usaondca.com/

If the EFF makes an announcement, it will be forwarded here.  Presumably
protests will go ahead through the weekend and on Monday unless Dmitry
Sklyarov is actually released.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I've been working on a "reading list on harms from the DMCA"; I
forwarded a sample to protest organizers after I heard the good news
that our Seattle contingent has arranged a meeting with Senator Maria
Cantwell.

The question is, when somebody who's not familiar with the DMCA asks
"So what's so bad about this?  Doesn't it just protect authors and
artists?  What's the problem?", it can be hard to think of how to
answer.  Yes, you know that a programmer is in jail -- and that hurts
Dmitry Sklyarov and the public, but how does it hurt the public?

My list so far includes

(1) "The Right to Read" by Richard M. Stallman.

http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html

(The important thing about this story is that it was written before
the DMCA was even proposed!)

(2) "Re-evaluating Copyright: The Public Must Prevail" by Richard M.
Stallman.

http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/reevaluating-copyright.html

What is copyright, and what is it meant to accomplish?  How can we
tell whether it is meeting its goals?

This was also written before the DMCA; Stallman argued that copyright
law had _already_ gone too far.

(3) "What's Wrong With Copy Protection" by John Gilmore.

http://www.toad.com/gnu/whatswrong.html

(4) My own "What's Wrong With Adobe DRM", an unpublished draft I sent
to an Associated Press reporter.  Also, John Gilmore's comments on my
draft.

(5) "An eBook Publisher on why Mueller should free Dmitry Sklyarov" by
Brad Templeton.

http://www.templetons.com/brad/free.html

One of the earliest and most successful on-line commercial publishers,
EFF chairman, and supporter of copyright explains some of the
difficulties arising from the DMCA and some parts of the industry's
move toward DRM.

I am looking for other suggestions for good basic documents to help
get people up to speed for talking to the public, the press, and
politicians about these issues.  Other possibilities are some of the
USACM documents about the DMCA, and some of Pamela Samuelson's
articles.  These are mostly more technical and may be difficult for
people who are not intimately familiar with the details of copyright
law.

I'm particularly interested in simple, straightforward explanations of
DRM which don't rely heavily on analogies.  The trouble for many
people is in getting past "this protects copyrights" to "this allows
publishers to cripple, or micromanage, consumers' use of technology"
(and then "so what?").

----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org> | Its really terrible when FBI arrested
Temp.  http://www.loyalty.org/~schoen/ | hacker, who visited USA with peacefull
down:  http://www.loyalty.org/   (CAF) | mission -- to share his knowledge with
     http://www.freesklyarov.org/      | american nation.  (Ilya V. Vasilyev)