[free-sklyarov] UK programmer letter to US Ambassador

[alfee cube]

what a great letter.

i must point out that last time i was in a theater (in
san francisco's kibuki) and someone yelled fire we all
sat there continuing to watched the movie (a bugs
life:), notwithstanding the smell of smoke!

hopefully, sometime in the not to distant future
individuals will begin rejecting cute, trite, phrases
aimed at restricting our speech! (even if they are
uttered by great jurists.)

PS the cause of the fire was the popcorn machine -
fortunately we did not miss any of the movie or our
popcorn.


i hope sometime in the near future individuals will
begin to realize that speech, regardless of what is
utter or written is protected
--- Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org> wrote:
> Thanks to Richard Kay for this copy of his letter to
> the U.S.
> Ambassador in London.
> 
> ----- Forwarded message from Richard Kay
> <rich at copsewood.net> -----
> 
> [...]
> 
> Copy of letter sent to US Ambassador in London:
> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> 
> 				Richard Kay	
> 				Senior Lecturer in Software Engineering,
> 				Technology Innovation Centre,
> 				University of Central England,
> 				Perry Barr, Birmingham, B42 2SU.
> 				Richard.Kay at uce.ac.uk
> 				Monday 23rd July 2001
> The Ambassador,
> US Embassy,
> 24 Grosvenor Square
> London, W1A 1AE
> 
> Dear Ambassador,
> 
> I am writing to express my disgust concerning the
> way the FBI has conducted itself with regards to
> Dmitry Sklyarov a Russian programmer now wrongfully
> imprisoned in the US.
> 
> Mr. Sklyarov gave a talk at a computer security
> conference in the US on the security weaknesses of
> Adobe's eBook product, which were apparently easily
> discovered. Instead of thanking Mr. Sklyarov for his
> work, the Adobe software company complained to the
> FBI who detained Mr. Sklyarov for allegedly
> violating the Digital Millenium Copyright Act
> (DMCA).
> 
> I do not dispute the principle that copyright
> holders should be free to apply encryption
> technology to secure their works. However, it is
> obvious (thanks to Elcomsoft, the Russian company Mr
> Sklyarov works for) the protection given by Adobe's
> eBook products is  substandard and easily overcome.
> The field of study Mr Sklyarov is engaged in has
> entirely legitimate usages, for example, enabling
> Adobe eBook products to be used by blind people and
> those with other disabilities.
> 
> The imprisonment of Mr Sklyarov -and this use of the
> DMCA - represents a threat to the freedom of
> expression of programmers and software academics
> everywhere, should we express our views on security
> issues affecting substandard products which the DMCA
> is apparently intended to protect and then be
> foolish enough to visit the US. It also presents a
> situation for programmers resident in the US which
> denies them basic freedoms which your constitution
> claims to protect.
> 
> Software academics and programmers such as myself
> can, for certain purposes, only effectively express
> ourselves to our colleagues through the discussion
> and publication of program source code. Suppression
> of this right cannot be justified on the same or
> similar grounds that make slander, libel or shouting
> "Fire" in a crowded theatre offences. Those who deny
> fundamental human rights of freedom of expression
> become tyrants, and the countries they misrule
> become police states. I might also mention that
> developing competitive parts, systems or peripherals
> which comply with proprietary interfaces has long
> been considered fair use rather than a breach of
> copyright.
> 
> Would you imprison consumer product reviewers if
> they published weaknesses in proprietary door locks
> to encourage substandard lock manufacturers to
> improve their products ?  If not, then the DMCA must
> be repealed or amended if the good reputation of the
> US, as a place of freedom of expression and
> democracy, is not to suffer.
> 
> 				Yours sincerely,
> 
> 
> 
> 				Richard Kay
>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> 
> [...]
> 
> ----- End forwarded message -----
> 
> -- 
> Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org>  | Lending,
> printing, copying, giving
> Temp.  http://www.loyalty.org/~schoen/  | and
> text-to-speech are permissions
> down:  http://www.loyalty.org/   (CAF)  | enabled by
> the publisher.  -- Adobe
> 
> _______________________________________________
> free-sklyarov mailing list
> free-sklyarov at zork.net
> http://zork.net/mailman/listinfo/free-sklyarov


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