The Case of Dmitry Sklyarov:
Sklyvarov is a Russian programmer who gave a presentation at DefCon 9,
a convention dealing with the security of computer systems. Skylvarov's
talk was "eBooks Security: Theory and Practice"; the eBook is
a file format promoted by Adobe for "secure" transfer of electronic
books. Sklvarov detailed the flaws in the encryption scheme and highlighted
a program to turn eBook files into regular PDF (unecrypted) files. Adobe
didn't like that, so they set the FBI onto him. The programmer was arrested
and detained without bail.
- The actual PowerPoint presentation.(Clicking
this will initiate a download.)
- The Justice Department press
release.
- The actual complaint
filed.
- A statement
by the Electronic Frontier Foundation
about the arrest.
- A story
on Reuters about the arrest (2001 Jul 17)
- A story
on the New York Times about the arrest (2001 Jul 18)
- The Gallery of
Adobe Remedies (maintained by Dave
Touretzky) giving software solutions to the illegitimate restriction
on Fair Use of eBook files.
- A follow-up
in the New York Times, focusing on how this case is generating controversy.
(2001 Jul 23) A telling quote on the role corporations
have begun to play in the government:
Adobe officials said the company had pushed the government to arrest
Mr. Sklyarov because it felt that it was unlikely to succeed in a
civil lawsuit against the Moscow company he worked for, ElcomSoft.
- On the Net there's an electronic
petition circulating.
- Wired reports
on the opinion of, among others, Rep.
Howard Cobble, original sponsor of the DMCA. Not surprisingly, the
congressman is quite pleased with the FBI's actions. (2001
Jul 25)
- Yahoo has a Reuters
story on the release of Sklyarov on $50,000 bail.
(2001 Aug 6).
- The Chicago Tribune, in an
article on the failure of ebooks, gives a nice background and summary
of the Sklyarov brouhaha. (2001 Aug 9)
- The New York Times has another
article, explaining how the Sklyarov case showcases contradictions
in the DMCA. (2001 Aug 13)
- Sklyvarov entered a plea of Not Guilty, as covered in the
New York Times and the Boston
Globe. (2001 Aug 31)
- Oh, and if the irony weren't clear enough: Russia has now warned
its programmers that travel to the United States may put them in danger
of arrest. (2001 Aug 31).
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Doctor Felten, the RIAA,
and Academic Freedom:
Around 2001 April 23, Professor Edward Felten and his group of encryption
researchers planned to address the Fourth International Information Hiding
Workshop in Pittsburgh. Felten's group had discovered serious flaws one
of the "watermarking" schemes of the Secure Digital Music Initiative
(SDMI), a music industry group attempting to control distiribution of music
online. The SDMI sent a threatening letter
to Felten, convincing him to withdraw the planned paper but sparking a lawsuit
in the process. That's when the Electronic
Frontier Foundation got involved.
- An article
on CNET at the start
of the controvery (2001 April 23)
- CNET describes
a lawsuit filed by Felten and supported by the Electronic Frontier
Foundation. (2001 June 6)
- A follow-up
article on CNET about plans by the EFF to pursue the suit despite back-pedaling
by the RIAA and SDMI. (2001 July 19)
- The legal
filing by the EFF and the response
of the RIAA in court, alleging that no injury has been done and thus that
Felten has no standing.
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Guilty Until Proven Innocent: DMCA and the Up-Ending
of American Law
The "safe harbor" provision of the DMCA has always been worrisome.
(See a separate article as to why.) As usual,
DMCA proponents claimed that the most noxious elements would "of course"
never actually occur. "Trust us", they said, "we'd never
abuse the law in such a way." Of course, they do.
- Salon has an
article about someone whose ISP pulled their accounts on erroneous
information from the MPAA. (2001 Aug 22)
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