The Chicago Free Sklyarov Protest: When: Monday, August 13, 2001 from 11 AM to 1 PM Central Time Where: At the public plaza across from the federal building downtown. The address is: Everett McKinley Dirksen Federal Building 219 South Dearborn Street Suite 905 Chicago, IL 60604 and we will be meeting near the big orange Calder statue at 11:00 on Monday morning. This is what the statue looks like: http://www.a1focus.com/arch/calder.htm These are the issues we will be raising: 1) Support Dmitry Sklyarov's Case 2) Repeal the DMCA (details below) IMPORTANT NOTE: If anyone has any well-written material that clearly explains how and why Adobe is in the wrong that we can pass out, please bring it. We have refrained from raising the "Boycott Adobe" issue in the past because the facts were not completely clear at the time of our previous protests. Various information has been revealed since then and the only thing we lack is an even-handed summary of Adobe's actions and clearly puts them in violation of an average person's ethics. Background: Dmitry Sklyarov is a Russian graduate student seeking a PhD and studying data security. His research has led him to examine the eBook format developed by Adobe, and he discovered that the encryption used in this format is incredibly weak (ROT-13, for those who are curious). In the course of this discovery, he developed a program, the Advanced eBook Processor, which converts an eBook into a PDF file. His employer, Elcomsoft, sold this program over the Internet for a brief period, and during that time, Adobe was able to purchase a copy from Elcomsoft in the United States. Sklyarov was scheduled to present a paper at the 9th annual DefCon conference in Las Vegas on Monday, July 16. His paper and his presentation contained detailed explanations of the flaws in the eBook format. After his presentation, FBI agents arrested Sklyarov at the airport for violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. This law makes the manufacture, distribution, and trafficking of an access control circumvention device illegal, and makes the sale of such a device a felony. He is officially charged with trafficking in an illegal circumvention device for commercial gain (a felony), which as we know is a half-truth. The law also makes specific exemptions for academic research and, perhaps most importantly, the activities cited in his arrest warrant did not occur in the United States, but in Russia, where they are legal. There have been prior instances of DMCA violations. Sklyarov's is unique in two ways. 1) This is the first arrest under the DMCA's criminal portions. Previous violations were handled as civil suits, whereas Sklyarov is charged with a felony. 2) Sklyarov is a foreign national (he is Russian), and the act he committed is not illegal is any other nation, including Russian, where it was performed. His arrest under this law has become an international incident, with stories reported in worldwide news outlets such as the BBC, New York Times, and Chicago Tribune. Our complaints about the DMCA are two-fold. First of all, it is a glaring breach of our first amendment rights. Sklyarov is first and foremost an academic researcher, exempt from the DMCA, and a previous victim, Dr. Edward Felten of Princeton University, has been barred from presenting academic results in the SDMI Challenge at research conferences. Monied interests in various industries have taken these actions in fearful self-defense, to the detriment of science and technology. Secondly, the DMCA is materially harmful to society. Under the DMCA it is criminal to discover and openly discuss a flaw in a security system which is designed to control access to information. The net effect of this provision is that flaws in such systems are 'protected' from ever being fixed. The result is an accumulation of security systems which don't secure anything, due to their flaws, placing people at risk of such treacherous acts as identity theft and fraud. Our belief is that the proper way to handle a flaw in a security system is not to punish the discoverer, but to publicly announce the flaw, so that it is fixed as soon as possible. This opposing policy is often refered to as 'full disclosure'. Our priorities are as follows: 1) Drop charges against Dmitry Sklyarov (even if this requires a presidential pardon) 2) Repeal the DMCA (it is harmful to science and society) What you can do as a demonstrator: ---------------------------------- FIRST of all, if you intend to join us for the Chicago protests, subscribe to the sklyarov-chicago mailing list here: http://ufo.chicago.il.us/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sklyarov-chicago/ This is where we will be discussing our plans and strategies. SECONDLY, PLEASE MAKE A SIGN FOR THE PROTEST. Make it big and as sturdy as possible, with big lettering and a short slogan (4 words or less) like, "FREE DMITRY" or "REPEAL THE DMCA". If you can, make two or three. I recommend heavy tagboard and a wooden handle. Even cardboard would make a sturdier back -- but make sure you put white paper on it first for MAXIMUM VISIBILITY. THIRDLY: Do you have legal access to a printer or a copier? We have handout posters and information available here: http://two-bit.northpark.edu/free-sklyarov/ Pictures of Dmitry and his family are available here: http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/Graphics/ If you make a poster, save it in a .jpg format and email it to me so that others may use them. If you can print some posters or signs, please do so and let the sklyarov-chicago list know so that we can coordinate our efforts! FOURTHLY, Please dress appropriately for a public demonstartion. No obscenities or "innapropriate dress". T-shirts and shorts are fine -- casual clothing is better. As sad as it is, our appearance WILL have an effect on our audience. We want them to hear about this injustice -- today is not the day to be shocking or make a fashion statement. SIXTH, If you have personal contacts in any of the news media around town, contact them and send them the Reuter's feed, our poster, this message, or direct them to http://www.freesklyarov.org/ -- we want media coverage of our demonstration. It's GOOD but NOT GOOD ENOUGH just to hand out 500 leaflets. The TV or radio or newspaper interviewing demonstrators will reach many more people than our small group can. FINALLY, be on time, and be ready to be courteous but intensely committed to disseminating this information to the American Public. Do you even KNOW any non-computer users who have even HEARD of the DMCA? We must maket his a national issue -- the DMCA strips the rights of the American Citizen. It's already stripped the rights of a Russian. Questions and comments can be directed to inkblot@geocities.com or pedro@tastytronic.net CANCELLATION ------------ If at any time during the protest, it appears that our goals will be compromised by violence, immaturity, or sabotage, the coordinators of the event will not hesitate to call off the event and send everyone home. There are important issues at stake, most importantly the release of Dmitry Sklyarov. It is in our best intrest to present ourselves in a civil, orderly manner.