Russian Programmer in a California Jail
CHICAGO, IL - July 21, 2001

On July 16, Russian citizen Dmitry Sklyarov was arrested in Las Vegas
for a violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998.  The
criminal act he allegedly committed was the authoring of a program that
allowed users of Adobe eBooks to utilize them in "fair-use" ways such as
archival copying. Sklyarov was in Las Vegas to present a paper at the
9th annual DefCon computer security conference.  His paper explained how
several of Adobe Systems' encryption mechanisms for the eBook format
were fundamentally flawed and weak - a discovery with far-reaching
ramifications for eBook users.  Sklyarov's case is unique in at least
two distinct ways.  Firstly, his is the first case that is being treated
as a felony under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.
Secondly, Sklyarov is a foreign national, making this arrest an
international incident.

In a similar case in April, a group of researchers at Princeton
University led by Dr. Edward W. Felten withdrew a presentation of their
findings from the annual Information Hiding Workshop Conference.  Dr.
Felten's group discovered methods for removing copyright protection
watermarks from music samples as part of a legitimate contest sponsored
by the organization that developed those techniques.  Shortly before the
conference and their presentation, Dr.  Felten's group received threats
of legal action from the Recording Industry Association of American
(RIAA), a recording industry group.  As a result, Dr. Felten has filed
suit against the RIAA for infringing his right to publish, as
granted by the first ammendment.  The results of the suit are pending,
but it appears that the Supreme Court may eventually hear this case and
it could last as long as a decade.

At the heart of Sklyarov's arrest, the threats against Prof. Felten, and
the underlying issues is the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA)
itself.  This law represents -- for perhaps the first time in the
history of the United States -- a legal regime in which the discovery
and publication of a security flaw is a crime.  The law is harmful in
two different ways. First, the actions taken against Sklyarov and Felten
are unconstitutional breaches of the first amendment. Also, because the
acts in question are now a crime in the United States, existing flaws in
security systems are 'protected' from ever being fixed.  While Congress
clearly intended to benefit society by preventing the unauthorized use
of resources, that is not in fact the practical effect.  Instead,
malicious usage will continue due to the existence of unpatched flaws,
and end users at home will not be able to perform legal actions such as
creating archival backups.

In addition, true computer criminals will continue to use these
"security holes," and thus society is exposed to increased risk of more
treacherous acts such as identity theft, fraud, and digital vandalism.

Rick Boucher (D, Virginia) was quoted on NPR as saying: "Circumvention,
even to exercise legitimate rights such as the fair use rights that
courts have upheld repeatedly over the years, is still a criminal
offense [according to the DMCA]. I think in passing this measure,
Congress did not contemplate the misuse of the provision, which is now
rather apparent given the arrest, and I think it does tend to build a
case for substantial reform."

Dmitry Sklyarov is currently in Federal custody without bail for an
action that is not illegal in his home country.  In the meantime, his
wife and two young children wait while the U.S. legal system slowly
grinds its gears -- the most hopeful outcome being a quick release and
flight home to Russia.

Meanwhile, protest groups comprised of information technology
professionals and freedom-concerned citizens have been organizing in
numerous cities around the country, including a growing group here in
Chicago. These groups have been organizing non-violent protests in their
home cities urging the release of Dmitry Sklyarov and the repeal of the
DMCA.

The first national protests on July 23rd were concurrent with
negotiations between the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Adobe
Systems, Incorporated regarding Dmitry's imprisonment. Later that day,
Adobe and the EFF released a joint press release calling for the release
of Dmitry and stating that "the prosecution of this individual in this
particular case is not conducive to the best interests of any of the
parties involved or the industry."

This led to the EFF's talks with the U.S. Attorney's office in San
Francisco on Friday the 27th of July. Unfortunately, those talks yielded
no change in the Department of Justice's position.

The third wave of protests is being planned in response to the U.S.
Attorney's office continued prosecution of this case.

The protest organizers for Chicago are:

Nate Riffe -- inkblot@geocities.com

Peter A. Peterson II -- pedro@tastytronic.net home: 773-478-6897 work:
773-244-5545

More information can also be obtained at:

http://www.freesklyarov.org/ 
http://www.eff.org/
http://ufo.chicago.il.us/free-sklyarov/