[sklyarov-chicago] [nick@zork.net: [CrackMonkey] [thumbtack1348@home.com: [free-sklyarov] Dmitry Reaches Agreement]]
Peter A. Peterson II
pedro@tastytronic.net
Fri, 14 Dec 2001 12:39:07 -0600
Here is a more full press release.
Thank you all for your work in not letting this slip through the
cracks. It is *my* opinion that the DOJ is using this as an
opportunity to let Dmitry off the hook in a way that saves their face
-- but if they really wanted to prosecute him, and thought they had a
case, they wouldn't offer to let him go like this.
I think that the worldwide activity had a collective effect on the
actions of the DOJ, even if our individual protests didn't.
SO thank you.
Peter
----- Forwarded message from Nick Moffitt <nick@zork.net> -----
From: Nick Moffitt <nick@zork.net>
To: <crackmonkey@crackmonkey.org>
Subject: [CrackMonkey] [thumbtack1348@home.com: [free-sklyarov] Dmitry Reaches Agreement]
Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 15:18:33 -0800
This came over free-sklyarov today. Yes, it was truncated at the last
phone number.
----- Forwarded message from Bill Evans <thumbtack1348@home.com> -----
This from the U.S. Att'y. in SFO:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 13, 2001
The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District
of California announced that Dmitry Sklyarov entered into an
agreement this morning with the United States and admitted his conduct
in a hearing before U.S. District Judge Whyte in San Jose Federal
Court.
Under the agreement, Mr. Sklyarov agreed to cooperate with the
United States in its ongoing prosecution of Mr. Sklyarov's former
employer, Elcomsoft Co., Ltd. Mr. Skylarov will be required to appear
at trial and testify truthfully, and he will be deposed in the matter.
For its part, the United States agreed to defer prosecution of Mr.
Sklyarov until the conclusion of the case against Elcomsoft or for one
year, whichever is longer. Mr. Sklyarov will be permitted to return
to Russia in the meantime, but will be subject to the Court's
supervision, including regularly reporting by telephone to the
Pretrial Services Department. Mr. Sklyarov will be prohibited from
violating any laws during the year, including copyright laws. The
United States agreed that, if Mr. Sklyarov successfully completes the
obligations in the agreement, it will dismiss the charges pending
against him at the end of the year or when the case against Elcomsoft
is complete.
Mr. Sklyarov, 27, of Moscow, Russia, was indicted by a federal
Grand Jury on August 28, 2001. He was charged with one count of
conspiracy in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371,
and two counts of trafficking for gain in technology primarily
designed to circumvent technology that protects a right of a copyright
owner in violation of Title 17, United States Code, Section
1201(b)(1)(A), and two counts of trafficking for gain in technology
marketed for use in circumventing technology that protects a right of
a copyright owner in violation of Title 17, United States Code,
Section 1201(b)(1)(A).
In entering into the agreement with the government, Mr.
Sklyarov was required to acknowledge his conduct in the offense. In
the agreement, Mr. Sklyarov made the following admissions, which he
also confirmed in federal court today:
"Beginning on a date prior to June 20, 2001, and continuing through
July 15, 2001, I was employed by the Russian software company,
Elcomsoft Co. Ltd. (also known as Elcom Ltd.) (hereinafter
"Elcomsoft") as a computer programmer and cryptanalyst.
"Prior to June 20, 2001, I was aware Adobe Systems, Inc. ("Adobe") was
a software company in the United States. I was also aware Adobe was
the creator of the Adobe Portable Document Format ("PDF"), a computer
file format for the publication and distribution of electronic
documents. Prior to June 20, 2001, I knew Adobe distributed a program
titled the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader that provided technology for the
reading of documents in an electronic format on personal computers.
Prior to June 20, 2001, I was aware that documents distributed in the
Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader format are PDF files and that
specifications of PDF allow for limiting of certain operations, such
as opening, editing, printing, or annotating.
"Prior to June 20, 2001, as a part of my dissertation work and as part
of my employment with Elcomsoft, I wrote a part of computer program
titled the Advanced eBook Processor ("AEBPR"). I developed AEBPR as a
practical application of my research for my dissertation and in order
to demonstrate weaknesses in protection methods of PDF files. The
only use of the AEBPR is to create an unprotected copy of an
electronic document. Once a PDF file is decrypted with the AEBPR, a
copy is no longer protected by encryption. This is all the AEBPR
program does.
"Prior to June 20, 2001, I believed that ElcomSoft planned to post the
AEBPR program on the Internet on the company's website
www.elcomsoft.com. I believed that the company would charge a fee for
a license for the full version of the AEBPR that would allow access to
all capabilities of the program.
"After Adobe released a new version of the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader
that prevented the initial version of the AEBPR program from removing
the limitations or restrictions on an e-book, I wrote software
revisions for a new version of the AEBPR program. The new version
again decrypted the e-document to which it was applied. The version
of this new AEBPR program offered on the Elcomsoft website only
decrypted a portion of an e-document to which it was applied, unless
the user had already purchased a fully functional version of the
earlier version and had both versions installed on the same machine.
The new version was developed after June 29, 2001. At that time,
Elcomsoft had already stopped selling the program. The version of this
new program offered on the Elcomsoft website did not provide a user
with an opportunity to purchase it or convert it to a fully functional
one, and was developed as a matter of competition.
"On July 15, 2001, as part of my employment with Elcomsoft, I attended
the DEF CON Nine conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. At the conference I
made a presentation originally intended for the BlackHat conference
that immediately preceded the DefCon Nine in July 2001 in Las Vegas,
Nevada. The same group of people organizes both BlackHat and DefCon
Nine. Since there was no available slot for a presentation at
BlackHat at the time when the paper was sent for the committee
consideration, the organizers of both conferences suggested that the
paper be presented at the DefCon rather than at BlackHat. The paper
that I read at DefCon is attached as Exhibit A. A principal part of
my presentation is comprised of my research for the dissertation. In
my presentation when I said "we", I meant Elcomsoft."
Mr. Sklyarov's employer, Elcomsoft, remains charged in the
case, and the Court in that matter has set hearings for various
motions on March 4, 2002, and April 1, 2002.
The prosecution of Elcomsoft is the result of an
investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Scott Frewing
and Joseph Sullivan of the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property
("CHIP") Unit are the Assistant U.S. Attorneys who are prosecuting the
case with the assistance of legal technician Lauri Gomez.
A copy of this press release and key court documents filed in
the case may also be found on the U.S. Attorney's Office's website at
www.usdoj.gov/usao/can <http://www.usaondca.com>.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's Office should be
directed to Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. Jacobs at (415)436-7181
or Assistant U.S. Attorney Ross Nadel, Chief of the CHIP Unit, in San
Jose at (408
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