FC: Libertarian Party of SF asks Feds to drop charges against Dmitry

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Fri Aug 10 2001 - 09:55:25 PDT

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    ----- Forwarded message from "Christopher R. Maden" <crismat_private> -----
    
    From: "Christopher R. Maden" <crismat_private>
    Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2001 08:56:45 -0700
    
    Libertarian Party of San Francisco Media Release
    
    LIBERTARIANS CALL FOR DMITRY SKLYAROV'S RELEASE
    
    8 August 2001
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    
    Contact: Christopher R. Maden
    E-mail: crismat_private
    Telephone: +1.415.845.8202
    
    San Francisco, August 8, 2001 - The Libertarian Party of San Francisco 
    joined the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Adobe Systems Inc. in calling 
    for the end of criminal proceedings against Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov.
    
    Sklyarov was arrested in Las Vegas on July 16 for violating the Digital 
    Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), based on a complaint filed by 
    Adobe.  Adobe has dropped the complaint and called for Sklyarov's release, 
    but the US Attorney's Office is continuing the prosecution 
    nonetheless.  Sklyarov is currently free on $50,000 bail pending trial.
    
    "This case demonstrates the immediate dangers of big government," said 
    Christopher Maden, a San Francisco Libertarian and professional ebook 
    consultant.  "When the government is permitted to pass restrictive, 
    unconstitutional laws like the DMCA, it's natural, and even rational, for 
    companies like Adobe to use them to their best advantage."
    
    "What we have here is a modern retelling of the Emperor's New 
    Clothes.  Unlike the Hans Christian Andersen fable, when the little Russian 
    boy tells the world that the Emperor has no clothes, the Imperial Guard 
    beheads the kid before anyone else can hear," said Robert Hansen, a 
    Libertarian and cryptanalyst.  He points out that public exposure is the 
    best way to build secure computer systems; however, the DMCA discourages 
    researchers from publishing their analyses, despite a research exemption in 
    the law.  "In order to protect these anemic security mechanisms, businesses 
    and governments will rely on the brute power of the courts to keep those 
    who understand from sharing their knowledge."
    
    Maden called Adobe's tactics "bullying by government proxy," saying, "Adobe 
    knew that a civil action was more appropriate, but as their general counsel 
    told National Public Radio with a laugh, 'Honestly, we didn't think the 
    likelihood was terribly high of getting any money out of a Russian company' 
    - so they put a man in jail.  The effort backfired and they dropped the 
    complaint, but the Department of Justice wants to show it's tough on 
    'cybercrime,' and who better to demonstrate on than a scary 'Russian hacker'?"
    
    Sklyarov is a 26-year old Ph.D. candidate at the prestigious Bauman Moscow 
    State Technical University.  He is married with two children, a 
    two-and-a-half-year-old son and a three-month-old daughter.  He is charged 
    with "trafficking in forbidden technology," as Maden put it in an article 
    in the LPSF's newsletter, for creating the algorithms in Elcom's Advanced 
    eBook Processor.
    
    Maden wrote, "There are several important reasons to set him free:
    
    "1) He is charged with trafficking in forbidden technology.  He did not 
    sell the program; his employer did.  Although three ElcomSoft employees 
    were at the conference, including the president, it was Sklyarov who was 
    arrested.  It seems obvious that an example is being made of him.
    
    "2) The DMCA specifically allows for narrow fair use exemptions from the 
    civil and criminal violations it defines.  AEBPR will only unlock a book 
    legitimately purchased by the user; it can not be used to steal others' 
    books.  It is thus probable that the program does not even violate the law.
    
    "3) The DMCA is a very bad law.  It has a demonstrably chilling effect on 
    speech...  AEBPR is a tool with legitimate and illegal uses, like a 
    lockpick, a crowbar, a car, and a gun.  Outlawing the tool does not help."
    
    Copyrights were created to encourage authors to publish their work.  The 
    legal doctrine of "fair use" says that, copyright notwithstanding, freedom 
    of speech gives people the right to use copyrighted work in parody, satire, 
    and criticism.  The DMCA lets publishers take those rights away with 
    technology, and outlaws other technology that would restore those 
    rights.  "Now we have the ironic situation of a Russian martyr to freedom 
    trapped in America, thousands of miles from his family, for helping people 
    to read," said Maden.
    
    About LPSF:
    
    The Libertarian Party of San Francisco (www.lpsf.org) is the local 
    affiliate of the Libertarian Party (www.lp.org), the largest "third party" 
    in the United States.  Libertarians believe in personal freedom, in both 
    social and economic spheres, and in minimal government to protect those 
    freedoms.
    
    - end -
    
    # # # 
    
    
    
    
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