FREE DMITRY!
On July16, FBI agents arrested an innocent man, Dmitry Sklyarov.
The law under which Dmitry is charged, the notorious Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is again proving harmful to civil liberties and software development. Dmitry's work makes it possible for legitimate users to make fair use of e-books, and could make it possible for visually impaired users to use them with Braille terminals and text-to-speech software. And, while Dmitry is a Russian citizen, working for a Russian company, living in Russia, attending school in Russia, and undertaking his research in Russia, Adobe convinced the FBI to arrest him for actions that are perfectly legal there. Dmitry is the father of two small children. This case is not about copyright infringement. Dmitry has not been charged with making any illegal copies. His work simply allows the legitimate purchaser of an ebook to translate it from one digital format into another. Further, his work is legal in Russia, where the program was written. His employer sold the program in the United States. He only wrote a program that was totally legal in his country and gave it to his employer. HE HAS COMMITTED NO CRIME. The FBI should not be using our tax dollars to persecute law-abiding citizens of other countries who visit the USA to participate in conferences. "The U.S. government for the first time is prosecuting a programmer for building a tool that may be used for many purposes, including those that legitimate purchasers need in order to exercise their fair use rights." -- Robin Gross, Electronic Frontier Foundation "The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a gift to the well-financed entertainment and software industries, trashed the public interest. It gave copyright owners the right to assert absolute control over copyrighted material, effectively allowing them to prevent the public from asserting a variety of traditional user's rights, including the ``fair use'' of making personal copies. In this week's case, Adobe Systems sicced the cops on the Russian programmer, Dmitry Sklyarov, who'd written and was selling software that broke Adobe's encryption method for the Acrobat software it uses for what it calls eBooks. Sklyarov, in Las Vegas at a security conference, was arrested after giving a talk on -- you guessed it -- security measures in electronic books. -- Dan Gillmor, San Jose Mercury News “… The DMCA infuriates civil libertarians and many computer experts. They say the law limits the public's right to make copies for legitimate purposes. ''On the whole, I find it to be pretty ironic that the US government is prosecuting a Russian citizen merely for exercising his right to free speech, and enabling people to read books,'' said New York City physician Kenneth Stein…. But at least one member of Congress doesn't think Sklyarov's actions should be illegal. '‟I think there's a growing sense that the legislation is overly broad, „ said Representative Rick Boucher, a Virginia Democrat…. 'Librarians and people at universities are very concerned about the overreach of this section,'‟ said Boucher…” --Hiawatha Bray, Boston Globe
What You Can Do to Help Dmitry
1. Make a donation to the EFF at http://eff.org. 2. Go to http://www.freesklyarov.org 3. Call or write your congressional representatives. Here are the numbers: Hon. Ben Nighthorse Campbell 380 Russell Senate Office Washington, DC 20510 (202) 224-5852 (phone) (202) 224-1933 (fax) administrator@campbell.senate.go v Sen. Wayne Allard 525 Dirkson Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-0605 (202) 224-5941 (phone) (202) 224-6471 (fax) Diana DeGette 1530 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515-0601 (202) 225-4431 (phone) (202) 225-5657 (fax) degette@mail.house.gov Joel Hefley 2230 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515-0605 (202) 225-4422 (phone) (202) 225-1942 (fax) Scott McInnis 320 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515-0603 (202) 225-4761 (phone) (202) 226-0622 (fax) Bob Schaffer 212 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515-0604 (202) 225-4676 (202) 225-5870 rep.schaffer@mail.house.gov Thomas Tancredo 418 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515-0606 tom.tancredo@mail.house.gov Mark Udall 115 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515-0602 mark.udall@mail.house.gov