<FWD> Russian programmer arrested at hacker conference
- From: sdavies@[redacted]
- Subject: <FWD> Russian programmer arrested at hacker conference
- Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 14:37:18 -0600
[Moderator: The basic story below has been posted here already, but
the URL at the end for the statements of the company who made
the ebook conversion program is new, I think. Further posts
on this topic probably won't be forwarded to the list unless they
include substantial new information, or commentary. - JMO]
From CBC's science webpages:
http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/07/19/hack_arrest010719
<<<
Russian computer programmer arrested at hacker conference
WebPosted Thu Jul 19 15:36:24 2001
LAS VEGAS - The FBI took Dmitry Sklyarov into custody
shortly after he gave a presentation at the DefCon 9
conference in Las Vegas. Sklyarov was arrested for
allegedly disobeying a controversial U.S. copyright law.
The arrest came after ebook maker Adobe complained a
program Sklyarov created removes copy controls on
encrypted electronic books.
In its defence, Sklyarov's employer Elcomsoft said
the eBook Processor only allows people to decrypt
books they bought and want to transfer to devices
other than a PC.
Sklyarov has been charged with breaking the 1998
Digital Millennium Copyright Act, DMCA, which makes
it a crime for anyone to circulate "any technology,
product, service, device, component or part" that
circumvents copy protection systems.
The arrest sparked protests. Some are calling for a
boycott of Adobe, others say the law under which
Sklyarov was charged should be repealed.
Many are calling for action against the DMCA, saying
it's too broad to be effective and tramples on
freedom of speech.
If found guilty Sklyarov could face up to five years
in jail and fines up to $500,000 US.
Written by CBC News Online staff
>>>
Copyright 2001 CBC
All Rights Reserved
More information can be had from Elcomsoft itself. There is a page called
"Advanced eBook Processor - Truth and Myths" and has at the bottom a lot of
links to press coverage about the arrest.
http://www.elcomsoft.com/aebpr.html
Stephen Davies
mailto:SDavies@[redacted]