From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Barbara Rhodes
The case of Dmitry Sklyarov, a 26-year-old Russian citizen, Ph.D.
student who studies cryptography, and father of two small children (2
1/2 year old son, 3 month old daughter), involves Advanced eBook
Processor (AEBPR), software developed by Sklyarov's Russian employer
Elcomsoft. According to the company's website, the software permits
eBook owners to translate from Adobe's secure eBook format into the
more common Portable Document Format (PDF). The software only
works on legitimately purchased eBooks and has been used, for
example, by blind people to read otherwise-inaccessible PDF user's
manuals, and by people who want to move an eBook from one computer
to another (just like anyone can move a music CD from the home player
to a portable or car).
Sklyarov was arrested July 17 in Las Vegas, NV, apparently at the
behest of Adobe Systems, according to the DOJ complaint (link at
right). He was charged with distributing a product designed to
circumvent copyright protection measures. He is being held without
bail
at an undisclosed location, and has allegedly been denied access to
Russian consular officials.
Dmitry's colleagues and other reports have said that neither they nor
his
family have talked to him since his arrest, do not know where he is
being held, and do not know where he'll turn up next.
Sklyarov, who was in Las Vegas to deliver a lecture on electronic book
security, allegedly authored a program which permits editing, copying,
and printing of electronic books by unlocking a proprietary Adobe
electronic book format.
Adobe's eBook format restricts the manner in which a legitimate eBook
buyer may read, print, back up, and store electronic books. The
Advanced eBook Processor appears to remove these usage restrictions,
permitting an eBook consumer to enjoy the ability to move the
electronic book between computers, make backup copies, and print.
Many of these personal, non-commercial activities may constitute fair
use under U.S. copyright law. Of course, the Advanced eBook
Processor software may also make it easier to infringe copyrights,
since
eBooks, once translated into open formats like PDF, may be distributed
in illegitimate ways.
Robin Gross, attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF),
explained, "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."
Jennifer Granick, Clinical Director at the Stanford Law School Center
for
Internet and Society, commented that "the DMCA says that companies
can use technology to take away fair use, but programmers can't use
technology to take fair use back. Now the government is spending
taxpayer money putting people from other countries in jail to protect
multinational corporate profits at the expense of free speech."
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