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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