Free Dmitry Sklyarov!

[Evan Prodromou]

This is an issue only marginally associated with Debian, but I make
the assumption that people involved with Debian are also concerned
with information freedom, freedom of scientific inquiry, and freedom
to stay out of jail. B-)

Dmitry Sklyarov is a Russian programmer who gave a presentation at Def
Con about weaknesses in the security system of the Adobe eBook
platform. Dmitry is also the author of a software utility that allows
legitimate purchasers of eBooks to exercise their fair use rights
(such as reading eBooks on a Linux machine) which are impeded by the
eBook security system.

Adobe Systems, makers of the eBook, filed a complaint with the FBI
about Dmitry under the criminal section of the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA). Based on this complaint, the FBI arrested Dmitry
in Las Vegas on July 16th, 2001, where he has been held without bail
and out of contact with his family in Russia.

There's more info on Dmitry here:

        http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/20010718_eff_sklyarov_statement.html

And an excellent mailing list here (hosted by our very own Nick and
Seth):

        http://zork.net/mailman/listinfo/free-sklyarov/

I don't know how many of the rest of you get squeamish about this
whole circumvention thing, but it sure makes me itchy. As Linux
developers and users, we all know the importance of freedom in choice
of software platform. We also know that exercising that freedom means
using documents or data in software that its original author did not
intend. I think most of us feel that we have a right to operate
software on our own computers in whatever way we see fit, as long as
we do it within the copyright restrictions of the author. "My
computer is my castle." So seeing people arrested for writing software
that uses documents in the "wrong way" is kind of scary.

A number of people in the Bay Area Free Software community will be
participating with the EFF in a protest on Monday, July 23rd in front
of Adobe System's world headquarters to demand that they immediately
drop their complaint and work for the release of Dmitry Sklyarov. The
announcement follows. If you're interested, please come, and please
feel free to pass this information on to others who may be interested.

~ESP

---8<---
Free Dmitry                                           Free Dmitry
                         MARCH ON ADOBE
Free Dmitry                                           Free Dmitry

Monday, July 23, 2001, 11AM-1PM
Downtown San Jose, California, USA

Please join programmers and freedom lovers in San Jose on Monday to
protest the arrest of Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov.  At the
request of Adobe Systems of San Jose, Dmitry was arrested by the
FBI in Las Vegas on July 16th.

"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," said Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney
Robin Gross.

Demonstrations will be held worldwide.  For information on Dmitri's
case and other "Free Dmitry" events, please visit the Electronic
Frontier Foundation web site at http://eff.org/Alerts/

MEET AT THE SNAKE: We will meet in downtown San Jose at the snake
sculpture, Quetzalcoatl, at the south end of Cesar Chavez Park.
Cesar Chavez Park is at the corner of South Market St. and West
San Carlos St., across San Carlos from the Hyatt St. Claire Hotel.
>From the snake we will march the two blocks to Adobe together.

>From VTA light rail: Take the Santa Teresa/Baypointe line to the
Convention Center stop.  Trains run approximately every 10 minutes.
The convention center is on the south side of the street; walk 1/2
block east on W. San Carlos St. to the snake.

>From Caltrain: Transfer from Caltrain to the Santa Teresa/Baypointe
light rail line at the Tamien station.

VTA light rail schedules: http://www.vta.org/schedules/SC_901.html

Driving: Downtown San Jose is accessible from US
101, Interstate 280, and California 87.  
http://maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py?addr=S+Market+St+and+W+San+Carlos+St
&csz=San+Jose%2C+CA

Parking: An inexpensive parking garage is available at the San Jose
Convention Center, across San Carlos.  The entrance is from Almaden
Blvd., one block west.

WHAT TO BRING
Please bring a sign or a U.S. or Russian flag, and a cell phone if
you have one.  Keep signs simple (4 words is ideal) so that they
are easy to read for people passing by.  "Adobe: drop the charges"
and "Free Dmitry" are examples.

Free event T-shirts to the first 50 attendees.

LOCAL EVENT CONTACT
Don Marti <dmarti@zgp.org> 650-962-9601 or 650-743-8035 (cell)

WORLDWIDE CONTACT
Will Doherty, EFF Online Activist <help-sklyarv@eff.org>
+1 415 436-9333 x111
---8<---


-- 
Evan Prodromou
evan@debian.org