[Free-sklyarov-uk] news groups

[Julian T. J. Midgley]

On Thu, 2 Aug 2001, Anton Chterenlikht wrote:

> Does anyone knows a suitable newsgroup(s), where we can post a mesage about our
> protest? I've checked our University, but there is no serious gorups - 1-10
> messages max.

It might be worth sending one to uk.comp.os.linux - feel free to use the
following email to the UK Linux Usergroups as a guide:

You might also want to include some of the text from Richard Kay's recent
post to the list, which went into more detail on the issues involved.

Julian

Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 12:32:57 +0100 (BST)
From: Julian T. J. Midgley <jtjm at xenoclast.org>
To: uklugs at lug.org.uk
Subject: UK Free Dmitry Sklyarov Protest


I'm writing to let you know of the UK "Free Dmitry" protests which are
scheduled to happen tomorrow outside the US Embassy in London.  If you
think it appropriate, I should be very grateful if you would forward the
following to the UK Linux user groups, in the hope that at least some of
the members will be able to make the protests tomorrow.

Announcement: UK Free Dmitry Sklyarov Protest
=============================================

Dmitry Sklyarov's imprisonment in the United States is a matter of
particular concern to the UK Linux community, since many of the pieces of
software we use, from video drivers to Linux DVD players depend on the
reverse engineering of protocols and algorithms which the DMCA makes
illegal.  Those of us in the UK who engage in such reverse engineering, or
cryptography research, and then visit the USA are at risk of being sued or
imprisoned.  Alan Cox resigned his seat on the USENIX Committee, and
called for Conference organisers to hold their conferences outside the
USA after hearing of Dmitry Sklyarov's imprisonment.

We think it important that those in power in the US realise that their
laws are threatening legitimate research and software design, and making
UK citizens think twice about visiting the States.  We are therefore
holding a protest outside the US Embassy at 1300 tomorrow, at which we
will be calling for Dmitry Sklyarov to be freed, and aiming to raise
awareness of the problems surrounding the DMCA.

Full details of the protest (including maps) are available at:

http://uk.freesklyarov.org/

And there is a mailing list which we encourage those interested to join
(whether they can attend the protest or not) at:

http://mailman.xenoclast.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/free-sklyarov-uk

The protesters will be gathering at 1230 at the Hyde Park Corner Tube
Station, and marching from there to the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square at
1300.  The protest will finish at 1530 (after which some of us thought we
might head to the Beer Festival at Olympia).

Julian Midgley

-- 
Julian T. J. Midgley                    http://www.xenoclast.org
Cambridge, England.                       PGP Key ID: 0xBCC7863F