[Free-sklyarov-uk] Oringal Press release from US Attorneys office

[Ackroyd, Dan]

>From http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/can/press/html/2001_12_13_sklyarov.html


-------------------------
Snippets here - full text below.

"For its part, the United States agreed to defer prosecution of Mr. Sklyarov
until the conclusion of the case against Elcomsoft or for one year,
whichever is longer."

Er, so that means the case is not dropped just deferred.


"Mr. Sklyarov will be prohibited from violating any laws during the year,
including copyright laws."

Er, so he doesn't get special permission to break laws ? :-? Hey, he's spent
some nights in prison....he must have 'earned' the right to commit a little
crime ? How about littering....that's a little law.

"Elcomsoft, remains charged in the case, and the Court in that matter has
set hearings for various motions on March 4, 2002, and April 1, 2002." 

I don't think this case will get resolved for _years_. There's not that much
of a dispute about what actually happened, it's just the interpretation of
whether it's illegal or not....and it seems that the US government don't
want to see this case resolved quickly, and so it isn't going to be sped
through the courts or through the appeals. Let's hope Elcomsoft have the
resolve (and the ca$h) to keep fighting this.

cheers
dan

-------------------------

11th Floor, Federal Building
450 Golden Gate Avenue, Box 36055
San Francisco, California  94102

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
 Tel: (415) 436-7200
Fax: (415) 436-7234
 
  
 December 13, 2001

The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California
announced  that Dmitry Sklyarov entered into an agreement this morning with
the United States and admitted his conduct in a hearing before U.S. District
Judge Whyte in San Jose Federal Court.

Under the agreement, Mr. Sklyarov agreed to cooperate with the United States
in its ongoing prosecution of Mr. Sklyarov's former employer, Elcomsoft Co.,
Ltd.  Mr. Skylarov will be required to appear at trial and testify
truthfully, and he will be deposed in the matter.  For its part, the United
States agreed to defer prosecution of Mr. Sklyarov until the conclusion of
the case against Elcomsoft or for one year, whichever is longer.  Mr.
Sklyarov will be permitted to return to Russia in the meantime, but will be
subject to the Court's supervision, including regularly reporting by
telephone to the Pretrial Services Department.  Mr. Sklyarov will be
prohibited from violating any laws during the year, including copyright
laws.  The United States agreed that, if Mr. Sklyarov successfully completes
the obligations in the agreement, it will dismiss the charges pending
against him at the end of the year or when the case against Elcomsoft is
complete.

Mr. Sklyarov, 27, of Moscow, Russia, was indicted by a federal Grand Jury on
August 28, 2001.  He was charged with one count of conspiracy in violation
of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, and two counts of trafficking
for gain in technology primarily designed to circumvent technology that
protects a right of a copyright owner in violation of Title 17, United
States Code, Section 1201(b)(1)(A), and two counts of trafficking for gain
in technology marketed for use in circumventing technology that protects a
right of a copyright owner in violation of Title 17, United States Code,
Section 1201(b)(1)(A).

In entering into the agreement with the government, Mr. Sklyarov was
required to acknowledge his conduct in the offense.  In the agreement, Mr.
Sklyarov made the following admissions, which he also confirmed in federal
court today:

"Beginning on a date prior to June 20, 2001, and continuing through July 15,
2001, I was employed by the Russian software company, Elcomsoft Co. Ltd.
(also known as Elcom Ltd.) (hereinafter "Elcomsoft") as a computer
programmer and cryptanalyst.  

"Prior to June 20, 2001, I was aware Adobe Systems, Inc. ("Adobe") was a
software company in the United States.  I was also aware Adobe was the
creator of the Adobe Portable Document Format ("PDF"), a computer file
format for the publication and distribution of electronic documents.  Prior
to June 20, 2001, I knew Adobe distributed a program titled the Adobe
Acrobat eBook Reader that provided technology for the reading of documents
in an electronic format on personal computers.  Prior to June 20, 2001, I
was aware that documents distributed in the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader
format are PDF files and that specifications of PDF allow for limiting of
certain operations, such as opening, editing, printing, or annotating. 

"Prior to June 20, 2001, as a part of my dissertation work and as part of my
employment with Elcomsoft, I wrote a part of computer program titled the
Advanced eBook Processor ("AEBPR").  I developed AEBPR as a practical
application of my research for my dissertation and in order to demonstrate
weaknesses in protection methods of PDF files.   The only use of the AEBPR
is to create an unprotected copy of an electronic document.  Once a PDF file
is decrypted with the AEBPR, a copy is no longer protected by encryption.
This is all the AEBPR program does.

"Prior to June 20, 2001, I believed that ElcomSoft planned to post the AEBPR
program on the Internet on the company's website www.elcomsoft.com.  I
believed that the company would charge a fee for a license for the full
version of the AEBPR that would allow access to all capabilities of the
program.

"After Adobe released a new version of the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader that
prevented the initial version of the AEBPR program from removing the
limitations or restrictions on an e-book, I wrote software revisions for a
new version of the AEBPR program. The new version again decrypted the
e-document to which it was applied.  The version of this new AEBPR program
offered on the Elcomsoft website only decrypted a portion of an e-document
to which it was applied, unless the user had already purchased a fully
functional version of the earlier version and had both versions installed on
the same machine.  The new version was developed after June 29, 2001. At
that time, Elcomsoft had already stopped selling the program. The version of
this new program offered on the Elcomsoft website did not provide a user
with an opportunity to purchase it or convert it to a fully functional one,
and was developed as a matter of competition.

"On July 15, 2001, as part of my employment with Elcomsoft, I attended the
DEF CON Nine conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.  At the conference I made a
presentation originally intended for the BlackHat conference that
immediately preceded the DefCon Nine in July 2001 in Las Vegas, Nevada.  The
same group of people organizes both BlackHat and DefCon Nine.  Since there
was no available slot for a presentation at BlackHat at the time when the
paper was sent for the committee consideration, the organizers of both
conferences suggested that the paper be presented at the DefCon rather than
at BlackHat.  The paper that I read at DefCon is attached as  Exhibit A.  A
principal part of my presentation is comprised of my research for the
dissertation.  In my presentation when I said "we", I meant Elcomsoft."

Mr. Sklyarov's employer, Elcomsoft, remains charged in the case, and the
Court in that matter has set hearings for various motions on March 4, 2002,
and April 1, 2002.  

The prosecution of Elcomsoft is the result of an  investigation by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Scott Frewing and Joseph Sullivan of the
Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property ("CHIP") Unit are the Assistant
U.S. Attorneys who are prosecuting the case with the assistance of legal
technician Lauri Gomez.  

A copy of this press release and key court documents filed in the case may
also be found on the U.S. Attorney's Office's website at
www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.

All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's Office should be directed to
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. Jacobs at (415)436-7181 or Assistant U.S.
Attorney Ross Nadel, Chief of the CHIP Unit, in San Jose at (408)535-5032.

 



Dan Ackroyd
Programmer, Intelligent Games. 
IG House, Palliser Road, London, W14 9EB, UK.
Email: dackroyd at ea.com	Internet: www.igl.co.uk
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