[Free-sklyarov-uk] Press Release: UK Free Dmitry Sklyarov Protest

[Anton Chterenlikht]

Friday 3!!! August (NOT  4)!!!
anton


"Julian T. J. Midgley" wrote:

> Below is the text of the press release I intend to send to the Register
> and other news agencies this afternoon.
>
> If you have any criticism or comments, please let me know within the next
> half hour, and I'll revise it before sending it out at around 1230 today.
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Julian
>
> For Immediate Release:
>
> There will be a protest held outside the US Embassy in London, on Friday 4
> August, calling for the immediate release of Dmitry Sklyarov, a Russian
> programmer who was arrested by the FBI for creating software which
> circumvented the copyright protection mechanism in Adobe's eBook Reader.
>
> Adobe has since issued a joint statement with the Electronic Frontier
> Foundation calling for Mr Sklyarov's release, but the US Department of
> Justice still has Mr Sklyarov in custody, and appears to intend to proceed
> with the trial.
>
> The UK protestors strongly believe that Mr Sklyarov's arrest was unlawful
> and unnecessary.  He is charged with trafficking in a copyright
> circumvention mechanism, despite the fact that the software he wrote was
> sold by the company he worked for (through a US reseller) and not by him
> himself.  Furthermore, the law he is alleged to have broken, the DMCA
> (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) makes illegal in the US activities
> considered entirely lawful in most other nations, including Britain and Mr
> Sklyarov's native Russia.
>
> The DMCA destroys the right to fair use, and makes those who point out
> flaws in the security algorithms and protocols of other companies liable
> to prosecution.  It is clear that the DMCA needs revision (in a separate
> case, a Professor Felten is suing to have parts of it declared
> unconstitutional), and it is quite unreasonable to leave Dmitry Sklyarov
> languishing in a US prison whilst the Americans resolve the problems with
> this ill-thought law.  Dmitry Sklyarov should not be a test case, he
> should be a free man!
>
> Those interested in joining the protest on Friday will find more details
> on the web at:
>
> http://uk.freesklyarov.org/
>
> and are encouraged to join the UK Free Sklyarov mailing list at:
>
> http://mailman.xenoclast.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/free-sklyarov-uk
>
> --
> Julian T. J. Midgley                    http://www.xenoclast.org
> Cambridge, England.                       PGP Key ID: 0xBCC7863F
>
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