FC: Feds refuse to "Free Dmitry"; ACM letter to publishers

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

The Association for Computing Machinery is a member of the Association of 
American Publishers. AAP has applauded Dmitry Sklyarov's arrest 
(http://www.politechbot.com/p-02288.html). ACM is not happy. (Keep reading.)

Politech archive on U.S. v. Sklyarov:
http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=sklyarov

Background:
http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=01/07/19/2332232

-Declan

********

Electronic Frontier Foundation
For Immediate Release: July 27, 2001

EFF Rejoins Protests After Meeting with US Attorney's Office

San Francisco, CA - Representatives of the Electronic
Frontier Foundation (EFF) met with representatives of the
U.S. Attorney's office in San Francisco today. There was a
productive dialog, however the U.S. Attorney's office gave
no indication of dropping the prosecution against Russian
programmer Dmitry Sklyarov.

"The people from the U.S. Attorney's office heard our
concerns and asked probing questions about the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act," explained EFF's Executive
Director Shari Steele. "However, they did not give any
indication of their plans for Dmitry, so we encourage
everyone to keep up the pressure and join the protests."

Having explored good faith negotiations, the Electronic
Frontier Foundation rejoins the call for nonviolent
protests worldwide to secure the immediate release
of Dmitry Sklyarov and drop all criminal charges against
him.

A protest is already scheduled in San Francisco for
11:30am this Monday, July 30, at the Federal Courthouse
at 450 Golden Gate Ave. Additional July 30th protests
are scheduled in Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and
Minneapolis, and future protests will likely occur
in 25 or more cities worldwide in coming weeks.

********

Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2001 11:57:21 -0700
From: Barbara Simons <simons () acm org>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>

Declan,

USACM, the public policy committee of ACM, just sent a the
following letter to the AAP expressing concern over the AAP's
support for the DMCA in general and the arrest of Russian
cryptographer Dmitry Sklyarov in particular.
(ACM is a member of AAP).

Links to the letter, the AAP, and USACM statements on
the DMCA and other intellectual property issues can be
found under Recent Activities and News at
http://www.acm.org/usacm/.

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

July 26, 2001

The Honorable Patricia S. Schroeder
President & CEO
Association of American Publishers
50 F Street, N.W., 4th Floor
Washington, D.C.  20001

Dear Ms. Schroeder:

As you know, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a member of
the Association of American Publishers (AAP).  As the Co-Chairs of the U.S.
Public Policy Committee of ACM, we are concerned by the APP statement
released on July 19, 2001, which hailed the U.S. Department of Justice's
recent arrest of a Russian cryptographer for allegedly violating the
anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act
(DMCA).  We would like for the AAP to be aware that ACM has consistently
opposed the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA.  In our view, the
overly-broad provisions impede the progress of research in cryptography and
other computer security areas by criminalizing multi-use technologies
rather than narrowly penalizing infringing behavior.

ACM has been shifting its publication operations from paper-only to
electronic distribution and we understand the importance of reasonable
copyright protections.  ACM is an educational and scientific computing
society comprising computing professionals from all areas of industry,
academia, and government.  As such, we strongly support the freedom of
computer scientists to engage in research, and to exchange ideas and
information fundamental to the progress of innovation.  The need for free
communication and fair-use of information are vital to the processes of
education and research.

During consideration of the DMCA by the U.S. Congress and the subsequent
rulemaking process, ACM recommended that the anti-circumvention provisions
of the legislation be revised to restrict only circumvention directly
involved in infringement.  We further elucidated other flaws of the Act,
including:

* failure to permit circumvention for "fair-use" purposes is inconsistent
with the fundamentals of copyright law and deters individuals from
conducting bona fide forms of science and technology research that is
fundamental to innovation;

* exempting encryption research from the anti-circumvention provisions is
too limited as the majority of computer security research does not involve
encryption;

* permitting reverse engineering for the sole purpose of interoperability
may criminalize development of software engineering tools and technology
with other uses; and,

* anti-circumvention exemptions that permit circumvention to obtain
authorized access to a work are meaningless if access mechanisms and tools
cannot be used to do so.

Unfortunately, our concerns were not satisfactorily addressed as the DMCA
was enacted or as the implementation rules were promulgated.  As a result,
scientists are now finding themselves in a position where they must consult
attorneys to determine if their previously legitimate research might be in
violation of the DMCA.  In some instances, the threat of legal action under
the DMCA has deterred scientists from publishing scholarly work or even
publicly discussing their research.  Certain foreign scientists and
international members of ACM have indicated they will not attend
conferences in the U.S. while the law is in force.  We are clearly seeing
evidence that the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA have proven to
have a chilling effect on U.S. scientific and research enterprise.

While we recognize that the AAP works to protect the interests of book and
journal publishers by advocating strong copyright protection in digital
environments, we urge you to recognize the distinction between
circumvention for the purpose of obtaining unauthorized access to a work
and circumvention for the purpose of making a non-infringing use of a
work.  In addition, we would hope you would agree that absent some clear
criminal intent, technologists should not be penalized for conducting
research that is crucial to developing and testing copyright protection
systems, security software, and better software engineering tools.

In light of your recent release indicating support for the
anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA, we respectfully inquire if the
AAP shares the concerns that ACM and other professional societies and
research leaders have expressed regarding the Act's chilling effect on
research and scientific freedom?

We look forward to your reply.  Please contact Jeff Grove, Director of the
ACM Public Policy Office at (202) 659-9711, if you have any questions or
wish to discuss our concerns.

Sincerely,

Barbara Simons, Ph.D.
Eugene H. Spafford, Ph.D.

Co-Chairs
U.S. ACM Public Policy Committee (USACM)
Association for Computing Machinery

*******

Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2001 23:17:13 -0700 (PDT)
From: PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility <pfir () vortex com>
To: declan () well com
Subject: PFIR Press Release: The DMCA and the Arrest of Dmitry Sklyarov
Cc: lauren () pfir org, neumann () pfir org


        PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org

        PFIR Press Release: The DMCA and the Arrest of Dmitry Sklyarov

                               July 26, 2001

                      http://www.pfir.org/dmca-arrest


While the People For Internet Responsibility (PFIR) formal statement on the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) has yet to be released, events
surrounding the recent arrest and criminal prosecution of Russian national
Dmitry Sklyarov here in the U.S. demand immediate comment.  (The details of
the case have been widely reported and will not be repeated herein.)

The ease and speed with which valuable digital materials can be duplicated
and distributed internationally have created a substantive change in the
structure of intellectual property rights and controls.  While the
legitimate concerns of content providers need to be understood and
addressed, proper balance needs to be present to ensure that inappropriate
pressures are not asserted that trample on the legal fair-use and
free-speech rights of both individuals and organizations.

When the DMCA was enacted in the United States, many observers expressed
concerns that the law did not represent an appropriate balance, and that it
would have profoundly negative consequences, including but not limited to
international complications, inappropriate prosecutions, and the stifling of
security-related research and publications.  It was also feared (and recent
history seems to confirm) that the DMCA would tend to encourage the
implementation of technically weak, risky, and highly-vulnerable systems --
favoring the threats of lawsuits and prosecutions over the development and
deployment of more robust systems.

Up until now, the most widely-known DMCA-related cases have involved (1) DVD
copy-protection issues, and (2) the free-speech concerns of Edward Felten, a
Princeton professor who wished to publish a paper detailing flaws in digital
music "anti-piracy watermarking" systems.

While these cases involved actual civil lawsuits or the perceived risk of
such suits, the Dmitry Sklyarov arrest and criminal prosecution has
escalated DMCA enforcement to a new, and in this instance at least, highly
inappropriate and alarming level.  It is difficult in the extreme to
postulate a reasonable rationale for Sklyarov's continued treatment in this
situation.  This is particularly true given that Adobe Systems (whose e-book
copy-protection system is at the heart of this case) has now evidently
concluded that proceeding with Sklyarov's prosecution is inappropriate
(though his treatment would still be unsupportable even in the absence of
such a sentiment on the part of Adobe Systems).

It is imperative that both the civil and criminal provisions of the DMCA be
subjected to nonpartisan and rigorous new scrutiny to help ensure that a
sense of balance is restored regarding these important and controversial
areas, and that the rights of everyone involved be preserved.  At an
absolute minimum, it is crucial that criminal sanctions not be applied to
disputes that rightly belong within the sphere of civil law.

In the meantime, the continued detention and criminal prosecution of Dmitry
Sklyarov as relates to the current case cannot be justified.  His treatment
has created a chilling and draconian reality to the previously theoretical
concerns that the DMCA would lead to academics and scientists being led away
in handcuffs and shackles for newly-created criminal offenses of highly
arguable validity.  Ironically for Russian programmer Dmitry, it is probably
not the kind of treatment he was expecting in the land of the free, and the
home of the brave.

Lauren Weinstein
lauren () pfir org
(818) 225-2800
Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy

Peter G. Neumann
neumann () pfir org
(650) 859-2375
Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Moderator, RISKS Forum - http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks
Chairman, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
http://www.csl.sri.com/neumann

*******

----------  Forwarded Message  ----------
Subject: RE: Arrest of Dimitri Sklyarov
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 14:32:54 -0400
From: Amy Gwiazdowski <amyg () publishers org>
To: "'Andrew Lawrence'" <ausage () smoke-and-mirrors net>


Dear Mr. Lawrence:

AAP stands by its press release of July 22 supporting the anticircumvention
provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and commending the
Department of Justice for acting on its responsibility to enforce the DMCA
in the matter of Dmitry Sklyarov.

In response to those who attempt to justify circumventing, or trafficking in
devices that circumvent, encryption and other technological measures that
protect copyright in the digital environment, AAP urges them to carefully
consider how their arguments would apply to precisely the same activities in
connection with encryption and other technological measures used to protect
privacy in that same environment.

Amy Gwiazdowski
AAP

-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Lawrence [mailto:ausage () smoke-and-mirrors net]
Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2001 2:42 AM
To: amyg () publishers org
Subject: Arrest of Dimitri Sklyarov


I have just read the Press Release on your web site concerning the arrest of

Mr. Sklyarov. What Mr Sklyarov did was perfectly legal where I live and Iin
most countries in the world I consider it to a circumvention of restrictions

againts legimate and fair use, to quote Adobe "To prevent unauthorized
reading..." (Readme.htm file included with v2.2 of Adobe Acrobat eBook
Reader).

Correctly me if I am wrong, but I was always under the impression that as
the
purchaser of a book, I am the only person entitled to dermine who is
"authorized to read it".  The last time I read the Canadian Copyright Act,
and even the DMCA, reading was NOT one of the rights reserved to authors.
If I were to purchase an Adobe eBook, I would require Mr Sklarov's program
to
read it since my computer runs the Linux operating system and there is no
eBook Reader for Linux.

The bottom line.  I have already informed Adobe that my company will no
longer purchase Adobe products.  Since you so strongly support Adobe in
their
assault against fair use, neither myself, my family nor my company will
purchase works. electronic or paper, where the intelectual property rights
are owned or controlled by members of the AAP, and I will strongly urge
others to follow my example.  This will be a considerable saving since my
office budget is about $300/month for books and periodicals and my family
budget about $50-100 for the same period.  Furthermore, every time one of my

programmers requests to purchase a book, I inform the publisher, and author
if possible, why I am denying the purchase request.
--
Andrew Lawrence                      <ausage () smoke-and-mirrors net>
President, Smoke & Mirrors         http://www.smoke-and-mirrors.net
134A Leslie Street, Toronto, Ont CANADA M4M 3C7
Tel: +1 416 461 8708    Fax: +1 416 461 1758

*********




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