FC: "Free Dmitry" protests still on; Publishers laud prosecution

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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

"Pravda" article:
http://english.pravda.ru/usa/2001/07/18/10431.html

More-or-less master list of protest sites:
http://www.boycottadobe.com/pages/rallies.html

"Adobe Tries to Quell Protest":
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,45437,00.html

---

http://www.publishers.org/home/press/index.htm

     for immediate release

     July 19, 2001
     Allan Adler, 202-220-4544
     Amy Gwiazdowski, 202-220-4550

     Publishers Hail Government Action Against Russian Ebook Hackers

     Washington, DC: The nation's largest association of book and
     journal publishers today hailed the actions of the U.S. Department
     of Justice in arresting and charging a Russian cryptographer for
     trafficking in software that was primarily designed to "hack"
     technological safeguards that prevent unauthorized copying and
     distribution of ebooks.

     The actions at issue were taken in accordance with provisions of
     the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which was enacted by
     Congress in 1998 to implement two international copyright treaties
     that were adopted by the World Intellectual Property Organization
     (WIPO) and endorsed by the United States and nearly 100 other
     nations two years earlier. Among other things, the DMCA prohibits
     the manufacture or distribution of products or services that are
     primarily designed or produced to circumvent technological
     protection measures used by copyright owners, thereby meeting the
     treaties' requirement that signatory countries provide "adequate
     legal protection and effective legal remedies against
     circumvention" of such measures.

     According to news reports and documents filed by the Justice
     Department in the case, Dmitry Sklyarov is the alleged author of a
     program, "Advanced eBook Processor," which was designed to unlock
     and strip the technological protection measures from the "eBook
     Reader" produced by Adobe Systems Incorporated. Sklyarov, who was
     arrested a day after addressing a "hackers convention" in Las Vegas
     on the subject of this software, is an employee of ElcomSoft, a
     Russian software company that has allegedly been selling the
     software through its website.

     Pat Schroeder, President and Chief Executive Officer of the
     Association of American Publishers (AAP), hailed the Justice
     Department's actions as consistent with the DMCA's
     "anticircumvention" provisions and the underlying Congressional
     intent to promote the availability of books and other copyrighted
     works on the Internet and in other digital formats.

     According to Mrs. Schroeder, "It's only common sense to expect
     that, if the public wants desirable books to be available online
     and through other digital media like the Adobe Reader, the authors
     and publishers who have the legal rights to commercially exploit
     such works in the global digital marketplace must have reasonable
     assurances that the market value of their works can be protected
     from the extraordinary risks of illegal reproduction and
     distribution that are made possible by the capabilities of digital
     media. Congress understood this when it enacted the DMCA to help
     promote the online availability of copyrighted works."

     "Distribution of the means to strip ebooks of their access and
     copyright protections is not a public service, any more than it
     would be a public service to distribute the keys that unlock a
     bookstore or public library," Mrs. Schroeder said. "It merely
     facilitates theft, and makes it less likely that ebooks will soon
     become a popular reading format."

     The Association of American Publishers is the national trade
     organization of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP's 310
     members include most of the major commercial publishing houses,
     along with many small and medium-sized houses, university presses,
     and scholarly societies. Among the Association's top priorities is
     the protection of intellectual property rights in all media.

                                    ###




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