| eBook Hacker Arrested, Adobe Has PR Problems | |
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"The DMCA says that companies can use technology to take away fair use, but programmers can't use technology to take fair use back. Now the government is spending taxpayer money putting people from other countries in jail to protect multinational corporate profits at the expense of free speech." Jennifer Granick, Stanford Law
On July 16 ,2001, after giving a presentation on ebook security at the Defcon-9 conference in Las Vegas, Dimitry Sklyarov, a 27 year old computer programmer and PhD candidate at Moscow State Technical University, was arrested by the FBI on charges of distributing a product designed to circumvent copyright protection measures. If convicted, he could face penalties of up to 5 years in jail and fines of $500,000.
Sklyarov, a native of Russia, is the programmer behind Elcomsoft's Advanced Ebook Processor software, which converts copy protected Adobe eBooks in to unrestricted PDF files. His case is one of the first criminal charges related to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), which prohibits the use, manufacture, importation, of any technology, product or service which is primarily designed to circumvent a protective copyright control. While creating and selling a program like AEBPR is perfectly legal in Russia, Adobe and the FBI are pursuing Sklyarov because, through the Internet, the program was available to citizens of the United States, where the DMCA is law.
Sklyarov, oddly enough, was not responsible for selling the software in the US - the company he works for was - so it's hard to see the reasoning behind the his arrest. It's also impossible to say if the program was the cause of any copyright infringement at all, since Elcomsoft stopped selling the product shortly after receiving a threatening letter from Adobe. They claim only 10 copies were sold, and those users may well have legitimate uses for the product.
Sklyarov's arrest has been decried by civil rights organizations, computer professionals, security experts, and even some authors and publishers. Protests have been scheduled around the world at Adobe offices, and nearly every media outlet covering the arrest and protest thus far has been sympathetic towards the Russian programmer. What Adobe probably thought would be a simple 'good guy against hacker' issue is turning into a public relations nightmare.
A boycott against Adobe products has already been initiated by some online activists, and some members of the Free-Sklyarov Email list report that they have sent back their Adobe software, many have emailed the company to voice their disapproval.
Adobe does have at least one ally in this case. The Association of American Publishers (AAP) whose members include many of the large media conglomerates who lobbied for the DMCA in the first place, has come out strongly on the side of Adobe and the FBI.
Pat Schroeder, President and Chief Executive Officer of the AAP, hailed the Justice Department's actions as consistent with the DMCA's "anticircumvention" provisions saying, "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."
But not all publishers are taking the same stance. The Electronic Publishers Coalition, the largest trade association of electronic publishers in the world, has spoken out against the arrest. "Persecution of an individual shouldn't be any company's response to a commercial disagreement, especially regarding copyright," said the EPC executive director Connie Foster.
Foster went on to note: "Some people think Adobe has to pursue this type of action to reassure publishers their content is safe. But what publishers need to know is that Adobe understands the technology and its current limits, and the problems with its own software, and that it understands what our customers -- that is, readers -- need and what the immature e-book industry needs in order to grow."
UPDATE!
Adobe, Electronic Frontier Foundation Call for Release of Russian Programmer
SAN JOSE, Calif.--July 23, 2001--Adobe Systems Incorporated and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today jointly recommended the release of Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov from federal custody.
Adobe is also withdrawing its support for the criminal complaint against Dmitry Sklyarov.
"EFF praises Adobe for doing the right thing," said Shari Steele, EFF Executive Director. "We are pleased to see that Adobe has lived up to the high standard of integrity that has made the company successful. While we don't agree on every detail of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), we look forward to working together with Adobe to secure Dmitry's immediate release."
"We strongly support the DMCA and the enforcement of copyright protection of digital content," said Colleen Pouliot, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Adobe. "However, the prosecution of this individual in this particular case is not conducive to the best interests of any of the parties involved or the industry. ElcomSoft's Advanced eBook Processor software is no longer available in the United States, and from that perspective the DMCA worked. Adobe will continue to protect its copyright interests and those of its customers."
Sklyarov was arrested July 16 on a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California under the DMCA. ElcomSoft is the Moscow-based company employing Sklyarov.
http://www.math.niu.edu/~caj/adobe.html
