Author: JT Smith
of the arrest of Russian software engineer Dmitry Sklyarov. Dmitry
was
arrested in Las Vegas on July 16 by the FBI after presenting a paper
on cryptography software he developed in Russia. The US Attorney for
the Northern District of California (i.e., the Dept. of Justice) has
filed criminal charges against Dmitry in Calif., under the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) for providing software that decrypts
Adobe eBook files so that their content can be accessed in ways that
Adobe’s own software does not provide (e.g. text-to-speech
translation
for the blind). We believe that this prosecution is a reprehensible
assault on the free expression rights of programmers (and ultimately
of end users), under a law that will not withstand constitutional
scrutiny.
Dmitry has been held in custody from his arrest, until the present
time. He is finally being transferred to San Jose, and will have
another bail hearing at the San Jose Federal Building, San Jose, CA,
before Magistrate Judge Edward A. Infante, Mon., Aug. 6, at 11am PT.
At a bail hearing there are two issues: Is the person likely to
continue committing the alleged crime, and is the person a flight
risk
(unlikely to return to court). In this case the real issue is flight
risk, since Sklyarov is a citizen of another country and has no ties
(job, property, family) to the United States. He already had a bail
hearing in Las Vegas (in the district where he was arrested), but is
entitled to another one upon his arrival in San Jose (in the
district
where he will be tried). The judge in such a case will look at the
defendant’s circumstances and determine whether there are any
safeguards or combination of safeguards that will ensure that the
person will come back to court and not become a fugitive from trial.
What this means for Dmitry Sklyarov is that it will be very hard for
him to get out of jail pending trial unless he can come up with some
real ties to this district and/or some other means of ensuring he
remains in the U.S. for trial can satisfy the District Attorney and
the court (e.g., electronic location-tracking bracelet, house
arrest,
etc.)
What YOU Can Do:
Building (or one of the protests in other areas).
judge that this is an important issue that real people care
about.
the
questionably constitutional DMCA is being abused to threaten and
now even arrest and charge innocent academics and programmers.
For
information on how to contact your legislators and other
government officials, see EFF’s “Contacting Congress and Other
Policymakers” guide at:
http://www.eff.org/congress.html.
http://www.eff.org/support/.
Attend the Monday, Aug. 6, protest
We will be meeting at 9:30-9:50am PT in
downtown
San Jose at the snake sculpture, “Quetzalcoatl”, which is at the
south
end of Cesar de Chavez Park, at the corner of South Market St. and
West San Carlos St. Cesar de Chavez Park is across San Carlos from
the
Hyatt St. Claire Hotel, and about a block from the First Street
location of the Federal Building.
We will then march to the front steps of the Federal Building
(courthouse) at 280 South First Street and begin our protest at
10:00am sharp, and continue through until at least noon. (The
hearing
itself will begin at 11:00am and continue at the judge’s discretion.
Some may move from the protest to the court room, but we need enough
people to turn up to keep a large and visible protest going
throughout
the hearing.)
Additional protests will probably be organized all over the United
States (several are already in the works), and in other countries.
If
you can make it to one of them, please show up to show your support
for online freedom of expression and for Dmitry Sklyarov! These
sites
will have the latest information about the additional protests:
http://www.freesklyarov.org/ and
http://www.freedmitry.org/.
Transit to protest
VTA light rail: Take the Santa Teresa/Baypointe line to the
Convention
Center stop. Trains run approximately every 10 minutes. The
convention
center is on the south side of the street; walk 1/2 block east on W.
San Carlos St. to the snake. VTA light rail schedules:
http://www.vta.org/schedules/SC_901.html.
Caltrain: Transfer from Caltrain to the Santa Teresa/Baypointe light
rail line at the Tamien station. CalTrain schedules:
http://www.transitinfo.org/cgi-bin/map_sched/CT.
Driving: Downtown San Jose is easily accessible from US 101, Interstate 280,
and California 87. See the URL below for maps and recommended
routes: http://maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py?addr=S+Market+St+and+W+San+Carlos+St&csz=Sa
n+Jose%2C+CA.
Map to get to courthouse directly: http://www.cand.uscourts.gov/cand/courtinfo.nsf/6f311f8841e7da24882564050068
27f0/f3b46c67b334132e88256682007f6ba9?OpenDocument.
Parking: Parking is available on Second Street right across from the
courthouse
(Valley Parking), not too far from Original Joe’s restaurant. Also,
an
inexpensive pay parking lot is available at the San Jose Convention
Center, across San Carlos from the snake sculpture. The entrance is
from Almaden Blvd., one block west.
Event contacts:
Dan Martinez
dfm@area.com
+1 408-768-3649 (cell)
Alternate:
Jo Hastings
jo@havenco.com
+1 510-798-5040 (cell)
+1 415-282-6964 (land line)
There are also actions planned for Monday, August 6, in Boston, St.
Louis and Pittsburgh. Details at:
http://freesklyarov.org/calendar/.
See this site also for updates about the details of the San Jose
protest.
What to bring
Please bring a sign, and/or or a U.S. or Russian flag, and a cell
phone if you have one. Keep signs simple (4 words is ideal) so that
they are easy to read for people passing by.
“Drop the charges” and “Free Dmitry” are examples.
For graphics to add to signs, see:
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/Graphics/
Help pack the courtroom
You can help impress upon the judge just how important and
closely-watched this case is, by appearing in-person for the
hearing.
We want to the completely pack the courtroom.
The hearing is at 11:00am PT, Mon., Aug. 6, at the San Jose Federal
Building (courthouse), 280 South First Street, San Jose, CA, in the
courtroom of Magistrate Judge Edward A. Infante, Courtroom 7, 4th
floor. Arrive early – You will not be admitted after the hearing
begins if you arrive late.
Important: Consider this a “dress-up day” – suits, or
business-casual
at worst. NO T-SHIRTs. We must show as much respect to and for the
court as possible. No picket signs in the courtroom, no outbursts.
See protest info above for maps, transit and parking information.
Campaign for Audiovisual Free Expression and Blue Ribbon Campaign for Online Free Speech
This drive to free Dmitry Sklyarov is part of larger campaigns to
empower the creative community in the digital age by protecting the
public’s access to and use of audiovisual technologies (CAFE), and
to
protect online freedom of speech and press (Blue Ribbon).
Check the EFF CAFE & Blue Ribbon campaign websites regularly for
additional alerts and news:
http://www.eff.org/cafe/ and
http://www.eff.org/br/.
Background
For more information about the US v. Sklyarov Case see:
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/.
For yet more information on the DMCA see:
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/.
Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers) About the US v. Sklyarov
Case:
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/us_v_sklyarov_faq.html.
About EFF:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties
organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded
in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and
government to support free expression, privacy, and openness in the
information society. EFF is a member-supported organization and
maintains one of the most linked-to Web sites in the world:
http://www.eff.org.
