Indicted Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov pleaded not guilty to
charges of violating the terms of the 1998 Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA) on 30 August.
Sklyarov is facing charges that he trafficked and conspired to
traffic in tools designed to circumvent copy control technologies,
an action made criminal under the DMCA. If convicted, Sklyarov
could serve up to 25 years in prison, and would also be subject to
a fine of up to $2.25m (£1.6m).
Sklyarov's employer, Moscow-based software firm ElcomSoft, was also
indicted by the same grand jury and could be fined as much $2.5m
(£1.7m). A representative of the company entered a plea of not
guilty.
A hearing has been set for 4 September.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has opposed Sklyarov's
prosecution since his arrest, the first criminal prosecution under
the DMCA. The group's legal director, Cindy Cohen, commented: "This
debate should not be happening in a criminal trial when a man's
life is at stake."
Sklyarov is the author of Advanced eBook Processor, an application
that decrypts Adobe Systems eBook Reader format e-books, and allows
them to be printed, copied, backed up and resold. Adobe eBook
Reader files normally do not have those capabilities. Sklyarov was
arrested in July after Adobe complained about Advanced eBook
Processor to the US Department of Justice.
The case has sparked worldwide protests in the weeks since
Sklyarov's arrest. Protestors have called for his release and
charged that the DMCA is unconstitutional, that it abridges free
speech and that it puts an end to the fair use doctrine, a
traditional consumer right that allows for sharing, trading and
limited copying of copyrighted works.
About 30 protestors gathered outside Boston Public Library to make
speeches and hand out leaflets about Sklyarov's case.
C. Scott Ananian, student and organiser of the Boston protests
said, Sklyarov's indictment "just makes us more determined".
Further Information
www.eff.org