The United States of America v. Elcomsoft is a criminal trial in 2001 of the violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by Elcomsoft and Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov, in particular [1] [2] . The process was resolved by the removal of charges against Sklyarov and Elcomsoft .
Dmitry Sklyarov developed a program to bypass Adobe 's Advanced eBook Processor program against illegal copying and converted the book file to PDF without actually hacking [3] [2] [4] . In July 2001, Dmitry and Andrey Malyshev made a report at DEF CON-9, the next day they were detained by FBI agents, following a complaint from Daryl Spano, a representative of the anti-piracy unit Adobe Systems [1] [2] [4] [3] . In the process of developing the case, Adobe withdrew the complaint and the US Department of Justice began to act as the prosecutor .
In the trial, Dmitry was supported by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) [5] . Lawyers secured a release on bail, on a recognizance not to leave Northern California, and then the opportunity to leave for Russia [5] . After Dmitry testified, the charges were dropped and he returned to Russia .
The charges in this case concerned the sale of a program that could circumvent technological protection for copyrighted material in violation of Section 1201 (B) (1) (A) & (C) Section 17 of the United States Copyright Act and Section 2 (aiding and conspiracy ) Section 18 of the United States Act ( Penal Code ).
The sale of the program resulted in the closure of the largest American online bookstore from June 26 to 27, until Adobe released a new version of eBook protection; Amazon.com, at the same time, did not close after updating the security on June 29th [6] .
Content
- 1 Process History
- 2 Contribution to judicial practice
- 3 notes
- 4 References
Process History
On June 20, 2001, the Russian company Elcomsoft launched the Advanced eBook Processor program, which circumvented eBook protection against illegal copying and converted the book file to PDF [2] [4] , without actually hacking [2] [4] [3] . The program was positioned as legal, working with files that are legally owned by the buyer [1] [2] [4] .
The sale of the program resulted in the closure of the largest American online bookstore from June 26 to 27, until Adobe released a new version of eBook protection; Amazon.com, at the same time, did not close after updating the security on June 29th [6] .
A few days later, Elcomsoft received a letter from the Adobe anti-piracy unit asking them to remove the program from the Internet in five days, and the next day (at the request of Adobe), the hosting provider of the Elcomsoft website turned off the site, and two days later the RegNow payment system stopped accepting payments [ 1] . Elcomsoft transferred the site to another hosting and uploaded the program for free access, stopping sales, arguing that "in Russia people are not judged for links" [2] [4] . Elkomsoft CEO Alexander Katalov accused Adobe of irresponsible release of a crack-resistant program, promising to be able to break "a maximum of half an hour" [2] [4] [6] .
In July 2001, Elcomsoft programmer Dmitry Sklyarov was arrested in Las Vegas, speaking at the “hacker forum” DEF CON-9 [1] [2] [4] [3] . The newspaper Vedomosti notes indicativeness in this arrest, since there are already many cases of arrest of Russian hackers, and, for example, there are no arrests of Chinese or Arab colleagues, as Chelyabinsk lawyers confirm [1] [2] . In history, DEF CON is the first detention of a speaker and the first in history under the new Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) [1] [2] .
The FBI agent who arrested Sklyarov said that he had been detained on the complaint of the representative of the anti-piracy unit Adobe Systems, Daryl Spano, and the Russian person faces up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $ 500,000 for violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) - the American intellectual property law property [2] . At the same time, the FBI co-rapporteur and colleague Sklyarov Andrei Malyshev was released after detention [2] . According to US laws, the program removed protection from files, which was enough to arrest Sklyarov [2] .
The arrest of the programmer Elcomsoft played in favor of the company: attendance increased three times; the website posted a call to buy one of Sklyarov’s Advanced PDF Password Recovery developments to “help him get out of jail” [2] .
Adobe withdrew its complaint, but the United States Department of Justice (in accordance with the authority of local US Attorney Robert S. Muller , future director of the FBI ) refused to drop the charges .
The day after his arrest, several websites began to organize protests, many of them put forward the slogan "freedom to Dmitry" . The main goal of these campaigns was that alleged violations, interpreted as violations in the USA, are not such in Russia, and that Sklyarov was arrested for what was completely legal in his jurisdiction . Adobe 's boycott campaign has also been launched .
On July 19, 2001, the Association of American Publishers published a press release announcing their support for the arrest . Adobe initially supported the arrest of a third-party employee, but then at a meeting with the Electronic Borders Fund , it stated that it recommends the authorities release him. . However, Adobe continued to support the case against Elcomsoft. .
Sklyarov was arrested and placed in a pre-trial detention center in North Las Vegas; he was then transferred to the Oklahoma City pre-trial detention center until August 3, 2001, when he was transferred to the Federal Institution in San Jose, California . On August 6, 2001, Sklyarov was released on bail of $ 50,000 with a ban on departing from Northern California. .
For 5 months, Dmitry was supported by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), thanks to which he spent only a month in custody and was released on bail of $ 50,000 in early August, first with a recognizance not to leave Northern California, and then a commitment return from Russia to testify in the case of the company [5] . EFF also pointed out that Adobe was unable to adequately protect its product, and Sklyarov honestly told everyone who wanted to know why the protection was bad [5] . The first attempt to apply the DMCA (adopted in the USA in 1998) revealed the main problem of the law: opponents of tough measures are more numerous and consistent in action than supporters [5] . As a result of the trial, the DMCA could have proved the unconstitutionality of the law; in case of loss of Elcomsoft - 2.25 million US dollars [5] .
At the same time, the Russian State Duma began considering amendments to the “On Copyright and Related Rights” with more stringent amendments than in the DMCA [7] . According to the State Duma Security Committee, the amendments contain useful provisions, but one of the articles is criticized by lawyers [7] . Elcomsoft's lawyer Igor Motzny pointed out the absence of exceptions to the proposed law, which is the DMCA, and the fuzziness of the law is even more noticeable than in the American version [7] .
Elcomsoft's lawyers, pointing to unconstitutionality, spoke about the vagueness of the law, that the law is contrary to freedom of speech, protected by the first amendment; that the legal goals of the program are ignored - making copies for private purposes or scoring for the blind; the law also does not define the instruments that it prohibits [7] .
The US government has agreed to withdraw all charges against Sklyarov, provided that he testifies at the trial of his company . Then he was allowed to return to Russia on December 13, 2001. .
On December 17, 2002, after a two-week trial in San Jose, California, a federal jury found Elcomsoft innocent of all four counts. [8]
Contribution to Judicial Practice
The case is extraordinary in that the case concerned the individual prosecution of a citizen of another state for activities completely legal in his country (Russia), causing him moral suffering without compensation for moral damage in the United States [9] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Alexander Boreyko The terrible revenge of Adobe // Vedomosti July 18, 2001
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 David and Adobe . vedomosti.ru . Vedomosti (July 19, 2001). Date of treatment May 13, 2018. Archived May 13, 2018.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Julie Hilden, The First Amendment Issues Raised by the Troubling Prosecution of e-Book Hacker Dmitry Sklyarov , a column in FindLaw.com, Friday, August 21, 2001, retrieved on November 17, 2008
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 What was that? . vedomosti.ru . Vedomosti (July 19, 2001). Date of treatment May 13, 2018. Archived May 13, 2018.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Person of the week: Prisoner of Liberty December 17, 2001
- ↑ 1 2 3 Yuri Granovsky. Defenseless eBook . vedomosti.ru . Vedomosti (July 3, 2001). Date of treatment May 13, 2018. Archived May 13, 2018.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Alexander Boreyko The DMCA Law is being cloned in Russia // Vedomosti April 3, 2002
- ↑ The Man Who Quarreled with Adobe, 2012 .
- ↑ Electronic Frontier Foundation , Can the US even have jurisdiction over Dmitry and / or ElcomSoft for developing software in Russia that is perfectly legal to distribute in Russia? .
Links
- Manchester United. Indictment archived by the Electronic Borders Fund
- Adobe charges against Elcom LLC
- Electronic Borders Fund
- Russian accused of copyright infringement in California. (archived)
- First indictment of Russian national companies in San Jose, California (archived)
- Russia Concludes Copyright Agreement with United States (Archival)
- Free Dmitry Sklyarov (archived)
- American court acquitted Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov
- Dmitry Sklyarov: I just helped people
- Interview. Dmitry Sklyarov. The Man Who Quarreled With Adobe // Hacker . - 2012. - No. 156 (1) .
- Case file