DMITRY SKLYAROV UPDATE

EFF Continues Efforts to Win Release for Sklyarov

Rallies Planned for August 6th

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Free Dmitry Sklyarov! are coordinating renewed protests against the arrest of Russian software engineer Dmitry Sklyarov. Dmitry was arrested in Las Vegas on July 16, 2001 by the FBI after presenting a scientific 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 developing software that unlocks 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).

The Wizard believes 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 before Magistrate Judge Edward A. Infante, Mon., Aug. 6, at 11am PT.

Dmitry Sklyarov's wife and two young children wait in Russia for his return.

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). Once again the judge 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.)

The EFF has Requested that Supports take the following actions:

• Attend the 10am-to-noon+ protest rally at the San Jose Federal Building (or one of the protests in other areas).
  
• Attend the bail hearing and help pack to courtroom to show the judge that this is an important issue that real people care about.
  
• Contact your legislators about this issue. Let them know that 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
  
• Join EFF! For membership information see: http://www.eff.org/support/
  

Dmitry Sklyarov. Dmitry was arrested for violating the DMCA, when the computer program he wrote in Russia where it is not only legal, but actually required under Russian law.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation contributed to this report.