Supporters of freedom of speech in cyberspace have been demonstrating in the flesh across the United States for the last fortnight. In San Jose, capital of the US high technology Silicon Valley, the New York Times reports that about 100 protesters marched on the headquarters of Adobe, the software company famous for its Acrobat text presentation software. Protests have also taken place in several other US cities.
The issue at stake is an important one for the survival of cyberspace: the arrest and jailing of computer programmer Dmitri Sklyarov. His crime? Speaking to a conference about his research, in breach of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Although the protests forced Adobe to withdraw its support for his imprisonment, he still remains in jail after more than two weeks.
This column has mentioned the DMCA on previous occasions. It is a piece of US legislation that illegalises research and public discussion of research into the security systems that the media industry uses to try to protect its control of "intellectual property". These systems are used to prevent the playing of a US DVD in Australia for example, or to prevent the swapping of music files over the internet. They are similar to the failed anti-copying technologies used to try to police software distribution in the 1980s. In general they are technically poor, or at least not up to the test of security researchers.
Although export of security products has until recently been strongly policed in the US, there is a tradition there that allows discussion and debate on security methods. The DMCA stands opposed to that, stating that it is illegal to criticise bad technology if that criticism allows someone to get around that technology and copy or play the CD, DVD or electronic book (e-book) in question.
Opposed to the DMCA are two groups in particular: security researchers who are interested in finding holes in proposed security systems (the normal way that a robust security system proves its value); and civil libertarian groups that support freedom of academic discussion and intellectual exchange and describe the act as unconstitutional.
Sklyarov is a 26-year-old Russian citizen who works for a company called Elcomsoft in Moscow. He had travelled to the US to present a paper at a conference in Las Vegas on software he had written that showed the security weakness in Adobe e-book copyright protection. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested him at the conference following his presentation. This was the first arrest under the DMCA.
Displaying the arrogance of US corporations, Adobe had previously filed a complaint against the Moscow company (on the basis of US domestic legislation, as the company was breaking no Russian laws) with the FBI. It hadn't been prepared from the hostile response that followed the arrest, however. As the company's lawyer said in supporting Sklyarov's release, "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".
The demonstrations have been supported by the Electronic Frontier Foundation among others, a vocal advocate of civil liberties in cyberspace. Just as the DMCA represents a significant attack on intellectual freedom, the demonstrations are an important real world action in defence of cyberspace freedom. The campaign for Sklyarov's release can be found at <www.freesklyarov.org>.
BY GREG HARRIS (gregharris_greenleft@hotmail.com)