[NCLUG] Linux Community joint statement against DMCA
Wells
wells at jymis.com
Wed Jul 25 07:48:28 MDT 2001
Here is an extract from the latest EFF newsletter - Ian
Respected British Scientist Resigns from US-Based Conference-Planning
Committee
Citing Fear of Prosecution under DMCA
UK scientist & programmer Alan Cox, a key member of the USENIX Annual
Linux Showcase (ALS) planning committee, has resigned in the wake of
the arrest of DEFCON presenter Dmitry Sklyarov and legal threats
against USENIX presenter Prof. Edward Felten & colleagues, under the
questionably-constitutional US "Digital Millennium Copyright Act"
(DMCA). Cox sent USENIX the following open letter of resignation:
I hereby tender my resignation to the USENIX ALS committee.
With the arrest of Dimitry Sklyarov it has become apparent that it
is not safe for non-US software engineers to visit the United
States. While he was undoubtedly chosen for political reasons as a
Russian it is a good example for the US public that the risk
extends arbitarily further.
USENIX by its choice of a US location is encouraging other
programmers, many from Eastern European states hated by the US
government, to take the same risks. That is something I cannot
morally be part of. Who will be the next conference speaker slammed
into a US jail for years for committing no crime? Are USENIX
prepared to take the chance it will be their speakers?
Until the DMCA mess is resolved I would urge all non-US citizens to
boycott conferences in the USA and all US conference bodies to hold
their conferences elsehere.
I appreciate that this problem is not of USENIX making, but it must
be addressed.
Alan Cox
Similar resignations of non-US members of US conference- and other
event-planning bodies are increasing, with many more expected. It is
thus crystal clear that the DMCA is having one of the most palpable
"chilling effects" in American history on perfectly legal expression.
EFF remains very concerned about such "secondary effects" of this
legislation, and is committed to seeing it undone.
[Sources: Linux World News & NewsForge
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Linux Community Joint Statement Against DMCA:
Digital Millennium Copyright Act Threatens Researchers
Free Speech, Free Sklyarov
A Community Declaration:
Dmitry Sklyarov, a Russian academic, has been imprisoned after
presenting a scientific paper at the DEF CON computer security
conference. His talk covered the restriction mechanisms used to
prevent people from reading electronic books. He was formally charged
with distributing software that could be used to circumvent copy
protection.
[See press coverage]
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act attacks freedom of speech and
assembly and damages the economic health of the United States.
Sklyarov was arrested by the FBI outside his hotel as he prepared to
go to the airport. The arrest was instigated by Adobe Systems
Corporation.
It is ironic that a Russian national is being held without bail in the
US for what is essentially a thoughtcrime. Through the passage of the
DMCA we have criminalized speech and scientific research about the
structure of computer programs as well as other simple acts such as
reading of books and other media.
The DMCA goes far beyond the need to protect from illegal copies of
books and other media. Since it criminalizes not only the act of
copying but even development and possession of programs which are
capable of reading these media for legitimate use. For example, the
DMCA criminalizes used book stores, in that the DMCA helps publishers
lock up books so tight that the electronic analog of a used book store
would be impossible.
This is not the first time that DMCA has been used as a weapon against
legitimate scientific research. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has
brought suit on behalf of USENIX and Princeton Professor Edward Felten
after the Professor and his research team were threatened with DMCA
prosecution by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America).
This threat was delivered after it became known that Professor Felten
was presenting a paper showing the insecurity of a method of
protecting music, just as Sklyarov was arrested after presenting a
similar paper about electronic books.
The DMCA, in spite of its supposed exception, punishes reverse
engineering. Bans on reverse engineering in the 70s would have made
the PC revolution (and companies like Compaq, Phoenix and Dell)
illegal.
The extremism of the DMCA provisions prohibiting research, development
and publication of tools for distributing and displaying copyrighted
works must be eliminated. These provisions drop an Iron Curtain on the
United States of America. It should never be illegal to make or
discuss such tools.
Noted Signatories (see Other Signatories page:
http://www.dibona.com/dmca/signers/index.shtml
for more):
Larry Augustin - CEO and Chairman, VA Linux Systems
Jeff Bates - Executive Editor, Slashdot.org
Brian Behlendorf - President, Apache Software Foundation, CTO
Collab.net
Chris DiBona - Grant Chair, Linux International
Miguel Di Icaza - Co-Founder and CTO, Ximian Inc.
Nat Friedman - Co-Founder and VP Product Development, Ximian Inc.
Marty Garbus - Attorney, Frankfurt, Garbus, Kurnit, Klein & Selz,
PC
Jon "Maddog" Hall - Executive Director, Linux International
Ed Hernstadt - Attorney, Frankfurt, Garbus, Kurnit, Klein & Selz,
PC
Rob Malda - Founder and Editor, Slashdot.org
Don Marti - Technical Editor, Linux Journal
Bruce Perens - Primary Author, "The Open Source Definition"
Eric S. Raymond - President, Open Source Initiative
Lawrence Rosen - Attorney, Rosenlaw.com and Executive Director,
Open Source Initiative
David Sifry - Co-Founder, LinuxCare, Inc.
Shari Steele - Executive Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation
Brad Templeton - Chairman of the BoardElectronic Frontier
Foundation
Linus Torvalds - Lead Kernel Developer, Linux
Art F. Tyde - CEO, Linuxcare
Bob Young - Co-Founder and Chairman, Red Hat, Inc.
Care to join them?
Sign your name to this declaration as well:
http://www.dibona.com/dmca/signup/index.shtml
Press Contacts:
Don Marti dmarti at zgp.org
Eric S. Raymond esr at thyrsus.com
Bruce Perens bruce at perens.com
Chris DiBona chris at dibona.com
Please note that all of the Press Contacts will be available for
discussion at the O'Reilly Open Source Conference the week of the 22nd
of July.
Resources:
The EFF page on Sklyarov: http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/
The EFF page on Edward Felten: http://www.eff.org/Legal/Cases/
Felten_v_RIAA/
The Free-Sklyarov Mailing list: http://zork.net/mailman/listinfo/
free-sklyarov
EFFector Vol. 14, No. 15 July 22, 2001 editor at eff.org
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
In the 175th Issue of EFFector (now with over 28,000 subscribers!):
For more information on EFF activities & alerts: http://www.eff.org
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