...and more...
The Electronic Publishers Coalition are protesting the arrest of Dmytri
Skylarov. The EPC are the people that the DMCA is supposedly there to
protect. Here is a bit of interesting background from them about how he
came to his present predicament:
>Sklyarov, a graduate student at Bauman Moscow State Technical University,
>reported at a Las Vegas conference on his research on e-book security
>performed for his dissertation. His research was later incorporated into a
>permissions-removal program called Advanced E-book Processor, or AEBPR, by
>ElcomSoft, a Russian software company that now employs him. The program
>apparently sold fewer than ten copies before being pulled from the market
>at Adobe's insistence. It had not been available commercially for more
>than two weeks before Sklyarov's visit to America.
>
>AEBPR allows users to make backups of legally purchased Adobe eBooks that
>ignore the eBooks' restrictions on copying, printing and lending, if any,
>and permit the eBook to be read on a replacement copy of Adobe eBook
>Reader if the initial installation no longer functions or if the user
>upgrades to a new computer. It does not work with eBooks sold to another
>user. Since under Russian law, such backups are mandatory for data
>sellers, Adobe eBooks contravene the law and AEBPR is legal in Russia, as
>well as in Germany and Scandinavia, and other countries. Its use in the
>U.S. is not permitted under the DMCA, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Some scientists and programmers are now deciding not to go to USA to share
their knowledge and research in conferences on security.
DMCA is really working out to be a right mess.
Cheers,
- Miriam
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Q. What is the similarity between an elephant and a grape?
A. They are both purple... except for the elephant.
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http://werple.net.au/~miriam
http://members.optushome.com.au/miriame
Virtual Reality Association http://www.vr.org.au
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