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Homeland (read DMCA) Defenseless
Gov't Will Free Sklyarov In Exchange For Testimony
Federal government attorneys today announced that they would drop a criminal copyright infringement case against Russian software programmer Dmitry Sklyarov in exchange for Sklyarov's testimony in the case against his employer - Russian software firm Elcomsoft.
Sklyarov had faced the threat of a 25-year prison term had he been found guilty of violating the copyright protection language of the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
Keker said that Sklyarov's story in the case has never changed, and added that Sklyarov still believes that neither he nor his company committed a crime by creating and marketing the Advanced eBook Processor.
Shari Steele, the executive director of San Francisco-based civil liberties group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), echoed Keker's comments, praising Sklyarov's exoneration, but blasting the government for clinging to its prosecution of Elcomsoft.
Steele said she was "dismayed" that the government was attempting to extract testimony from Sklyarov, "instead of admitting that they made a terrible mistake by charging him in the first place."
The DMCA establishes civil and criminal penalties for people charged with violating copyrights online. Under the DMCA, people who provide information about how to violate copyrights and those who design tools to crack copyrights can be held just as liable as those who actually misappropriate copyrighted material.

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