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By editorial@silicon.com, 1 August 2001 18:25

COMMENT This Friday protestors will gather outside the US embassy in Grosvenor Square London to demonstrate against the arrest of Russian computer expert Dmitri Sklyarov. Dmitri wrote a piece of software that allows people to change files in Adobe eBook format to Adobe Acrobat files. He never personally sold the software nor is there any evidence that he used the software to break anyone's copyright. As a leading figure in researching encryption and security software he was invited to speak at a hackers conference in Las Vegas last month. So he said goodbye to his wife and two children and caught a flight to the States. He gave his speech and returned to his hotel room to pack. Then the FBI, following a tip-off from Adobe, arrived at his hotel and arrested him. The law under which he was charged is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Two weeks later he is still in jail. Despite the fact that the DMCA is not recognised in Russia where Dmitri's supposed crime occurred. Despite the lack of evidence that any copyright theft occurred and the fact that Adobe, belatedly recognising a PR disaster in the making, called on the Feds to let him go. Dmitri discovered a hole in Adobe's software - they should have thanked him not called on the FBI to sling him in jail. If people are not open about security and virus holes the industry has virtually no chance of stopping this type of thing from happening again. Security does not mean that no-one knows about the holes in your protection, it means that there are no holes in your protection. If people are prevented from talking openly about weaknesses in security systems then these holes will not get patched. The FBI's actions are threatening this vital freedom to point out security weakness.