Russian software co. goes on trial over encryption disabling
By The Associated Press
12.06.02
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A Russian software company and one of its young programmers are on trial for allegedly concocting a moneymaking scheme to "crack" encrypted software produced by Adobe Systems.
Elcomsoft Co. Ltd., its chief executive, Alex Katalov, and programmer Dmitry Sklyarov are charged with selling software that allows users to disable security features in Adobe's eBook reader software, which is used to access digital publications.
"They were selling a burglar tool for software to make a profit," prosecutor Scott Frewing said in his opening remarks to jurors on Dec. 3. "They did it for money."
The case against the Moscow-based company marks the government's first criminal prosecution under the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Defense attorney Joseph Burton said Elcomsoft never intended its product to be used for illegal purposes. He also suggested to jurors that San Jose-based Adobe had urged the government to file criminal charges in an attempt to protect the company's revenues.
Burton said Elcomsoft's program would only work for people who had legitimately purchased an eBook. Only five copies were sold in the United States during the 10 days the software was offered for sale and it was never used to make illegal copies, he said.
The Elcomsoft product, called the Advanced eBook Processor Program, is based upon an algorithm developed by Sklyarov that allows the removal of publisher-imposed usage restrictions.
Elcomsoft says its program simply lets users make backup copies or transfer content to other devices, something permitted under the "fair use" concept of copyright law. Although such programs are legal in Russia, they were outlawed by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Sklyarov was arrested after speaking at a Las Vegas hacker convention in July 2001. He spent several weeks in jail before being freed on $50,000 bail and eventually was allowed to return home. Charges against Sklyarov, who will be a government witness, will be dropped when the case is completed, prosecutors say.
Adobe apparently withdrew its support of the prosecution after Internet policy groups threatened to organize a boycott of the company's products. Civil libertarians say the digital copyright act stifles computer research and gives publishers, record companies and movie studios too tight a grip on online content.