Russian software developer arrested in Vegas

Wednesday, July 18, 2001 | 10:53 a.m.

A Russian software developer was arrested by FBI agents in Las Vegas this week one day after he publicly pointed out copyright protection weaknesses in electronic book programs produced by the nation's largest software companies.

Dmitry Sklyarov, 26, was taken into custody Monday at his Alexis Park hotel room on charges of trafficking in software designed to circumvent the security features of an e-book program sold by Adobe Systems Inc, which bills itself as the second largest PC software company in the United States.

The Adobe program, Acrobat eBook Reader, is used by the biggest sellers of electronic books over the Internet, Amazon.Com and Barnes & Noble.

Sklyarov's arrest is believed to be one of the first under the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a law that limits unauthorized copying of computer software.

On Sunday, Sklyarov, who works for the Moscow software firm, Elcomsoft, gave a talk about flaws in e-book security at Def Con 9, a convention of computer hackers and security experts, at the Alexis Park.

His arrest shocked some convention-goers who see him as a researcher and a Ralph Nader-like crusader willing to expose faulty marketing claims of the big software companies.

"People are concerned about his arrest because they feel it is an example of a big corporation having the power to silence a critic of their technology," said Chad Loder, a Los Angeles software engineer who attended Def Con 9 and heard Sklyarov's talk.

"What he's doing is independent research. He's saying their claims are incorrect."

Jeff Moss, the organizer of the hackers convention, which attracted nearly 5,000 people over the weekend, said he was trying to learn more about Sklyarov's arrest before commenting in detail.

"It is my understanding that the work he performed is legal in this country," Moss said.

But the FBI, in an eight-page complaint filed in San Jose, Calif., charged Sklyarov with creating and selling a software application, Advanced eBook Processor, that illegally unlocks the copyright protections in Adobe's eBook Reader.

FBI Agent Daniel O'Connell said in the complaint that Elcomsoft used an American company, Register Now, to collect a $99 fee over the Internet for the unlocking program.

O'Connell described the San Jose-based Adobe, which reports more than $1.2 billion in annual revenues, as a victim of Sklyarov's company.

He said Kevin Nathanson, an Adobe group products manager, told him that Elcomsoft's application allows anyone to read an e-book on a computer without paying a fee to the bookseller.

"Only one legitimate copy of the encrypted e-book needs to be purchased originally," O'Connell wrote. "And after the protections are stripped through usage of the Elcomsoft program, there are no restrictions, and the e-book can be duplicated freely and made available for usage on any computer."

Susan Altman Prescott, Adobe's vice president of marketing, said her company cooperated fully in the FBI investigation.

"This is not an issue of Adobe versus a hacker, but rather an issue of copyright protection," she said. "The goal from Adobe's perspective is to protect the copyrighted content of authors, artists or any other copyright owners, and we fully support the U.S. government's decision to investigate this protection violation."

Prescott said Adobe sent Elcomsoft "cease and desist" letters prior to going to the FBI.

Jennifer Granick, clinical director for the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford University Law School, called Sklyarov's arrest under the digital copyright act a "huge" development for the Internet.

"We've been worried about this law for a while," she said. "This just brings it home. The community of people concerned about civil liberties on the Internet will be watching this very closely."

Granick, a criminal defense attorney who has represented computer hackers in the past, said Sklyarov's arrest also raises First Amendment issues and could have a chilling effect on future software research.

On Monday, U.S. Magistrate Robert Johnston ordered Sklyarov, who is being held on no bail, transported to San Jose to face the criminal charges, which draw a maximum five-year prison term and $500,000 fine.

Sklyarov, a father of two young children, is reported to be completing his PH. D. at Moscow State Technical University.

Elcomsoft's website blames Sklyarov's arrest on Adobe and asks viewers to buy another software program he created to "help him get out of jail."

The website attacks the security features in Adobe's Acrobat eBook Reader and chastises the corporation for going after Elcomsoft.

"Instead of blowing smoke about this matter and merely labeling it another instance of piracy and software hacking and making questionable claims about other companies' behavior, the folks at Adobe could actually fix the problem themselves," the website says.

"If Adobe comes out looking like a less secure option than its main competitor, which for the desktop e-book market is Microsoft, they will lose the support of major publishers and find themselves pushed to the sidelines in the electronic publishing world."