EFFector       Vol. 14, No. 15       July 22, 2001     [email protected]

  A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation     ISSN 1062-9424

   In the 175th Issue of EFFector (now with over 28,000 subscribers!):

    * FBI Arrests Programmer in Las Vegas for eBook Software
    * EFF Statement on the Arrest of Dmitry Sklyarov
    * EFF Letter From Executive Director Shari Steele to Attorney
      General John Ashcroft (July 20, 2001)
    * Respected British Scientist Resigns from US-Based
      Conference-Planning Committee, Citing Fear of Prosecution under
      DMCA
    * Electronic Publishers Coalition Condemns Criminal Use of DMCA
    * Linux Community Joint Statement Against DMCA: Digital Millennium
      Copyright Act Threatens Researchers
    * EFF's Music Share-In in Golden Gate Park, Supporting our Open
      Audio License
    * Join EFF in Fundraising Dinner with Ed Felten, Washington, D.C.,
      Aug. 15.
    * Administrivia

  For more information on EFF activities & alerts: http://www.eff.org

  To join EFF or make an additional donation:
  http://www.eff.org/support/
  EFF is a member-supported non-profit. Please sign up as a member
  today!
    _________________________________________________________________

FBI Arrests Programmer in Las Vegas for eBook Software;

 Russian Distributed Tool that Increases Purchasers' Control of eBooks

   Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

   For Immediate Release: July 17, 2001

   Contact:

    Robin Gross, EFF Staff Attorney,
      [email protected],
      +1 415 436 9333 x209

    Will Doherty, EFF Online Activist / Media Relations,
      [email protected],
      +1 415 436 9333 x111

  San Francisco - The FBI arrested Russian citizen Dmitry Sklyarov in
  Las Vegas, Nevada, yesterday on charges of distributing a product
  designed to circumvent copyright protection measures. Sklyarov, who
  was in Las Vegas to deliver a lecture on electronic book security,
  allegedly authored a program which permits editing, copying, and
  printing of electronic books by unlocking a proprietary Adobe
  electronic book format. DoJ/US Attorney press release:
    http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/
  20010717_doj_sklyarov_pr.html

  Charged
  in one of the first United States criminal prosecutions under the
  Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), Sklyarov is currently in
  custody in Las Vegas pending transfer to the Northern California US
  Federal District Court. For the full text of the complaint, see:
    http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/20010707_complaint.html
  For more on the DMCA, see:
    http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/

  The case involves Advanced eBook Processor (AEBPR), software developed
  by Sklyarov's Russian employer Elcomsoft. According to the company's
  website, the software permits eBook owners to translate from Adobe's
  secure eBook format into the more common Portable Document Format
  (PDF). The company maintains that the software only works on
  legitimately purchased eBooks.

  Adobe's eBook format restricts the manner in which a legitimate eBook
  buyer may read, print, back up, and store electronic books. The
  Advanced eBook Processor appears to remove these usage restrictions,
  permitting an eBook consumer to enjoy the ability to move the
  electronic book between computers, make backup copies, and print. Many
  of these personal, non-commercial activities may constitute fair use
  under U.S. copyright law. Of course, the Advanced eBook Processor
  software may also make it easier to infringe copyrights, since eBooks,
  once translated into open formats like PDF, may be distributed in
  illegitimate ways.

  Robin Gross, attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF),
  explained, "The U.S. government for the first time is prosecuting a
  programmer for building a tool that may be used for many purposes,
  including those that legitimate purchasers need in order to exercise
  their fair use rights."

  Jennifer Granick, Clinical Director at the Stanford Law School Center
  for Internet and Society, commented that "the DMCA says that companies
  can use technology to take away fair use, but programmers can't use
  technology to take fair use back. Now the government is spending
  taxpayer money putting people from other countries in jail to protect
  multinational corporate profits at the expense of free speech."

  Alexander Katalov, President and Owner of Elcomsoft, expressed anger
  and disappoint over Sklyarov's arrest: "Dimitry is only one of the
  programmers who worked on this program, so I don't understand why it
  is his sole responsibility. In Russia, we have no law like the DMCA.
  In fact, distributing Adobe's eBook software is illegal in Russia,
  since Russian law requires that the software permit the purchaser to
  make at least one legal copy."

  For a copy of the federal complaint against Sklyarov see:
    http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/20010707_complaint.html

  For the Department of Justice press release on the case see:
    http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/
  20010717_doj_sklyarov_pr.html

  For information on other DMCA-related cases see:
    http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/

  To join the free-sklyarov mailing list, see:
    http://zork.net/mailman/listinfo/free-sklyarov/

  Elcomsoft Website:
    http://www.elcomsoft.com/

  Two protest sites that are organizing rallies:
    http://www.freesklyarov.org/
    http://www.boycottadobe.org/
  (Note: EFF does not presently endorse an Adobe boycott; we are meeting
  with senior Adobe VPs and legal staff Mon. morning, July 23, and hope
  to convince them to reverse their position on Sklyarov, and urge the
  Dept. of Justice to drop the case and set him free.)

  Adobe Systems Inc. Website:
    http://www.adobe.com/

 About EFF:

  The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties
  organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded
  in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and
  government to support free expression, privacy, and openness in the
  information society. EFF is a member-supported organization and
  maintains one of the most linked-to Web sites in the world:
    http://www.eff.org/

                                 - end -
    _________________________________________________________________


EFF Statement on the Arrest of Dmitry Sklyarov

 from Executive Director Shari Steele

  Once again, the Digital Millineum Copyright Act (DMCA) is proving
  itself to be as harmful to civil liberties as we predicted it would
  be. The latest victim is a Russian programmer named Dmitry Sklyarov,
  who authored a program that permits editing, copying, and printing of
  electronic books by unlocking a proprietary Adobe electronic book
  format.

  Mr. Sklyarov has been brought up on criminal charges under the DMCA
  for distributing a product designed to circumvent copyright protection
  measures. This is different than the 2600 and Felten cases, which are
  civil lawsuits. In a civil lawsuit, one private citizen (or company)
  sues another for money and/or the cessation of a particular action. In
  a criminal case, the government brings charges against an individual
  (or company) and the punishment for conviction can be prison and/or
  fines. Info on the 2600 Case:
    http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/MPAA_DVD_cases/
  Info on the Felten case:
    http://www.eff.org/Legal/Cases/Felten_v_RIAA/

  EFF has been in contact with the Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA)'s
  office trying to track Mr. Sklyarov's whereabouts and speak with him
  directly. While the arrest took place in Las Vegas, the complaint was
  executed in San Jose, meaning that Mr. Sklyarov will be sent to
  California to stand trial. We have spoken with his colleagues,
  criminal defense attorneys and others to help with his defense. After
  he arrives in California, our first order of business is to get Mr.
  Sklyarov out of jail on a bond pending his trial. EFF has begun to
  pull together a top-notch legal team to help him defend his right to
  talk about and distribute the Advanced eBook Processor software
  program, and we'll be ready to step in as soon as it is appropriate.
  Full text of the complaint:
    http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/20010707_complaint.html

  EFF knew when we took on the 2600 Case over a year ago that fixing the
  DMCA would require several legal challenges. EFF remains committed to
  chipping away at this law until it no longer poses a threat to our
  right to free speech.

  Lest anyone be confused, this case is not about copyright
  infringement. Mr. Sklyarov is not accused of infringing anyone's
  copyrights. He is accused of building the Advanced eBook Processor, a
  tool that allows the legitimate purchaser of an e-book to translate it
  from one digital format into another (from Adobe's eBook format into
  Adobe's Portable Document Format). Mr. Sklyarov is not being
  prosecuted for using the tool himself -- in fact, such a prosecution
  would be impossible, since using such a tool (as distinguished from
  building or distributing one) breaks no law. Mr. Sklyarov has entered
  the strange Twilight Zone of the DMCA, where using a tool is legal,
  but building it is a crime.

  We invite your support. If you are not yet an EFF member, please join
  with us at http://www.eff.org/support . If you already are a member
  and wish to make a donation, you can use that same link to get to our
  donation page.

  Together we will keep the pressure on anyone who chooses to degrade
  our basic rights. Thanks for your help.

  Shari Steele, EFF Executive Director
  July 18, 2001

                                 - end -
    _________________________________________________________________


EFF Letter From Executive Director Shari Steele

 to Attorney General John Ashcroft (July 20, 2001)

  Electronic Frontier Foundation
  454 Shotwell Street
  San Francisco CA 94110

  The Honorable John Ashcroft
  Attorney General
  Department of Justice
  950 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
  Washington, D.C. 20530

  July 20, 2001

  Dear Attorney General Ashcroft:

  At the request of Adobe Corporation, Dmitry Sklyarov was arrested by
  the FBI on July 16th and charged with crimes under the Digital
  Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Mr. Sklyarov is a Russian national
  who came to the United States to deliver an academic presentation on
  his technological innovations. His arrest and subsequent detention
  without bail are shameful and opportunistic actions against an
  individual who was here simply to share his knowledge and technical
  expertise with American scientists.

  Dmitry Sklyarov is not accused of any copyright infringement of any
  sort. He is a computer programmer. He stands accused of writing
  software that enables purchasers of electronic books to exercise their
  lawful fair use rights when viewing their eBooks. Such software is
  both legal and required in Russia, where it was written and developed.
  And while the DMCA does not prohibit its use in the US, providing the
  technology is banned under the DMCA. Courts have determined time and
  time again that computer code is creative expression worthy of First
  Amendment protection. Mr. Sklyarov is currently being held captive for
  the content of his ideas that demonstrate the flaws in Adobe's
  software and because he expressed them in the most precise scientific
  language available to his profession, computer code. Mr. Sklyarov's
  right to free expression under the U.S. Constitution and international
  treaty obligations must be respected.

  Not only are Dmitry Sklyarov's human and civil rights being abused,
  the inability of programmers to distribute fair use tools infringes on
  the free speech rights of all of citizens who legitimately need them.
  Fair use is an integral part of the bargain of rights struck between
  the public and authors under U.S. copyright law. The U.S. Supreme
  Court has held that fair use provides the necessary breathing room to
  prevent a conflict between copyright and the guarantees of freedom of
  expression under the First Amendment. Although the Constitution
  mandates that copyrighted works pass into the public domain, the DMCA
  has outlawed all tools necessary to gain access to the works, even
  after those works rightfully belong to the public. Technology permits
  publishers to restrict access to and control the use of copyrighted
  works in ways that dangerously exceed the bounds of copyright,
  encroaching upon the public's rights to use and access knowledge.

  While copyright holders are not accountable for the manner in which
  they release a work, the people must be permitted to take necessary
  steps in order to exercise their rights under the law. Jailing Dmitry
  Sklyarov strips people everywhere of that right and chills important
  research. The DMCA must be reigned in to comport with the limits set
  by the US Constitution.

  When the DMCA was passing through Congress in 1998, the copyright
  industry promised it was needed as a shield for protection. Now as
  law, its used as a powerful sword to squelch speech and competition
  and kill fair use. Congress never intended for the DMCA to destroy
  fair use, in fact it expressly tried to protect it. As Attorney
  General, we ask that you honor this intent and your obligation to
  uphold the Constitution by dropping the charges against Dmitry
  Sklyarov and allowing him to return home to his wife and two small
  children.

  Sincerely,

  Shari Steele
  Executive Director
  Electronic Frontier Foundation

                                 - end -
    _________________________________________________________________


Respected British Scientist Resigns from US-Based Conference-Planning Committee

 Citing Fear of Prosecution under DMCA

  UK scientist & programmer Alan Cox, a key member of the USENIX Annual
  Linux Showcase (ALS) planning committee, has resigned in the wake of
  the arrest of DEFCON presenter Dmitry Sklyarov and legal threats
  against USENIX presenter Prof. Edward Felten & colleagues, under the
  questionably-constitutional US "Digital Millennium Copyright Act"
  (DMCA). Cox sent USENIX the following open letter of resignation:

    I hereby tender my resignation to the USENIX ALS committee.

    With the arrest of Dimitry Sklyarov it has become apparent that it
    is not safe for non-US software engineers to visit the United
    States. While he was undoubtedly chosen for political reasons as a
    Russian it is a good example for the US public that the risk
    extends arbitarily further.

    USENIX by its choice of a US location is encouraging other
    programmers, many from Eastern European states hated by the US
    government, to take the same risks. That is something I cannot
    morally be part of. Who will be the next conference speaker slammed
    into a US jail for years for committing no crime? Are USENIX
    prepared to take the chance it will be their speakers?

    Until the DMCA mess is resolved I would urge all non-US citizens to
    boycott conferences in the USA and all US conference bodies to hold
    their conferences elsehere.

    I appreciate that this problem is not of USENIX making, but it must
    be addressed.

    Alan Cox

  Similar resignations of non-US members of US conference- and other
  event-planning bodies are increasing, with many more expected. It is
  thus crystal clear that the DMCA is having one of the most palpable
  "chilling effects" in American history on perfectly legal expression.
  EFF remains very concerned about such "secondary effects" of this
  legislation, and is committed to seeing it undone.

  [Sources: Linux World News & NewsForge

                                 - end -
    _________________________________________________________________


Electronic Publishers Coalition Condemns Criminal Use of DMCA

  In stark contrast to a trade association of offline publishers
  (American Assocation of Publishers or AAP), the online e-Book industry
  group Electronic Publishers Association (EPC) sharply attacks the
  prosecution of Dmitry Sklyarov:

   For Immediate Release

     Contact information:

    Connie Foster, eBooksonthe.net, [email protected], +1
    207-667-6515
    Jon Noring, Blue Glass Publishing, [email protected], +1
    801-253-4037
    Roger Sperberg, Watchung Plaza Books, [email protected], +1
    973-744-7802
    URL: http://www.epccentral.org/dmca.html

  While all publishers are concerned about professional copyright
  thieves, the Electronic Publishers Coalition condemns the use of the
  criminal provisions of the DMCA against Dimitry Sklyarov, a Russian
  programmer and cryptanalyst visiting the United States.

  "Persecution of an individual shouldn't be any company's response to a
  commercial disagreement, especially regarding copyright," Connie
  Foster, the EPC executive director said Sunday.

  "All members of the EPC -- not just a small portion of them as with
  print-oriented groups like the AAP -- work with the Adobe and other
  electronic formats to publish their e-books, and we recognize that the
  same technology that benefits publishers with lower production and
  distribution costs also aids copyright violators."

  "We also recognize from our close experience working with electronic
  books, that readers need and deserve greater leeway with the e-books
  they purchase than the current limited DRM and security technology
  provides," Foster stated. (Note: DRM -- for "Digital Rights
  Management", a.k.a. copy prevention -- provides permissions control
  with e-books, disallowing [or permitting] such things as copying text
  to a computer's clipboard, printing of the content, and lending the
  e-book to another computer's reading system.)

  Foster continued, "In this case, readers' interests should be
  paramount, and the leading e-book formats -- Adobe's among them --
  slight them by making it impossible to open an e-book when upgrading
  to a new computer or when suffering a number of all-too-common
  computer woes, such as virus infection and hard-disk failure."

  "At this point in e-books' development, we think it's just too early
  for companies such as Adobe that have nascent content-delivery systems
  to think they have solved all their problems and to resort to criminal
  charges against a programmer who discovered and discussed serious
  flaws in the program's security structure."

  Foster went on to note: "Some people think Adobe has to pursue this
  type of action to reassure publishers their content is safe. But what
  publishers need to know is that Adobe understands the technology and
  its current limits, and the problems with its own software, and that
  it understands what our customers -- that is, readers-- need and what
  the immature e-book industry needs in order to grow."

  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.

  The Electronic Publishers Coalition was founded by a group of
  publishers committed to furthering the growth of the e-book community.
  It is the largest trade association of electronic publishers in the
  world. A primary role of the EPC is to follow through on its
  commitment to develop a healthy marketplace for digital content as
  well as to take a leadership role in setting minimum standards in
  order to encourage quality within our industry. The EPC is located on
  the web at:
    http://www.epccentral.org/
                __________________________________________

  By way of contrast: Association of American Publishers (AAP) statement
  condoning the vindictive arrest and prosecution of an innocent
  cryptographic researcher:
    http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/20010719_aap_sklyarov_pr.html

                                 - end -
    _________________________________________________________________


Linux Community Joint Statement Against DMCA:

 Digital Millennium Copyright Act Threatens Researchers

   Free Speech, Free Sklyarov

     A Community Declaration:

  Dmitry Sklyarov, a Russian academic, has been imprisoned after
  presenting a scientific paper at the DEF CON computer security
  conference. His talk covered the restriction mechanisms used to
  prevent people from reading electronic books. He was formally charged
  with distributing software that could be used to circumvent copy
  protection.
  [See press coverage]

  The Digital Millennium Copyright Act attacks freedom of speech and
  assembly and damages the economic health of the United States.

  Sklyarov was arrested by the FBI outside his hotel as he prepared to
  go to the airport. The arrest was instigated by Adobe Systems
  Corporation.

  It is ironic that a Russian national is being held without bail in the
  US for what is essentially a thoughtcrime. Through the passage of the
  DMCA we have criminalized speech and scientific research about the
  structure of computer programs as well as other simple acts such as
  reading of books and other media.

  The DMCA goes far beyond the need to protect from illegal copies of
  books and other media. Since it criminalizes not only the act of
  copying but even development and possession of programs which are
  capable of reading these media for legitimate use. For example, the
  DMCA criminalizes used book stores, in that the DMCA helps publishers
  lock up books so tight that the electronic analog of a used book store
  would be impossible.

  This is not the first time that DMCA has been used as a weapon against
  legitimate scientific research. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has
  brought suit on behalf of USENIX and Princeton Professor Edward Felten
  after the Professor and his research team were threatened with DMCA
  prosecution by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America).
  This threat was delivered after it became known that Professor Felten
  was presenting a paper showing the insecurity of a method of
  protecting music, just as Sklyarov was arrested after presenting a
  similar paper about electronic books.

  The DMCA, in spite of its supposed exception, punishes reverse
  engineering. Bans on reverse engineering in the 70s would have made
  the PC revolution (and companies like Compaq, Phoenix and Dell)
  illegal.

  The extremism of the DMCA provisions prohibiting research, development
  and publication of tools for distributing and displaying copyrighted
  works must be eliminated. These provisions drop an Iron Curtain on the
  United States of America. It should never be illegal to make or
  discuss such tools.

  Noted Signatories (see Other Signatories page:
   http://www.dibona.com/dmca/signers/index.shtml
  for more):

    Larry Augustin - CEO and Chairman, VA Linux Systems
    Jeff Bates - Executive Editor, Slashdot.org
    Brian Behlendorf - President, Apache Software Foundation, CTO
    Collab.net
    Chris DiBona - Grant Chair, Linux International
    Miguel Di Icaza - Co-Founder and CTO, Ximian Inc.
    Nat Friedman - Co-Founder and VP Product Development, Ximian Inc.
    Marty Garbus - Attorney, Frankfurt, Garbus, Kurnit, Klein & Selz,
    PC
    Jon "Maddog" Hall - Executive Director, Linux International
    Ed Hernstadt - Attorney, Frankfurt, Garbus, Kurnit, Klein & Selz,
    PC
    Rob Malda - Founder and Editor, Slashdot.org
    Don Marti - Technical Editor, Linux Journal
    Bruce Perens - Primary Author, "The Open Source Definition"
    Eric S. Raymond - President, Open Source Initiative
    Lawrence Rosen - Attorney, Rosenlaw.com and Executive Director,
    Open Source Initiative
    David Sifry - Co-Founder, LinuxCare, Inc.
    Shari Steele - Executive Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation
    Brad Templeton - Chairman of the BoardElectronic Frontier
    Foundation
    Linus Torvalds - Lead Kernel Developer, Linux
    Art F. Tyde - CEO, Linuxcare
    Bob Young - Co-Founder and Chairman, Red Hat, Inc.

  Care to join them?

  Sign your name to this declaration as well:
    http://www.dibona.com/dmca/signup/index.shtml

  Press Contacts:

  Don Marti       [email protected]
  Eric S. Raymond [email protected]
  Bruce Perens    [email protected]
  Chris DiBona    [email protected]

  Please note that all of the Press Contacts will be available for
  discussion at the O'Reilly Open Source Conference the week of the 22nd
  of July.

  Resources:

  The EFF page on Sklyarov: http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/
  The EFF page on Edward Felten: http://www.eff.org/Legal/Cases/
  Felten_v_RIAA/
  The Free-Sklyarov Mailing list: http://zork.net/mailman/listinfo/
  free-sklyarov

                                 - end -
    _________________________________________________________________


EFF's Music Share-In in Golden Gate Park

 Supporting our Open Audio License

    EFF Unplugged: Music Share-In
    Saturday, September 8, 2001
    Stanyan Meadow, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco (Corner of Haight
    and Stanyon)
    2 p.m. - 5 p.m.

  The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) would like to invite you to
  participate in an open air concert event for everyone who loves music.
  EFF Unplugged will feature musicians from around the Bay Area
  performing acoustically in Golden Gate Park. Artists participating in
  this event will permit recording of their performances by those in
  attendance in support of EFF's Open Audio License (OAL).

  The OAL was developed to help artists share their work with others
  without giving up the recognition they deserve for creating the art.
  Based on the open source and free software initiatives for software
  development, the open audio license encourages artists to share with
  one another and their fans and to build upon the works of others.

  Adoption of the OAL does not mean that an artist does not get
  compensated for his or her work. On the contrary--the OAL permits
  artists to share single tracks or performances, with recognition, that
  could lead to sales of additional music. EFF is extremely sensitive to
  supporting new models of music distribution in the digital world that
  see more money going to the artists themselves. One of the great
  qualities of the Internet is that packaging and distributing music,
  which is where most of the money is currently spent by record
  companies, is trivial. EFF is committed to developing tools that
  empower artists to take control over their own art and to be
  compensated appropriately for their works.

  EFF believes that many of the laws and technologies being developed
  today to protect intellectual property actually harm the public's
  First Amendment and fair use rights and make criminals of people doing
  perfectly legitimate things. We are striving to help artists realize
  the full potential of the Internet for reaching their fans by
  challenging restrictive laws in courtrooms and through public
  education events, like this one.

  In addition to several stages of acoustical music, the Share-In will
  showcase numerous artist booths, where musicians can sell their music
  and merchandise to the public. In addition, there will be booths
  hosted by EFF and outside sponsors, including artists' rights
  organizations and independent labels.

  EFF is the leading civil liberties organization working to protect
  rights in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages
  and challenges everyone to support free expression, privacy, and
  openness in the information society. EFF is a member-supported
  organization and maintains one of the most linked-to websites in the
  world at:
    http://www.eff.org/

  Information about EFF's Open Audio License is available at:
    http://www.eff.org/IP/Open_licenses/

  For more information about participating in EFF's Music Share-In,
  contact:
  Katina Bishop, EFF Director of Education and Offline Activism,
  +1 415-436-9333 x101,
  [email protected]
    _________________________________________________________________

Join EFF in Fundraising Dinner with Ed Felten

 Washington, D.C., Aug. 15.

  Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation in celebration of the
  presentation of Professor Ed Felten's Reading Between the Lines:
  Lessons from the SDMI Challenge at the USENIX Security Symposium on
  August 15th, 2001! Come and meet Professor Felten, his research team,
  and legal team, and support EFF's legal battle to get this paper
  presented. We will be dining at the prestigious Red Sage restaurant
  after the panel discussion on SDMI/DMCA, which runs from 6:30 - 7:00
  on the evening of August 15th.

  The Red Sage is just around the block from the J.W. Marriott Hotel. We
  will be gathering in the Continental room at 7:30, and dinner will
  begin at 8:00.

  Come support the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in defending our
  rights to think, speak, and share our ideas, thoughts, and needs using
  new technologies!

  Based in San Francisco, EFF is a donor-supported membership
  organization working to protect our fundamental rights regardless of
  technology; to educate the press, policymakers and the general public
  about civil liberties issues related to technology; and to act as a
  defender of those liberties. Among our various activities, EFF opposes
  misguided legislation, initiates and defends court cases preserving
  individuals' rights, launches global public campaigns, introduces
  leading edge proposals and papers, hosts frequent educational events,
  engages the press regularly, and publishes a comprehensive archive of
  digital civil liberties information at one of the most linked-to
  websites in the world: http://www.eff.org.

  There are only 50 spots, so sign up early! Contact Katie by email at
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