[Gllug] FC: Dmitry Sklyarov can go home -- but must testify against Elcomsoft (fwd)
Kieran Barry
kieran at esperi.demon.co.uk
Fri Dec 14 01:06:20 UTC 2001
Hi,
Thought the list might be interested in the following.
Looks like Dmitry has to testify with the threat of prosecution
hanging over him if he doesn't behave...
Regards
Kieran
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 19:28:30 -0500
From: Declan McCullagh <declan at well.com>
To: politech at politechbot.com
Subject: FC: Dmitry Sklyarov can go home -- but must testify against Elcomsoft
U.S. v. Sklyarov lawsuit archive:
http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=sklyarov
---
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/can/press/html/2001_12_13_sklyarov.html
U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney
Northern District of California
11th Floor, Federal Building
450 Golden Gate Avenue, Box 36055
San Francisco, California 94102
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tel: (415) 436-7200
Fax: (415) 436-7234
December 13, 2001
The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of
California announced that Dmitry Sklyarov entered into an agreement
this morning with the United States and admitted his conduct in a
hearing before U.S. District Judge Whyte in San Jose Federal Court.
Under the agreement, Mr. Sklyarov agreed to cooperate with the United
States in its ongoing prosecution of Mr. Sklyarov's former employer,
Elcomsoft Co., Ltd. Mr. Skylarov will be required to appear at trial
and testify truthfully, and he will be deposed in the matter. For its
part, the United States agreed to defer prosecution of Mr. Sklyarov
until the conclusion of the case against Elcomsoft or for one year,
whichever is longer. Mr. Sklyarov will be permitted to return to
Russia in the meantime, but will be subject to the Court's
supervision, including regularly reporting by telephone to the
Pretrial Services Department. Mr. Sklyarov will be prohibited from
violating any laws during the year, including copyright laws. The
United States agreed that, if Mr. Sklyarov successfully completes the
obligations in the agreement, it will dismiss the charges pending
against him at the end of the year or when the case against Elcomsoft
is complete.
Mr. Sklyarov, 27, of Moscow, Russia, was indicted by a federal Grand
Jury on August 28, 2001. He was charged with one count of conspiracy
in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, and two
counts of trafficking for gain in technology primarily designed to
circumvent technology that protects a right of a copyright owner in
violation of Title 17, United States Code, Section 1201(b)(1)(A), and
two counts of trafficking for gain in technology marketed for use in
circumventing technology that protects a right of a copyright owner in
violation of Title 17, United States Code, Section 1201(b)(1)(A).
In entering into the agreement with the government, Mr. Sklyarov was
required to acknowledge his conduct in the offense. In the agreement,
Mr. Sklyarov made the following admissions, which he also confirmed in
federal court today:
"Beginning on a date prior to June 20, 2001, and continuing through
July 15, 2001, I was employed by the Russian software company,
Elcomsoft Co. Ltd. (also known as Elcom Ltd.) (hereinafter
"Elcomsoft") as a computer programmer and cryptanalyst.
"Prior to June 20, 2001, I was aware Adobe Systems, Inc. ("Adobe") was
a software company in the United States. I was also aware Adobe was
the creator of the Adobe Portable Document Format ("PDF"), a computer
file format for the publication and distribution of electronic
documents. Prior to June 20, 2001, I knew Adobe distributed a program
titled the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader that provided technology for the
reading of documents in an electronic format on personal computers.
Prior to June 20, 2001, I was aware that documents distributed in the
Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader format are PDF files and that
specifications of PDF allow for limiting of certain operations, such
as opening, editing, printing, or annotating.
"Prior to June 20, 2001, as a part of my dissertation work and as part
of my employment with Elcomsoft, I wrote a part of computer program
titled the Advanced eBook Processor ("AEBPR"). I developed AEBPR as a
practical application of my research for my dissertation and in order
to demonstrate weaknesses in protection methods of PDF files. The
only use of the AEBPR is to create an unprotected copy of an
electronic document. Once a PDF file is decrypted with the AEBPR, a
copy is no longer protected by encryption. This is all the AEBPR
program does.
"Prior to June 20, 2001, I believed that ElcomSoft planned to post the
AEBPR program on the Internet on the company's website
www.elcomsoft.com. I believed that the company would charge a fee for
a license for the full version of the AEBPR that would allow access to
all capabilities of the program.
"After Adobe released a new version of the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader
that prevented the initial version of the AEBPR program from removing
the limitations or restrictions on an e-book, I wrote software
revisions for a new version of the AEBPR program. The new version
again decrypted the e-document to which it was applied. The version
of this new AEBPR program offered on the Elcomsoft website only
decrypted a portion of an e-document to which it was applied, unless
the user had already purchased a fully functional version of the
earlier version and had both versions installed on the same machine.
The new version was developed after June 29, 2001. At that time,
Elcomsoft had already stopped selling the program. The version of this
new program offered on the Elcomsoft website did not provide a user
with an opportunity to purchase it or convert it to a fully functional
one, and was developed as a matter of competition.
"On July 15, 2001, as part of my employment with Elcomsoft, I attended
the DEF CON Nine conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. At the conference I
made a presentation originally intended for the BlackHat conference
that immediately preceded the DefCon Nine in July 2001 in Las Vegas,
Nevada. The same group of people organizes both BlackHat and DefCon
Nine. Since there was no available slot for a presentation at
BlackHat at the time when the paper was sent for the committee
consideration, the organizers of both conferences suggested that the
paper be presented at the DefCon rather than at BlackHat. The paper
that I read at DefCon is attached as Exhibit A. A principal part of
my presentation is comprised of my research for the dissertation. In
my presentation when I said "we", I meant Elcomsoft."
Mr. Sklyarov's employer, Elcomsoft, remains charged in the case, and
the Court in that matter has set hearings for various motions on March
4, 2002, and April 1, 2002.
The prosecution of Elcomsoft is the result of an investigation by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Scott Frewing and Joseph Sullivan of
the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property ("CHIP") Unit are the
Assistant U.S. Attorneys who are prosecuting the case with the
assistance of legal technician Lauri Gomez.
A copy of this press release and key court documents filed in the case
may also be found on the U.S. Attorney's Office's website at
www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's Office should be directed
to Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. Jacobs at (415)436-7181 or
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ross Nadel, Chief of the CHIP Unit, in San
Jose at (408)535-5032.
Matt Jacobs' signature
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