The DMCAand Cultural Imperialism

There is a controversy in American Free speech circles, among others, about the events surrounding the arrest of one Dmitry Sklyarov, after a seminar on cryptography in New York.

Sklyarov, a Russian citizen, was arrested, under provisions of the American Digital Millennium Copyright Act, for an alleged breach of the provisions of that act, committed in Russia.

The alleged breach involves discussion of the encryption used in Adobe's eBook software, and the publishing of a programme that will decrypt eBooks.

There are several points of note here. First, Sklyarov is a Russian citizen, and the alleged offence was committed in Russia, where US laws have no effect. Second, Russian law (as I understand it) allows backup copies of software and data to be made, even though the DMCA does not.

The US Government had not applied for Sklyarov's extradition, which would probably been denied, since the alleged action is not illegal in Russia. Sklyarov was arrested by the FBI, at the instigation of Adobe, who have since declined to take further action.

However, Sklyarov remains in prison, under FBI detention, awaiting Federal trial. On a breach of Copyright charge? This is, surely, a civil offence, prone to assessment of damages, not a prison sentence.

And it turns out that Skylarov stands accused of the criminal offence of (I paraphrase) "facilitating the discussion of and breaking of a means to protect copyright" which is a criminal offence under the DMCA.

Comes now my opinion, and if any American is reading this, ask yourself how would you like it if you were arrested in (say) Italy, for an act (illlegal there) which you had committed (quite legally) back home in the US.

The whole affair seems to me to be another example of the American attitude that "what is good for America (the centre of the world, the hub of the Universe) is good for all the unwashed peasants in the rest of the world." This attitude is backed up by aggressive commercial attitudes - Intel isn't the only 800-pound gorilla among US commercial interests - added to an arrogance about anything beyond your shores - witness your "World Series" Baseball, in which only American teams compete. Add to this considerable ignorance about foreign affairs and customs, and there is considerable opportunity for misunderstandings, to say the least.

We in Britain have been accused of Imperialism, but we have (more-or-less) given that up now - we can't afford the effort to subdue the rest of the Commonwealth, so we let them call us names, and prop up some of their corrupt economies. You Americans have taken over the Imperialist mantle, not using armed force, but by exporting your culture to the rest of the world, via such things as McDonalds beefburgers, and television programmes.

Why is it that my second daughter, Katy, sounds more American by the day? I blame American TV, particularly the teenage programmes, which seem to encourage teenagers to talk back, using language constructions that are alien to our speech patterns.

 

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