Adobe ePub DRM cracked?

[RobbieClarken]

So would these scripts violate the DMCA?

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by epiphany

So would these scripts violate the DMCA?

which scripts?

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by epiphany

So would these scripts violate the DMCA?

The author is at risk if he or she ever visits the US. After all, someone has already been thrown in jail for writing a program to circumvent an earlier Adobe ebook DRM scheme, see Wiki: Dmitry Sklyarov.

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by epiphany

So would these scripts violate the DMCA?

Of course. What doesn't?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

yeah baby ! now i can finally buy epub books instead of lit !!! this makes me really happy.

Is removal of DRM not illegal in France? And what prevented you from buying ePub books before? It's not as if it's an "onerous" DRM mechanism, is it? All that's involved is a one-time "activation" of the device, surely?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

The author is at risk if he or she ever visits the US. After all, someone has already been thrown in jail for writing a program to circumvent an earlier Adobe ebook DRM scheme, see Wiki: Dmitry Sklyarov.

If he broke the law, it's quite right that he be punished for it, don't you agree?

[pdurrant]

The Wikipedia article seems to be accurate - it matches my memory of events, at any rate. Important points from the article:

"Sklyarov was being arrested for something that was perfectly legal in his jurisdiction"

"On December 18, 2002 following a two-week trial in San Jose, California, a jury found that Elcomsoft had not wilfully violated the U.S. law."

He was kept in jail for three weeks and forcibly kept in the US for nearly five months. Due to a complaint by Adobe Systems, for something that was determined by a US jury to be no crime.

So, if he had broken the law, punishment might be appropriate. I think that weeks in jail and months of exile are excessive even if he had been guilty. Since he wasn't, the punishment wasn't right either.

Originally Posted by HarryT

If he broke the law, it's quite right that he be punished for it, don't you agree?

[HarryT]

There was clearly a prima facie case against him in that the software he had written was illegal in the United States; the fact that he was subsequently found "not guilty" does not change that. Every country in the world keeps "innocent" people in prison while awaiting trial if there is perceived to be a significant risk of their fleeing the country, as their plainly was in that case.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by HarryT

There was clearly a prima facie case against him in that the software he had written was illegal in the United States;

But the entire point was that that didn't matter, Harry. He didn't write it in the US. He wrote it in Russia, where it was completely legal for him to do so.

The speed limit here in the Netherlands is 75 miles an hour; should I get a speeding ticket when I enter the US? Same difference; you cannot break a law when you're not under its jurisdiction.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by mbovenka

The speed limit here in the Netherlands is 75 miles an hour; should I get a speeding ticket when I enter the US? Same difference; you cannot break a law when you're not under its jurisdiction.

Yes you can. People in the UK get prosecuted for (for example) going to Thailand and having underage sex with children, even though that is not llegal in Thailand but is illegal in the UK.

[tech_au]

I view this as a technological challenge some enthusiast has undertaken to see if he could do it. It was the same as the Scandinavian guy that cracked DVD encryption.
Considering that Lit protection was defeated many years ago and they are still using it just like DVD encryption I don't think this is going to change much.
Its definitely illegal in Australia to use copy protection circumvention so I'll be wary before using such methods. Besides Adobe DRM is not so onerous that I want to get rid of it anyway.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes you can. People in the UK get prosecuted for (for example) going to Thailand and having underage sex with children, even though that is not llegal in Thailand but is illegal in the UK.

That happens in the Netherlands as well. But only to Dutch citizens, which at least gives *some* legality to that practice. Not enough, in my personal opinion (change 'I' to 'an American' in my speeding ticket case; still no reason to give him a ticket when he gets back to the US), but some. In the ElcomSoft case there wasn't even that much; he was a Russian doing something in Russia that was not illegal there.

This is the same; assuming the guy who wrote the decryption tools is a citizen of a country where writing such tools is not illegal and did the writing there, US (or any other) laws have no jurisdiction whatsoever. Or at least they shouldn't have, which might be a different kettle of fish

[TadW]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Is removal of DRM not illegal in France?

The law has not been implemented in France yet. Specifically DADVSI (Loi sur le droit d'auteur et les droits voisins dans la société de l'information) still has to be signed into law by the President of the Republic.

DADVSI also introduces the Berne three-step test directly into French law.

Remember, there are people who like to employ their Fair Use rights to make personal use copies of any content that they pay for.

[sianon]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes you can. People in the UK get prosecuted for (for example) going to Thailand and having underage sex with children, even though that is not illegal in Thailand but is illegal in the UK.

Yes Harry, but that offence is agreed by the country in which the offender is residence to be a criminal offence. In the case in discussion, the person's country of residence does not have a legislation which makes his actions illegal, he was arrested in the US after giving a lecture in regard to circumventing DRM, but not actually committing any criminal offence.

There is a huge difference in the two examples and this individual should never have been behind bars in the US.

Karen

[joblack]

Is the

ADEPT-encrypted PDF file protection

the normal Adobe DRM seen on Amazon and other retailers ...

I have over 130 bought drm'ed Adobe PDFs and are p***ed of by couldn't use it on my iliad and having some thoughts about what if my ebook seller goes bancrupt ...