Re: [dvd-discuss] Skylarov indicted for trafficing and conspiracy.

["Jeremy A Erwin" <jerwin(at)gmu.edu>]

On Wednesday, August 29, 2001, at 10:08 AM, John Young wrote:

> This is from the US Attorney's Office press release yesterday:
>
>   http://cryptome.org/dmitry-doj-hit.htm
>
> -----
>
> The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of
> California announced that Elcom Ltd. (also known as Elcomsoft
> Co. Ltd.) and Dmitry Sklyarov, 27, both of Moscow, Russia, were
> indicted today by a federal grand jury in San Jose, California on
> five counts of copyright violations.
>
> The defendants were each indicted on one count of conspiracy
> to traffic in technology primarily designed to circumvent, and
> marketed for use in circumventing, technology that protects a
> right of a copyright owner, in violation of Title 18, United States
> Code, Section 371; two counts of trafficking 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 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)(C). . . .

Could someone elaborate on why the conspiracy charge was thrown into the
mix? On a broader note, when does exercising "freedom of association"
become conspiracy?"



Jeremy