Here's my next installment from the ElcomSoft trial. My next post will be tomorrow in the AM.

When we last left our story, our hero (Dmitry Sklyarov) is being questioned on the witness stand by ElcomSoft defense attorney Joseph Burton (perhaps the real hero), as a video excerpt of Dmitry's July 2001 Def Con presentation is being presented to the Jury...

"One of the things you were trying to do was to demonstrate weaknesses?" said Burton.

"Yes," replied Sklyarov. "Many companies say the Ebooks are copyproofed. But most of the ones I have seen are not secure and can be easily compromised. The program I developed demonstrates such security flaws."

"We are trying to show that E-book distribution on Adobe's Technology is insecure," he said. "We are not trying to hurt publishers."

"By 'publishers', who do you mean?" said Burton.

"I mean copyright holders," Sklyarov said. "Companies that use those (security technologies) can lose money, and that's not fair," said Sklyarov. "The public has a right to know."

12/09/02 - Dmitry Sklyarov's Testimony Continued

When we last left our story, our hero (Dmitry Sklyarov) is being questioned on the witness stand by ElcomSoft defense attorney Joseph Burton (perhaps the real hero), as a video excerpt of Dmitry's July 2001 Def Con presentation is being presented to the Jury.

During the course of the videotaped presentation, Dmitry demonstrated the AEBPR e-book reader and how it worked.

"There is no security at all," he says on the tape.

The video audience appears to be very impressed and claps accordingly.

After the video, in the real live courtroom, Dmitry explained his intentions in writing the AEBPR ebook reader program. "Now you can transfer your e-book to your laptop," he said. He also explained how it was just a demonstration program, only capable of creating a single PDF format copy of an encrypted e-book "one book at a time."

"One of the things you were trying to do was to demonstrate weaknesses?" said Burton.

"Yes," replied Sklyarov. "Many companies say the Ebooks are copyproofed. But most of the ones I have seen are not secure and can be easily compromised. The program I developed demonstrates such security flaws."

"We are trying to show that E-book distribution on Adobe's Technology is insecure," he said. "We are not trying to hurt publishers."

"By 'publishers', who do you mean?" said Burton.

"I mean copyright holders," Sklyarov said. "Companies that use those (security technologies) can lose money, and that's not fair," said Sklyarov. "The public has a right to know."

The discussion then focused on price -- why sell it instead of give it away?

"Why didn't you post the information showing the security flaws to the internet?" said Burton.

Dmitry explained the reasoning behind pricing the software at $99, rather than giving it away free, because that could "hurt publishers," and that his goal was to provide "just a demonstration."

"Did you participate in choosing the price?" said Burton.

"Yes," said Sklyarov. "As I understand it, making the price below $99 or free would hurt publishers. The price was high enough that it was more than the cost of an ebook."

Then the line of questioning shifted to the construction of the APDFPR and AEBPR programs and the alleged deconstruction of the Adobe E-book reader that Elcomsoft may have used in order to create its own ebook reader (later, upon cross-examination by the prosecution).

The defense had prepared a chart detailing the smaller components that make up ElcomSoft's APDFPR (Advanced PDF Password Recovery program) and AEBPR (Advanced E Book Password Recovery program).

At this point the prosecution had an objection of some sort [I believe it had to do with the prosecution wanting to only focus on the ebook program (AEBPR) rather than the other password recovery program (APDFPR)] and the Judge asked for counsel to approach the bench. That took a good minute or two, and I noticed Dmitry smiling at the jury as he sort of inspected them.

The debate continued quietly between the Judge, both attorneys and the court reporter up front at the Judges bench. (Apparently the court reporters are supposed to witness those bench-side tete-a-tetes, although they don't seem to keep a record of them, because he was just standing there listening.)

Finally, both sides appeared satisfied and the trial moved onward. The Judge allowed the defense to continue with its original line of technical discussion, after rephrasing the question slightly.
(I can't remember what the question was, but when he asked it differently, it seemed to me to be clearly the same question -- but I'm sure there was some kind of legal justification for why the prosecution wanted the wording to be changed.)

They went over the different parts of the program: User Interface, Program Protection, Registration, Kernel and Security Handlers.

It was then that I began to feel the watchful eyes of our attentive jurors start to glaze over just a little.

"Are there different kinds of security handlers?" Burton asked.

"Yes," said Dmitry. He then went on to discuss the different kinds of security handlers such as "file-open."

Burton then went on to establish that the two programs were created from the same kernel with modifications to the user interface and the addition of extra security handlers. Dmitry mentioned a number of the handlers by name, including: ROT 13, Adobe PDF Merchant Security Handler, EBX -- Electronic Books Exchange (what was initially Glassbook, which was bought by Adobe and implemented in its Ebook reader), and support for generic document handlers.

Burton asked Dmitry a series of questions to establish to what extent the code base in question was Dmitry's handiwork. Dmitry explained that he wrote the entire kernel and that the kernel consisted of about 60-70% of the ebook reader code. The point was made that besides the user interface and security handler differences, there was no difference between the APDFPR and the AEBPR programs.

Tip, re: Keeping APDFPR and AEBPR straight: I finally figured out that these are the same initials except for a "PDF" or an "EB" (for ebook) in the middle. Once you think of them as "A" (advanced) (insert file format here) PR (password recovery)", they don't seem so complicated.

Stay tuned for the next episode, when Dmitry says the "F" word on the witness stand!

("Fair Use" that is...)