August 13, 2001

John Ashcroft
Attorney General
US Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20530-0001

I encourage you to drop the charges of Digital Millenium Copyright Act violations against Dmitry Sklyarov.

As a professional computer programmer and network security analyst, my job requires me to find and identify weaknesses in software products used by my company, and to make sure data within the company is in a format usable by all employees. This is not different from what Mr. Sklyarov is being held in the United States and prosecuted for doing.

I have been opposed to the anti-circumvention measures of the DMCA since they were first proposed, because they can be abused in this manner to punish legitimate pursuits that could possibly make large software manufacturers uncomfortable.

In prosecuting Mr. Sklyarov, you will do grave harm to hard-working Americans like myself who want to create a secure and interoperable Internet by pointing out the weaknesses in software that these large companies would rather hide from public view.

Sincerely,

Rob Carlson

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