London protesters slam US copyright laws

Thirty-three activists arrived an hour late in Grosvenor Square, at 2pm, laden with banners such as "Visit the USA, go to jail". The "Free Dmitri" protest was organized by Anton Chterenlikht to support global protests for the Russian computer programmer taking place in 25 cities around the world over the next few weeks.

Sklyarov was arrested two weeks ago by the FBI, charged with trafficking in a copyright circumvention mechanism, despite the fact that the software that he helped to write was sold by his employer, and not by him directly. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA) that Sklyarov is alleged to have broken makes activities considered entirely lawful in most other nations illegal in the US. His supporters stress that he has not broken any laws while on US soil, and note that Sklyarov's work was conducted in Russia -- a long way from US territories. --Wendy McAuliffe, ZDNet UK