US to free Russian e-book &ldquo;hacker&rdquo;  Russian
programmer Dmitry Sklyarov - held in the US since July on
charges of violating the terms of the 1998 Digital Millennium
Copyright Act - has reached a deal with prosecutors under which
he will be free to leave the country in exchange for testifying
against his employer.  The US Attorney's Office for the Northern
District of California has agreed to defer prosecution of
Sklyarov until the conclusion of its case against ElcomSoft,
Sklyarov's employer, or for one year, whichever is longer.
During that period, Sklyarov will be free to return to Russia
but will remain under the court's supervision. If Sklyarov
abides by the terms of the agreement - testifying for the
prosecution and complying with all US federal, state and local
laws - charges against him will be dropped at the end of the
period, said the US attorney's office.  Sklyarov also plans to
testify on ElcomSoft's behalf as a defence witness, according to
a spokeswoman for the legal team representing