The arrest of a 26-year-old Russian software programmer, accused of violating US copyright law, has sparked protests and pledges of support from a wide range of free speech advocates, defence lawyers and consumer groups.

Dmitry Sklyarov, who was arrested in Las Vegas after Def Con, a major hacker convention, is the first person to be prosecuted under the controversial 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, federal law enforcement officials said.

Adobe Systems alleged that a program Sklyarov wrote violates that law, which bans the creation or distribution of any technology that circumvents copyright protections.

"Free Dmitry" rallies were scheduled in San Jose, Boston, Denver, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Reno and Moscow, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based advocacy group focused on free speech issues on the Internet.

But a notice posted in EFF's Web site said the organisation's call for protest is on hold pending the outcome of discussions with Adobe executives.

EFF representatives were scheduled to meet later today with Adobe executives in an attempt to broker a resolution in the case, a lawyer for the group said on Friday.

The EFF, which was founded by Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow and Mitchell Kapor, the founder of the software company Lotus, argues that the new US copyright law, which took effect in 2000, is flawed because it outlaws technologies instead of conduct.

The group plans to offer legal aid to Sklyarov, who was detained without bail.

In an interview with a local Las Vegas television station, Sklyarov denied doing anything wrong and accused Adobe of bullying him.

"I wrote the program to demonstrate security flaws, not to violate copyright law," he told station KTNV. "It's not illegal in Russia."

Sklyarov's program allows people who purchase books in digital form, known as e-books, to get around protections in Adobe's eBook Reader designed to prevent copies from being made.

In addition to organising rallies, Sklyarov's supporters have created a Web site calling for a boycott of Adobe products, boycottadobe.com, that features photos of Sklyarov and his wife and two children in Moscow.

An Adobe lawyer did not return calls seeking comment.

Sklyarov's employer, Moscow-based ElcomSoft, began selling his program a month ago but pulled it off the market after Adobe complained, executives said.

Sklyarov's was arrested in Las Vegas just before he was scheduled to return to Moscow, officials said. He had given a presentation at the Def Con hacker convention on his program the day before he was arrested.

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