Section 1201 includes the first few paragraphs of the DMCA. They say: "No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title."

It doesn't require that the person bypassing the scheme do it to infringe someone's copyright. DMCA critics say users should be allowed to circumvent technological protection for research, criticism, or fair use purposes, such as reading an encrypted e-book on another computer.

Boucher says his bill will modify, not repeal the DMCA, adding that "everyone should agree that circumventing the copyright for the purposes of infringement should be unlawful." His legislation could be as simple as inserting a "for purposes of copyright infringement" phrase in the U.S. Code.

Says Boucher: "It will be modest. It will be legislation to do what I urged be done when we passed the law in 1998, to restrict 1201 to only those instances of circumvention that are limited to infringing a copyright."

Elected in 1982, Boucher represents the mountainous area of southwestern Virginia west of Roanoke. He's become one of the most influential Democrats on technology topics: He co-founded the House Internet Caucus in 1996, successfully secured federal money to wire southwestern Virginia schools to the Net, and is a member of the House subcommittee that oversees intellectual property.

The prospect of Sklyarov, a programmer at Elcomsoft who friends say is married and has two young children, spending up to five years behind bars outraged programmers, hackers and open-source activists. Hundreds took to the streets on Monday to demand that the government drop the charges.

Geeks are sure to become part of a new coalition that Boucher admitted he's quietly building. Another steadfast group of allies will be librarians.

The American Library Association and other library, educational and academic groups were part of the Digital Future Coalition, a now-defunct group that opposed the DMCA.

"We always thought that 1201, the way it was drafted, was unfair and overly tilted toward the protection of content and not sufficiently concerned with the protection of fair use," says Rick Weingarten, director of the ALA's office of information technology policy.

Says Weingarten: "We have always been unhappy with 1201 as it's worded in the law."

Peter Jaszi, a law professor at American University and one of the DFC's former organizers, says: "This prosecution is an example of the problems the DFC tried to point out when the DMCA was being written.... I don't think something this bizarre and aberrant can remain on the books as a law."

Those are fighting words to copyright lobbyists and their supporters, who have depicted the DMCA as a fair and reasonable compromise that, like a sleeping elephant, must not be disturbed.

"As far as I know there have been very few complaints from intellectual property holders," Coble, the chief sponsor of the DMCA, said in an interview Tuesday. "I am also encouraged by the Department of Justice's actions in this matter to enforce the law."

"Nothing has changed since 1998 that would lead members of Congress to upset the careful balance that was struck," says Bob Holleyman, head of the Business Software Alliance.