Posted on 02/12/2003 12:23:33 PM PST by RCW2001
LOS ANGELES Feb. 12 —
A federal grand jury has indicted 17 people who authorities say hacked into satellite television transmissions, causing millions of dollars in losses to DirecTV and Dish Network, the U.S. Attorney's office said.
Six of the defendants were charged with violating the anti-encryption provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The other charges involved conspiracy or manufacturing a device for the purpose of stealing satellite signals. All three counts carry a maximum prison sentence of five years.
The indictments were returned last month and unsealed Tuesday.
Ten defendants already have agreed to plead guilty, authorities said, including a 43-year-old West Los Angeles man who has acknowledged causing $14.8 million in losses to satellite TV companies.
The investigation was aimed at people who develop software and hardware devices that crack the scrambled signals designed to limit satellite TV services to paying customers. DirecTV, for instances, uses "smart cards" as part of their set-top boxes that descramble satellite signals.
The defendants named Tuesday are charged with thwarting that security, often meeting in secret online chat rooms to exchange data and techniques and using such nicknames as "FreeTV," authorities said.
The defendants range in age from 19 to 52. Most live in California, although some are from Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas, Indiana, Florida and Ohio.
"This case demonstrates our commitment to identifying and prosecuting sophisticated computer hackers who steal the intellectual property of others for their own economic benefit," U.S. Attorney Debra Yang said.
If it is broadcast onto your property, do you not have the right to use it?
If it is truly a broadcast, yes. However, DirecTV is not "broadcast."
Are you asserting that you have an absolute right to listen to your neighbor's encrypted wireless phone because you can detect the signal on your property?
If I chose to take it apart, why is that a crime? If I chose to re-program it, I have re-programmed my property. And again, when someone showers data into my home, why am I prevented from analyzing that data? If they do not want me to look at it; don't pipe it into my home.
I asserted nothing. I asked a question. Are you saying that you have NO rights to information that is deposited onto your property with the FULL knowledge that it is being deposited onto your property and the FULL knowledge that it may be listened to?
"If my neighbors don't want me listening to their phone calls, they shouldn't use phones that leak electromagnetic signals that I can detect with this superconducting quantum interference detector in my basement."
But it is.
No information was deposited onto your property. Try again.
The airwaves belong to the people of the USA, not DirectTV or others. The FAA has set aside certain bands for Police, Emergency, Air, and other specific authorities. I don't think any bands were set aside for these providers. They may be licensed to USE them, but they do not OWN them. If you put a conversation on the air; you should expect it to be listened to. If you read your wireless phone, there is a warning that explictly states that your conversations may be monitored.
Wrong. The information is beamed down from satelites ACROSS the nation. Thus, it is a broadcast, and it hits your property whether you like it or not.
OK, so you're saying that you have an absolute right to decrypt military communications transmitted over SATCOM and then do whatever you want with the resulting data.
After all, the signal footprint makes it a "broadcast."
That argument has been used before with varying degrees of unsuccessful-ness, IIRC. One of its biggest proponents was a guy out of San Diego with the handle “Dr. Rigormortis.” Bill Cheek (Cheeks?) was his name.
He was heavily into 11-meter (CB) dx work and had a newsletter once called the “11 meter times and journal.” He died of lung cancer a few years back.
He had a string of running battles with the FCC and others for years. He was ultimately pressured into stopping his newsletter because he covered illegal modifications of CB’s.
He switched to scanners and scanner modifications. He was further hassled because of “illegal” scanner mods – like which diodes to clip to “open up” cell freqs that were locked out, etc. He wrote a couple of books on scanner mods too.
His argument was that he had a legal right to “examine” any radiated signal that passed through his property (and person) for medical reasons. I seem to recall that it got him nowhere.
He was an interesting guy – too bad he’s gone.
Here's my take on it. Landlords own the buildings. (Public owns the airwaves) He then leases or rents to tenants (Public leases airwave use to broadcasters). Those tenants have rights that the landlord cannot infringe upon--including privacy, etc. (The broadcasters have a right to maintain their scrambled signal without the public infringing upon it).
So, while the public DOES own the airwaves, we have signed over the right to grab anything we want, based on the lease agreements.
Since when did things change? Once we had the right to listen to ANYTHING that was broadcast over the leased airways? Are you saying you have leased the air in your bedroom? I know I never signed that lease.
I would place a case of a automobile manufacturer who uses the Digital Mill. act to make it illegal to change the timing 'chip' in your car to alter your car's performance or economy. In both cases, you are modifying YOUR property, to YOUR benefit for PUBLIC resources by reprogramming a processor you own.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.