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.
Poor example, no one is denying anyone else the use of the data. The data is still there, unmolested and unchanged. If I steal your wallet, I have deprived you the use of it.
I don't see why not. If you alter the reading and then try to sell the car that would be fraud, but the mere act of examining your own property shouldn't be a crime. (I'm officially undecided as to whether this reasoning extends to the DirecTV case).
Remember Heinlein's
classic "Waldo?" Broadcast bands
so saturated
with low power waves
that human nervous systems
became compromised...
(I remember this
story every time Apple
updates their AirPort...)
Hacking implies modification. If I hack code, I change it. These people have not changed the signal, nor interfered with it. They just altered the way THEIR property handles it.
IMHO, if the satelite companies would LEASE, RENT, or manage the smart cards; this wouldn't be a problem. They have instead sold cards with units, and have made absolutely NO ATTEMPT to recover the cards from people who close their satelite accounts. Thereby inviting a community of 'Testers' to play with the systems. If I leave the keys in my car, I can be fined for 'inviting' the felonous car theft. The same faults lie here.
That is a hell-of-alot of tv viewing.
You can? Where do you live?
I'll assert that.
Me neither, I was just having fun.
Absolutely, you can do whatever you like to it. However, you MUST disclose that the mileage indicated is not actual when you sell it. Otherwise, that would be fraud. On your title transfer paperwork, there is even a checkbox to certify or disavow the indicated mileage.
Texas. Much like failure to lock your door is grounds for your insurance company denying your burglary claim. If you do not do the minimum to safeguard your property, you share part of the blame for the theft thereof.
As I understand it, Dish and DirecTV RF signals have a nationwide footprint and can be received by any receiver on those freqs. I don't beleive that they are arguing that people can't/shouldn't be able to receive those signals, but that the software running on the smart cards should not be modified to allow non-subscribers access to the resulting audio and video. These people ARE altering the software on the smart cards, which I don't believe they own. I think that when when you PURCHASE a system, you are only paying for the receiver and the physical dish, not the smart card. Your monthly charges are for programming which is enabled through your smart card. So, in a way, you are renting the smart card. I think I remember reading this on Dish's service agreement. I'll try to dig it up. FYI, you might want to go to www.dbstalk.com. Those guys are in the know...
From a moral or ethical perspective, if someone continues to receive the DirecTV service without paying for it (or without the company's permission) that person is a thief.
After all, the signal footprint makes it a "broadcast."
If something comes onto your property without you asking for it, it's yours. I'm thinking of someone putting a fence on your property; unless you complain and force its removal, in most states the law grants the easement to the incursor after some nominal amount of time
In this case the reverse would also seem to hold: if someone continually places their property (signal) on your property, at some point it becomes yours. A novel test of this theory would be to buy a descrambler and send DirectTV a letter every month telling them they're beaming their signal onto your property and you intend to use it unless they stop doing so.
Note that a cable company would not have this problem; they can simply turn off their signal at the street
It's fair use under copyright laws at the very least (the principle which sustains this very forum) provided you're not reselling it or profiting from it
The mere act of selling a device which someone might use for personal purposes likewise doesn't strike me as meritorious
The concept of "intellectual property" has been bastardized to the point of irrelevance
At the very least, the fact that they're citing DMCA tells me they don't have much of a leg to stand on
What if I develop a signal that goes outside of, over, around or between the currently recognized "spectrum," is it mine or does it belong to the people of the USA?
From article:It is technically against state law to leave a car idling, because the is bad for the environment. Murray urges drivers to be smart and lock up at all times.
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