another pirate goes down

[sA :: Shaggy]

C/P

Quebec man arrested in satellite signal theft probe
Last Updated: Thursday, April 19, 2007 | 4:23 PM ET
CBC News




Police in Quebec's Eastern Townships are accusing a man of running a website out of his home to sell equipment that can illegally intercept satellite signals.

RCMP raided the home in the Township of Hatley, near Sherbrooke, earlier this week and seized documents, a vehicle and cash.

They also allegedly discovered the suspect had set up an internet chat room where users shared tips on satellite signal piracy.

The man, whose age and name have not been released, could be charged with importing, modifying and selling equipment contrary to the Radiocommunication Act, said police.

He could also be charged with theft of satellite signals under the Criminal Code of Canada, which carries a maximum two-year sentence. As of Thursday, no charges had been laid.

The arrest follows an investigation by police, with help from Industry Canada, the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association's (CMPDA) Anti-Piracy Operations, Bell Express Vu and Canada Post.

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The investigation began in 2004, following a complaint by Bell Express Vu.

Police found satellite receivers, along with cards that could be used to unscramble signals, claimed Gary Osmond of the CMPDA.

The association's anti-piracy branch claimed it was a "sophisticated website operation" that sold and distributed components throughout North America.

The theft of satellite signals cost various industries in Canada an estimated $300 million Cdn last year, according to police.

A comprehensive study aimed at producing a more accurate picture of the impact that piracy has on the film industry including, for the first time, losses due to internet piracy, recently calculated that CMPDA-related studios lost $6.1 billion US to worldwide piracy in 2005.

The CMPDA serves as the voice and advocate of the major studios of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) whose distribution divisions market feature films, pay TV, prime time entertainment programming for television and pre-recorded videos and DVDs in Canada.

 

[KE4EST]

Thats what happens when you hack..btw what is the link to website that you found this article.

 

[sA :: Shaggy]

Link for article http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2007/04/19/satellite-signals.html

 

[Hall]

The theft of satellite signals cost various industries in Canada an estimated $300 million Cdn last year, according to police.

Who makes up these numbers ?? The people who do this wouldn't otherwise pay for the same level (i.e. everything) of service.

 

[chaddux]

Who makes up these numbers ?? The people who do this wouldn't otherwise pay for the same level (i.e. everything) of service.

That's one of the main problems with piracy data. For example, the RIAA assumes (1) that every single song illegally downloaded would otherwise be purchased if it hadn't been downloaded illegally and (2) that there was no subsequent purchase of that song through legal methods. Both assumptions are filled with errors and invalid.

 

[Hall]

Example related to DirecTV piracy.... I knew people who got 100% of the channels offered and PPVs were 100% free. They watched a variety of stuff on all the channels they had, "ordered" PPVs all the time, etc, etc. Would they do that otherwise ?? Absolutely NOT !! In D*'s eyes though, they "lost" $100/mo subscription plus add'l for the PPVs. Sorry, if they didn't get it free, they wouldn't get it at all.

 

[navychop]

IIRC, this is similar to the early days of PC software sales. But a study later found that the illegal copies were letting people try out software they would not buy to try out. Plenty of people bought the software afterwards and piracy actually had the net effect of increasing sales, not decreasing them.

But I don't support piracy. These satellite pirates are unjustly enriched by their "ill gotten gain." We pay for our TV- so should they.

I'll bet they won't have satellite TV in prison.

 

[chaddux]

I'll bet they won't have satellite TV in prison.

They have real PPV in prison...but not the good kind.

 

[Hall]

I'll bet they won't have satellite TV in prison.

"He could also be charged with theft of satellite signals under the Criminal Code of Canada, which carries a maximum two-year sentence. As of Thursday, no charges had been laid."

Something tells me he could easily get away with NO jail time, though a hefty fine is probably likely. Rarely do people ever get the maximums....

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I can't say much, but there is a lot more to come. To this I say good for Dish!

 

[navychop]

yes!

 

[SatinKzo]

Scott, you're such a tease.

 

[Hall]

Dish needs to do something. It's my understanding that no one has broken DirecTV's current encryption scheme after a number of years ! Kinda goes against the "if a man built it, a man can break it" saying....

 

[kb7oeb]

I don't see this as good news, it means people are still hacking dish.

 

[Dish-Direc]

So You Know

I don't see this as good news, it means people are still hacking dish.

I believe Scott may have info that Dish will shut down all piracy, but I have my doubts that Dish is capable.

 

[SatinKzo]

Dish needs to do something. It's my understanding that no one has broken DirecTV's current encryption scheme after a number of years ! Kinda goes against the "if a man built it, a man can break it" saying....

I wonder more if it is just easier to do dish and bell then it was to mess with directv. I still believe if they wanted to and invested the time, directv could be cracked.

 

[Hall]

I still believe if they wanted to and invested the time, directv could be cracked.

I doubt it .... it's just "too hard". I believe many of the hackers actually do it more for the challenge vs any financial incentive. Are people still working on it ?? I'm sure they are.

 

[MikeD-C05]

IIRC, this is similar to the early days of PC software sales. But a study later found that the illegal copies were letting people try out software they would not buy to try out. Plenty of people bought the software afterwards and piracy actually had the net effect of increasing sales, not decreasing them.

But I don't support piracy. These satellite pirates are unjustly enriched by their "ill gotten gain." We pay for our TV- so should they.

I'll bet they won't have satellite TV in prison.

Sorry to burst your bubble. At the state prison I work at in Texas we have DISHNETWORK. At least 5 channels plus the locals.

Tnt
tbs
espn
espn2
cnn headline news

But they are all in glorious sd-cablelike picture using coaxes from the sat receivers.

 

[SatinKzo]

I doubt it .... it's just "too hard". I believe many of the hackers actually do it more for the challenge vs any financial incentive. Are people still working on it ?? I'm sure they are.

Well, what incentive is there? NFL ST? Bell has that and it's easier to crack since it uses nagra2. Why spend the money to crack something that you can get on dish/bell for MUCH less investment in time or money. We all know that many of the FTA receiver makers have unoffical links to "third party" programmers. If I ran a business I would take the route with the best ROI.

I will give Directv credit on keeping their encryption scheme very secret, they put a great deal of money into it and it has served them well. As long as Nag is a multi-use system, it's going to be easier. But like anything that is being broadcast and the stream can be viewed (and it can) it can be captured, analyzed and worked on.

I agree that many hackers like the challenge, but I also know that many of these companies like the profit. Thse companies are not what I would consider forward thinking. They react to changes, they are not pro-active and maybe one days when dish/bell becomes incredibly hard, I wouldn't be surprised to see possibly a directv hack, but then again directv has had some time to get some ECM's ready and primed for just such a day or event.

 

[SatinKzo]

I don't see this as good news, it means people are still hacking dish.

There are still LOTS of people doing it. It's hard not to find sites where searching on google for FTA stuff. Heck that's ony 1 part of it. There are many different markets for it and it's a thriving market. I hate it cause it drives up FTA receiver prices. I monitor the status of the stuff (like many others here) cause when things go down for an extended time. FTA receiver prices usually drop and it becomes a nice buyers market.