Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Satellite Hackers Charged Under DMCA

Posted by michael on from the grounded dept.

RexHavoc writes "'Invoking the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a federal grand jury has indicted six people on charges of developing software and hardware designed to hack into paid TV satellite transmissions.' My guess is that for those who haven't already plead guilty, they will have a tough time proving that they had good intentions, unlike Dmitry Sklyarov's e-books case."

7 of 378 comments (clear)

  1. What!? by 91degrees · · Score: 5, Funny

    So, they send the information to my home, without my permission. It bounces around my dish, causing interference, and then they have the audacity to say that I'm not allowed to apply mathematical operations on this noise!?

    If they don't want me to pirate their signal, why did they send it to me?

  2. Excuse me, by genka · · Score: 4, Funny


    If sat providers don't want me to mess with their signal, they shouls cease to radiate it on my house in backyard!
    This is not like I am tapping into their cable.

  3. SOME information wants to be free by Thud457 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think your employer would press charges if you "gave out information" on the combination to the finance office's safe!

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  4. Re:Pretty Sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Uhmmm... So what we're implying here is that they wrote the code, but never ran it...?

    Must be some pretty good coders. Anytime I write code, I usually have to run it at least once (usually many times) to make sure it works correctly. Its called debugging.

  5. Gimme my brick back! by Atomizer · · Score: 2, Funny

    Gimme my brick back! I thought you had it you dirty thief! And while I'm here the paperboy wants his $2!

    1. Re:Gimme my brick back! by JAZ · · Score: 2, Funny

      Absolutely! Howvever, I regret to inform you that the brick was chipped as it passed thru my window.

      Since I had access to the brick, I was able to patch it, but I will only release the patched brick under the GPL. Fortunately, the brick no longer crashes windows.

      If I return your brick and you use it, that building will clearly be a derivative work. If you lock that derivative building, I'll be forced to file suit against you for DMCA and GPL violations.

      --


      "Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos." -- Homer Simpson
  6. Re:Pretty Sad by tuxlove · · Score: 3, Funny

    Did these people actually hack a satelite/feed?

    How does one design a device for hacking a satellite feed without actually hacking the satellite feed?