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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."

4 of 378 comments (clear)

  1. well.... by tx_mgm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    looks like a legitimate case. the DMCA does enforce some issues that do need to be enforced. I agree that these people were in the wrong...but on the whole I still think the DMCA needs some serious re-writing.

    --
    Gentlemen...BEHOLD!
    -Dr. Weird
  2. Two important point - info distro/action by numbski · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1. Should it be illegal to tell someone how to do something?

    NO

    2. Should it be illegal to actually do said 'thing'.

    Yes, so long as said thing violates what the citizens want to be wrong.

    In the end, I don't want to be breaking the law by simply knowing something, and sharing that knowledge. That's the thing the DMCA does that scares me.

    --

    Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).

  3. Intention irrelevant.. by xchino · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Whether or not the intentions of the authors were good or not makes no difference. It should ALWAYS be up to the end user to exercise good judgment in usage of information. In Kenpo, I was taught how to break bones and even kill people. I have yet to break anyone's bones, other than my own, nor have I killed anyone. Should I be punished for knowing these things? Should my teacher be punished for teaching me? No. If I chose to use my knowledge unfairly, should my teacher be punished for my irresponsibility?

    The DMCA is the modern day non-racial equivalent of the Jim Crow laws. If you can keep "them" uneducated you can keep "them" under control.

    --
    Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's just that yours is stupid.
  4. Question for the lawyers out there. by JAZ · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why is it legal for me to have a cable tv descrambler and watch a cable off of a wire (which the cable company can claim ownership of) but not for me to decrypt a satalite signal from the airwaves which the statalite company cannot legimately claim ownership of?

    Under current law, it seems that if someone throws a brick through my window and I pick it up, I am guilty of stealing a brick.

    --


    "Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos." -- Homer Simpson