$180 Million for Piracy Conspiracy

theCoder writes "According to an AP story printed in the Orlando Sentinel, Steven R. Frazier has been ordered to pay $180 million restitution for attempting to sell a device that would decrypt the satellite signals sent into everyone's homes. In addition to spending the next 5 years in Federal prison, Frazier will have to pay $500 a month for the next 30,000 years, though no one really expects him to live long enough to make all the payments. That value is based on estimated loses DirectTV and Echostar may have incurred had Frazier been able to sell his devices. Being ordered to pay restitution for actual damages is one thing, but paying for some made up number of future damages? Maybe if I catch someone trying to break into my car, I can sue him for the damage he would have caused if he succeeded..."

Comments

The title is totally wrong.

[zapp]

OK... what happened here? The title makes it sound like he got charged $180m for leading a *privacy conspiracy*, however I think he really was only selling devices to bypass satellite encryption (pirating the channels, basically).

In case 1 - GOOD. If he was doing some very anti-privacy stuff, then I am glad they made an example of him and fined him so much.

In case 2 - DAMN. I have attempted to pirate satellite signals before too... among other things. If he got fined $180m for damages that "might" have happened had he succeeded... this is bad.