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Brazilian Pirates Hijack US Military Satellites

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the because-they-can dept.

blantonl writes "Brazilians all over the country are using modified amateur radio equipment to communicate with each other using US Military communications satellites — effectively creating their own CB radio network on the backs of the US Military. Recent efforts to crack down have resulted in arrests of some of the users, however the behavior still continues today."

6 of 359 comments (clear)

  1. Pirates by fisticuffs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What exactly are the "pirates" pirating? Does mere communications count as "piracy" now?

  2. what's with the !pirates tag? by Animaether · · Score: 5, Insightful

    read up, whoever tagged this story with "!pirates"
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_radio

    piracy has widespread meanings, from the somali crazies type pirates to software/music/movie/etc. pirates to pirate radio communication.

    just like hacker vs cracker, that battle was 'lost' many decades ago, probably before you were even born.

  3. 40 year old tech? by DomNF15 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    With defense appropriated funds accounting for a large chunk of the USA's annual budget, you'd think they could use something newer than 1970's era technology for long range com...wouldn't the time/money/resources spent on busting the "pirates" be better spent on a new (secure) system?

  4. The definition of "Pirate", among other things... by geekmux · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So now pirate is going to be used for anyone using something for nothing?

    So now "prostitute" is going to be used for anyone selling sex?

    So now "pilot" is going to be used for anyone flying a plane?

    Uh, hate to break it to you, but sometimes the right word is used properly. But if you prefer, we could always call them "hackers" and really stir up the geek shit pot...

  5. Re:So if i pirate Music with these Satellites... by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...were water boarded 183 times by the marines.

    When I saw that the CIA had waterboarded a terror suspect 183 times, it made me wonder how the decision was made after they had waterboarded the guy 182 times and not gotten what they wanted to try just once more.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  6. Can't let this one go without comment by sean.peters · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Much of the parent is misleading or false.

    An income tax is much more complex and labor-intensive than all other forms of taxation.

    It's true that our current income tax system is complex... but it's hardly true that this is an essential feature of income tax systems. We could have a simple income tax system, but we've chosen not to. Similarly, excise and sales taxes can be complex, and some of them are... at the very least, they vary wildly from state to state and product to product.

    The only reason for having one is so that you can use carrot-and-stick methods to manipulate the population ("do something we like, get a tax credit; do something we don't like, pay more"). That's the only "benefit"; otherwise it is inferior in every way to all other forms of taxation.

    This is utterly ridiculous. The reason for having an income tax is that it can be made progressive (in other words, you can make rich people pay proportionally more), in ways you can't with sales/excise taxes. That's the benefit of an income tax system... and yes, it is in fact a benefit. The carrot & stick effect is by no means exclusive to income taxes, either - excise taxes on, for example, cigarettes, are explicitly a stick being wielded against tobacco use.