Did DirecTV Hire Satellite Hackers To Leak Dish TV Smart Cards?
from the seems-a-bit-extreme dept
I had missed this story when it came out last week, but thanks to a reader (who prefers to remain anonymous) for sending it in. Apparently, Dish Network is suing DirecTV, claiming that DirecTV (and its parent News Corp) hired notorious satellite TV hackers to break Dish's encryption and "flood the market" with hacked smart cards. That's quite a claim, and it will be interesting to see what evidence the company has to back it up. After all, reverse engineering a product is perfectly legal -- and, indeed, DirecTV claims that's all it did. Furthermore, it seems doubly strange that DirecTV would go down this route after so thoroughly pissing off smart card hackers of all kinds a few years ago by accusing them all of stealing DirecTV signals with almost no evidence, and then pushing many to pay up to avoid a lawsuit. It's also hard to see what the real benefit to DirecTV is of such a plan. Making it easier to get Dish for free shouldn't increase DirecTV's market at all. One would hope that Dish actually has some serious evidence to go along with these claims.
Reader Comments (rss)
(Flattened / Threaded)
by Anonymous Coward on Apr 16th, 2008 @ 4:46am
if directTV is really responsible perhaps there logic was: if ppl start buying those hacked smart cards no one would pay for the DishTV service.....
it seems those ppl are really convinced that the Media industry is loosing money because of P2P networks not because there product is crap.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Get your facts straight by Anonymous on Apr 16th, 2008 @ 5:00am
DIRECTV has nothing to do with this. The alleged crime was committed back in 2000. This is before Dish tried to buy DIRECTV (initiated in Dec 2001 and declined by the FCC in Oct 2002 - http://www.fcc.gov/transaction/echostar-directv.html) and before News Corp purchased DIRECTV (initiated in May 2003 and approved by the FCC in January 2004 - http://www.fcc.gov/transaction/news-directv.html).
Next you will say Liberty Media was behind this and John Malone was the mastermind!
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Ownership by Anonymous Coward on Apr 16th, 2008 @ 5:13am
I believe that News Corp. owns Dish Network, not DirecTV.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Ownership by ehrichweiss on Apr 16th, 2008 @ 5:38am
No, News Corp owns DirecTV. Guaranteed. JFGI.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
No, in the USA, reverse engineering by Ajax 4Hire on Apr 16th, 2008 @ 5:39am
security is a crime.
Not that I agree with the law.
DCMA and CSS (for DVDs) do specifically state that attempts to reverse engineer the security, just thinking about it is a crime.
Not the first thought crime, will not be the last.
I do have mixed feelings about the reason,
I want a burglar attempt to be prosecuted, just because the attempt was unsuccessful does not mean that it is not a crime. In this case the attempt IS a crime.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
by Anonymous Coward on Apr 16th, 2008 @ 5:41am
This sounds like the same people who faked the moon landing.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
world's smallest violin.. by ehrichweiss on Apr 16th, 2008 @ 5:47am
...playing just for Dish Network.
All I hear from Dish is "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!".
They have gotten in a deal with ebay where if you try to sell your LEGAL satellite receiver that you have to comply with Dish Network's fascist policies or else they will cancel your auctions. I'm NOT talking about selling something with a hacked card or whatever but selling something that you have full right to sell.
You see, Dish Network wants to control everything about their receivers and their use/resale even if it means they violate the doctrine of first sale. For this alone I'd be willing to make a class action attorney rich just to take some of the bounce out of their step for a few months.
So screw them. I hope DirecTV did hire hackers to ruin their day.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Get your facts straight by Alimas on Apr 16th, 2008 @ 6:53am
Actually, the alleged crime took place across 1998-2001.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
One reason... by C.G. on Apr 16th, 2008 @ 7:22am
I can think of one reason why anyone would want to flood the market with hacked cards to allow someone to get service for free... cash flow.
I can imagine a world where Dish Network's customers canceled their service - thus reducing the company's monthly income - while still getting service for free (or, if not canceling, reducing the money paid for premium content). This could force a cash crunch at the company and allow DirectTV to gain the upper hand - even if they don't actually compete in the market.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Get your facts straight by Anonymous Coward on Apr 16th, 2008 @ 9:14am
>The alleged crime was committed back in 2000. This is
>before Dish tried to buy DIRECTV (initiated in Dec 2001
>and declined by the FCC in Oct 2002 -
Holy cow, it took a long time for the courts to hear this case!
Assuming Reuters publish date is correct, I see it akin to suing your ex-wife for hitting your car when you were dating.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
by DrBuzz0 on Apr 16th, 2008 @ 9:16am
No. That would be a loss to DirecTV. Forget the whole "reduce the company's income" thing. DirecTV is a profit-making company and they need subscriptions.
Most of their channels are the same as those on Dish. If Dish is avaliable for free then it's effectively the same as having most of the channels of DirecTV for free. If you can get free from Dish illegally, why would you bother paying for Dish or DirecTV?
The reason Dish encryption (Nagravision) was hacked is that their system is based in their receivers and only certain portions reside on the card. It's generally a less robust system than Videoguard than DirecTV has. They upgraded it with new cards but it was hacked again because they are limited in what they can do.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: world's smallest violin.. by Anonymous Coward on Apr 16th, 2008 @ 9:30am
I read something somewhere, that Dish is also installing light sensors inside the recievers. Well, they want to know if you open the recievers, or shine a flashlight into it, it will think it's open and go through a self-destruct mode and physically destroy the board. It must add enormous costs to open and replace the boards in a darkroom. They sure go to length to treat everyone as criminals!
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
by Anonymous Coward on Apr 16th, 2008 @ 10:27am
I wouldn't put anything past Direct... I'm still fighting with them 1 1/2 years later for a canceled account within their cancellation period.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Bigger picture by James on Apr 16th, 2008 @ 10:50am
The whole bigger picture, that most miss here, being that if DirecTV and DISH didn't charge SO much for the crap they spew that very few would consider ways around it. The market feels the price isn't fair (the same could be argued for CDs and a bit less so for DVDs).
This in no way defends their biggest competitor; cable. The cable companies are even more in bed w/the Devil.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Re: Ownership by Palmyra on Apr 16th, 2008 @ 12:16pm
Not any longer. Around 2006 News corp traded its shares, around 40% or so, of Direct TV with Liberty Media Corp for the shares LMC held in News Corp. LMC owns QVC, The Discovery Channel, and the Atlanta Braves.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Direct TV by Scattershot on Apr 17th, 2008 @ 5:55am
A collection agency, acting on behalf of Direct TV (they said), contacted me alleging an unpaid bill for seventeen dollars and change. I have never subscribed to Direct TV and I told them so. I once subscribed to DISH, but I cancelled because it became unaffordable. DISH said the equipment belonged to me. Was the collection attempt a mistake or a scam ?
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Add Your Comment