Captan Midnight

[Diamond Jim]

This appeared today in the "Today In History" section of our local newspaper.

"In 1986, a video pirate calling himself "Captain Midnight" interrupted a movie on HBO with a printed message protesting de-scrambling fees." (Captain Midnight turned out to be John R. MacDougall of Florida, who was fined and placed on probation.)

Hey John, if you are out there, I remember that and applaud you for the effort.

 

[Mr Tony]

the wiki article which has a couple cool links/news stories on it
Captain Midnight (HBO) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Diamond Jim]

The sad thing is HBO was pretty good in those days. $12.95 a month was a lot of money then, now it's chump change and the programing is horrible.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I dont know if he is a SatelliteGuy or not... but I consider him one.

 

[woodheat/nooil]

I dont know if he is a SatelliteGuy or not... but I consider him one.

Give him a call & ask , Bio Page

 

[turbosat]

Remember that event lol.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Diamond Jim,

Thanks for bringing that story up. I vaguely remember the incident, but in retrospect, it was pretty cool! Everyone has their devious side.

YouTube - Captain Midnight Incident

If you were able to jam any signal today in the same way, what would be the message that you would send?

I think I would send this one... I would do so, Just 'cause I CAN! LOL

YouTube - I can do anything better than you - with English Subtitles

RADAR

 

[AcWxRadar]

You probably don't understand WHY I picked that particular item / message. Not only would it be a slam in their face that I was able to jam the signal, but it would be a slam regarding their lousy programming by interupting the signal with something good, albeit corny.

I think that a lot of people would find the interruption interesting and start calling the HBO line to ask what that show was and demanding to see it in its entireity.

Sincerely, if they played all the great shows, I'd pay for it! I just can't fathom paying for what they offer today. It is just pure junk. Worse than junk in my opinion, most of it is sickening or at least boring. I am sure that that was what was in Captain Midnight's mind at the time. The quality of the programming is going down a steep hill but the cost to view it is going up a steep hill.

Sure, there are a few good movies made from time to time today. But there is not enough of them for me. So that would be my statement and message of interruption.

What do you all think? Am I stuck in the past, or is it that I just think we deserve better for our money?

Captain Midnight was right on the mark 25 years ago!

RADAR

 

[Diamond Jim]

You hit the nail on the head Radar.

 

[televisionarchives]

I remember it . I have the original clip because a friend had a dish and was taping the movie.
Don't forget about the Chicago one http://youtu.be/zFlMHCdYXLM

 

[GreatFTA]

Well, with the garbage shown on today's television (mostly in comedies), I am very happy with what the FTA has to offer. It's free and I never know what to expect to watch each time I turn on my system. Never a dull moment.
Back when I was subscribing to The Movie Channel, Showtime on the C Band days, there were descent movies to view, The thing was, the movies would be on over and over and over, some for many months! Seem like "Smokey And The Bandit" was on for like a coupla years!
When I first went to Directv, I had the opportunity to get a few months of HBO free. I got tired of the same crap and refused to continue receiving it.
I am not on Directv now, and am subscribed to IFC on 4DTV. That channel ain't like it use to be, with those commercials. I will be trying out The Sundance Channel and see how it go. Sure hope the 4DTV folks will get more offerings soon.
Overall, it seems the writers of tv shows on all networks have run out of ideas to broadcast and the contents shown are offensive and depressing. Now days a parent has to explain to their child what oral sex is. I remember when the Clinton sex scandal was going on, one lady wrote to a editorial in a newspaper complaining about how the network news was handling it, stating her 6 year old daughter was asking about the oral sex.
Gone are the Mayberry and Happy Days days of tv.
Sorry to sound off like this, but I am annoyed with what on the network and premium channels, free or paid. I am enjoying the benefits of FTA.

 

[televisionarchives]

Hey, MacDougall Electronics is not far from my Orlando Home. It would be cool if I could do an interview with him and put it on youtube. It's about 15 miles from my home.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Wasn't that event the inspiration for the Max Headroom movie?

I liked that ORIGINAL movie. The tv series stunk though. As they always do.

Sadly, you can't find that movie. Many years ago I had an original video tape of it I purchased. It's of course long since vanished.

 

[Tron]

Since he owns a satellite business, perhaps he would be interested in becoming a SatelliteGuys Sponsor! Just think... Captain Midnight appearing at the top of the page in the sponsor list.

I wonder what kind of intriguing forum contests he would host?

 

[Mr Tony]

IF you looked at his website its form 1996 I think. Those Dish receivers are OLD in the pics

 

[televisionarchives]

We have to go to The Villages soon and it's on the way. I will see if I can stick my head (and my Hd Camcorder ) into his store. I just hope I don't get a No Comment from him. One of my friends here at work said we should barge in wearing FBI shirts and FCC hats etc. HA

 

[Candid]

We have to go to The Villages soon and it's on the way. I will see if I can stick my head (and my Hd Camcorder ) into his store. I just hope I don't get a No Comment from him. One of my friends here at work said we should barge in wearing FBI shirts and FCC hats etc. HA

And hope that his shottie is not working.

 

[televisionarchives]

And hope that his shottie is not working.

We are using a Satellite Dish for cover .

 

[Anole]

warning: opinion ahead

I find it interesting that on a forum renowned for a no-hacker policy, Captain Midnight is so celebrated.
If a ham had done what he did, the FCC would have stripped him of his license for life (I believe).

As for being able to interrupt the programming by transmitting an overriding signal to the satellite, that might be impressive ... if done from home.
However, when you realize he had command of the commercial equipment designed for that very purpose, not so much!

[bitching mode: on]
The fact that big business was sticking it to the little guy, really has no relevance.
It was through the apathy and greed of the many, that this plan (high rates) succeeded!

Today, two popular American and the two Canadian satellite companies (and others) provide expensive service with dubious quality.
Should their signal be jammed?
No.

If everyone would stop paying for three months, these companies would fold up like a house of cards.
A loss of hundreds of millions of dollars of cash-flow a -month- would send a serious signal to the greedy!
Why? Because their business model is based on the apathy of the sheep...uhhh.. customers.

The FCC rules used to be, if you could receive the signal on your property, you could listen, just not disclose the info.
Then came encryption.
And big business bought the government.

DVDs have encryption, however that has fallen to naught.
They can be copied -with- their encryption, if you just want a duplicate.
So blu-ray discs were invented with better quality (and better encryption).
Today, blu-ray discs are routinely decrypted.
People often copy then to their house LANs and play 'em in every room.
Technology marches onward at an incredible pace.
I will leave unsaid, what is pretty obvious...
[bitching mode: off]

So, in conclusion, if Captain Midnight is such a hero to so many, shall I change my avatar?
Perhaps add an eye patch to my lizard picture?
And instead of clinging to a screen or walking down a twig, should he be proudly perched on a skull 'n crossbones?

Pick a side. -

 

[coinmaster32]

This is just my $0.02, but:

Back in the VC-2 days..it was hack city! If your younger and don't know what Vc-2 is, it was a analog scrambling method that worked by the use of a motherboard size descrambler called a VC-2 board.

Their were BBS boards committed to VC-2 hacking.

There was even a satellite tv channel that TOLD you how to hack, called boresight news!

and guess what? Even dealers were in the hacking game! Even satellite dealers installed integrated circuits into their customers VC-2 boards that cracked open all the channels.

Know what's even worse? Some say that if GI did not allow VC-2 to be hacked so easily, then satellite tv would of not taken off! As ironic as it sounds, GI let VC-2 be hacked so people could see whats up there, become frustrated after missing out on tv for a few days while they switched keys and gave out ecm's, and pay for service.

Oh, and it was never called hacking, it was called "testing". Yes people "tested" to make sure they could descramble VC-2. They never called each other hackers, but testers.

Now I'm just recalling all this from what I have read on the internet. I was in diapers when VC-2 was around.

Today satellite TV hackers can face serious penalties and prison time for stealing service.

$50 a month for TV is much nicer then 5 years in prison!

Oh, and a captain midnight incident could happen today. Not going to say how, but if you had about oh say $20,000 in equipment, you could.

OH, and CM is not a hacker. He did not hack into anything. All he did was changed what was being broadcasted on HBO with his own message. He didn't steal anything, did not cause any damage, or anyone any bodily harm. He was p'oed at the channels charging money for what was one free, and stood up for himself, I don't blame him. If directv suddenly doubled in price, I'm sure a lot of people would be p'oed too.