Is FTA satellite service even legal?

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While there is no subscription, it looks like they sell you the receiver, which means it's encrypted and only THEIR receiver can decrypt it. A generic FTA receiver would be useless.

you can pick those channels up with any fta reciever. no encryption in that stream what so ever.

crackt out,.
 
What satellites are FTA TV sent on?

Do they use unencrypted channels on Dish Network and Direct TV Satellites? Or do FTA broadcasters own and use their own satellites?
 
Videogamer555: Sometimes they use the same satellites, but a lot of times they don't, also keep in mind the "big guys" (directv/dish) use another kind of Ku, with circular polarization, while FTA it's at C and lineal Ku. Companies that use Digicipher employ C and Ku (Canadá has Shaw).

Anyway, I am tired of people being critical of hackers, and not just in the TVRO sense. Hacking in general is a good thing. I consider myself to be a hacker, and am proud of it, and it really annoys me that people have changed the definition of what it means to be a hacker over the past decade or two.

Sorry for getting off topic.

Ditto!

I myself consider too a hacker in the sense that we always try to use something for something it was not designed in the first place, and not in the sense in which it has been associated as of late in terms that:

hacking = stealing

I, like most of people i know in the FTA world, despise stealing in all of their forms (and i've heard a bunch of excuses like: "i steal those channels because i granted not permission to them to broadcast over my house in other country where i can't subscribe", and "i steal channels because they don't allow people to subscribe anymore, so since they are not selling it, it's not stealing").

Of course there are a lot of "hackers" who often are called lammers, not because they know almost nothing but because they are immature and don't respect the basic 'rules' of not stealing and to not cause harm, more generally called crackers, but that doesn't make them hackers.

By the way... what about those channels that we can get with a $ symbol but the receiver gets them since they are flagged to have encryption but failed to encrypt.

Cheers

Mike
 
Dang BJ, dont hold back, tell us what ya think.......:D

Unfortunately the "association" has been made, just as the association of FTA ="hacking"= satellite signal theft. This has caused a movement in our community to refer to Free To Air as TRUE Free To Air, in an effort to distance our legal activities from the signal theft group. This annoys me as well but a great number of people conjure ideas of free DN/Bell when they hear the term FTA.

DVB-S/S2 receivers are designed to receive DVB-S/S2 signals broadcast In The Clear, and are also capable of receiving the encrypted signals (also DVB format) AND running a decryption routine added to the flash memory derived from proprietary info gleened from the pay provider's conditional access hardware.....aka hacked card. This "3rd party software" is the root of the confusion between legal and illegal satellite signal reception. DVB receivers with OEM software are incapable of displaying encrypted content. 3rd party software is what makes a DVB FTA receiver capable of signal theft.

So in a nutshell, if a signal is broadcast unprotected and free of any means of encryption, one may freely view/listen to it, but if one by some means removes the protection without the express consent, permission or knowledge of the owner of the signal, then one has "stolen" it in the eyes of the DMCA.

In a similar vein.........alleged unauthorized reception of Public Safety broadcasts. As any of you HAMS that have ever "hacked" a commmercial tranceiver for use on the Amateur bands, you are probably aware that Motorola is VERY pissy about re-distro of their RSS (Radio Service Software)
Motorola's gaggle of ambulance chasers, hand in hand with LEA/DA entities has made attempts to confiscate equipment and incarcerate persons that have Motorola trunking equipment that's programmed to LISTEN to Public Safety trunked systems.
Their EULA does not allow for transfer of the RSS to anyone, and they claim that if you are in possession of a radio that has being programmed by their software, and you do not have a license for that software, you are guilty of theft.
How's that for a CROCK! AFAIK, the courts have tossed it all out so far, but the fact that it even made it that far is disturbing in itself.
This is obviously 100% LEA driven.
Next question in this vein, what if they encrypt? It's PUBLIC SAFETY, not private, not commercial, not covered by the Digital Millinium Copyright Act.............hmmmmm

Next observation ..................Timmy is that you? :eek:
 
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While there is no subscription, it looks like they sell you the receiver, which means it's encrypted and only THEIR receiver can decrypt it. A generic FTA receiver would be useless.
There is no encryption with these FTA channels - you can use any KU receiver. A receiver that you buy from Glorystar is pre-programed for their channels, but other then that you can use their receivers for scanning in any FTA programing. I have installed FTA receivers from other manufacturers that work just fine for Glorystar.
Bob
 
Now you talked about FTA signals being legal, but don't the FTA signals use the SAME satellites as the encrypted "Satelite TV" signals like Dish Network? And isn't the it ILLEGAL to receive transmissions (even if they are intentionally NOT encrypted, and meant to be a free signal) from a "Satellite TV" satellite? Unless the signal is coming from a satellite which is itself owned by an FTA broadcaster themself, isn't it ILLEGAL to attempt to receive it?

Charlie would like you to think so, but it is not illegal to receive a NON-ENCRYPTED signal from ANY satellite, including his. If he turns off the encryption on a given channel, it is fair game, pure and simple.

As for FTA on other satellites (of which there are plenty across the sky), you must realize what most FTA channels are... They are uplinks of programs that are usually meant for reception by commercial entities, such as cable TV headends and broadcasters. We eavesdrop on these signals, which is PERFECTLY LEGAL, as long as the signal is not encrypted. If it is encrypted, and that encryption is circumvented using altered firmware or other unauthorized means, that is when a crime is committed (a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, to be specific).
 
Nobody would want to watch a channel on encrypted signal without decrypting it anyway. Not sure if it's legal or not, but that would be useless anyway, which is the whole point of encrypting it to start with obviously.

It is only legal to decrypt channels with the equipment and authorization prescribed by the transmitting party or agent thereof.

Using a modified card or CAS system, or whole other receiver running software designed to defeat the authorization system is the illegal thing.

Now you talked about FTA signals being legal, but don't the FTA signals use the SAME satellites as the encrypted "Satelite TV" signals like Dish Network? And isn't the it ILLEGAL to receive transmissions (even if they are intentionally NOT encrypted, and meant to be a free signal) from a "Satellite TV" satellite? Unless the signal is coming from a satellite which is itself owned by an FTA broadcaster themself, isn't it ILLEGAL to attempt to receive it?
What satellites are used and who owns them is beside the point. What matters is if the channels are transmitted with or without encryption.

If no encryption is used, it is legal to receive on your own home.

Now, there are feeds and things not intended for home viewers, but those are still technically legal to watch in your home, but could be construed as a copyright violation.

A small side note. Most satellite broadcasters do not own satellites, they only lease bandwidth owned by the satellite owner. Often even, they subleas their bandwidth alotment from an uplinker, such as Globecast or Pittsburgh Telecom.
hile there is no subscription, it looks like they sell you the receiver, which means it's encrypted and only THEIR receiver can decrypt it. A generic FTA receiver would be useless.
Not correct. The Glorystar channels can be viewed with any FTA receiver. The Glorystar receiver adds the benefit of automatic management for the less technically inclined, much like a pay DBS receiver.
 
(snip)

Anyway, I am tired of people being critical of hackers, and not just in the TVRO sense. Hacking in general is a good thing. I consider myself to be a hacker, and am proud of it, and it really annoys me that people have changed the definition of what it means to be a hacker over the past decade or two.

Sorry for getting off topic.

I agree. I just wanted to post my favorite part of the manifesto :D

+++The Mentor+++ said:
This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons, and you call us criminals. We explore... and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge... and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals.

Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me for.

I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual, but you can't stop us all... after all, we're all alike
 
somebody in the FTA forum who has the time could probably write a real interesting article for 2600 magazine.

true hacking is not signal theft

receiving a non encrypted signal is 100% perfectly legal for now, until someone with too much power decides otherwise.
 
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