Offline satellite internet downloading

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Babadem

SatelliteGuys Pro
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May 21, 2007
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How can one use the DVBWorld USB 2104D to legally grab goodies off data transponders on Satellites. What programs can be used grab these files and what satellites can one find interesting stuff? I'm new at this so all your explanations and help will be appreciated.
 
The highlighted word legally is the reason you probably will not get any responses.
In Europe there are many legal data service, but that is not the case in North America.
It is not considered legal to capture others internet traffic, and most data services are not meant for us, some use proprietary systems.

The only one I can think of that is legal to receive is NOAAPORT,
which requires a large C-Band dish and I believe that the capture software only runs on Linux.
 
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Agreed with qwert1515. Truthfully, I am afraid to touch the subject, mostly because I don't know the relevant laws. Being two way communications, observing such data seems somewhat similar to a wiretap, and my initial impression would be that it is not legal to do so.

In the interests of freedom and the potential technical discussion, however, I'd be very pleased to learn my impression is incorrect.
 
The highlighted word legally is the reason you probably will not get any responses.
In Europe there are many legal data service, but that is not the case in North America.
It is not considered legal to capture others internet traffic, and most data services are not meant for us, some use proprietary systems.

The only one I can think of that is legal to receive is NOAAPORT,
which requires a large C-Band dish and I believe that the capture software only runs on Linux.
Thanks, Qwert1515 for the explanations. :up
 
Agreed with qwert1515. Truthfully, I am afraid to touch the subject, mostly because I don't know the relevant laws. Being two way communications, observing such data seems somewhat similar to a wiretap, and my initial impression would be that it is not legal to do so.

In the interests of freedom and the potential technical discussion, however, I'd be very pleased to learn my impression is incorrect.
Good to be on the side of caution.
 
Hi all, my take is it 's legal to read about how this is done. So if you want an interesting read google skygrabber review. Enjoy, DC
 
As far as I'm concerned, if it's not encrypted, it "shouldn't" be illegal to monitor, no matter what the content. Of course that doesn't mean that there might be some poorly written laws that could be interpreted to mean that it was illegal. The truth is that all of us are "receiving" the internet data, because it's coming down the coax from the lnbf. The real question then is what you do with it. Are you locking on these transponders to peak on a sat? Are you pulling in any of the PIDs to help identify the transponder to help figure out what sat you're on? Do you look at any of the IP data to see if it's internet or video or other info, and if it's video, do you see any difference between video sent as IP vs video sent via DVB??? Do you see any difference between video sent via IP/DVB vs text sent via IP/DVB? If you intercept the text, do you just monitor it out of curiosity, or do you make some use of it like by making stock market purchases based on what you read, or do you try to sell the content???
I really think that it's virtually impossible for lawmakers to create a law the draws the line at any reasonable place. I don't doubt that there may be some laws addressing this, but I feel certain that if there are, that those laws probably technically make it illegal to do things that are clearly legal, so I am certain that they would have to be flawed laws. The ONLY realistic way to draw the line is to say that anything is OK if it's not encrypted, because it's so easy for them to encrypt that if they put something up there that ISN'T encrypted, then they have to expect that it's being intercepted. It's all being intercepted by the NSA anyway.
 
Before the corps started getting laws passed for them, the FCC rule was:

The air waves are free. If you have the means to receive the signal, you can. Only the sale if decryption equipment was illegal. Talking about how it worked wasn't which is why magazines like Radio Electronics had detailed information on how cable scrambling worked and diagrams for circuits to descramble. Now it's illegal to even talk about how scrambling/encryption systems work.

Last I heard, the new rule regarding signals where, once it passes through YOUR equipment, it was yours. Which ment you couldn't put a descrambler on the cable coming in because that is considered to belong to the cable company. But you could put one on the video out of your vcr. It gets more complicated with sat. You own the cable coming down and any switches, you own the lnb that picks it up, you own the dish that reflects the signal, and the FAA says the air space above you for 500' above the tallest object (not just above ground, but above any trees or tower) is your air space and private property. But trying to use that will get you no where. Unless you are someone like Bill Gates.
 
..... the FAA says the air space above you for 500' above the tallest object (not just above ground, but above any trees or tower) is your air space and private property. But trying to use that will get you no where. ....

Here you have to be careful what you do in your airspace. The FAA allows planes to fly down to 100' AGL (above ground level) here. Although they normally stay up at 500', there have been times when they've made the trees sway as they go by. Pretty neat to have an F15 go over at 500'/500kts or lower. :eek: Also kind of neat to see the planes from above when they fly up the valley next to the hill I'm on here.

EDIT: Speaking of air space above a property, I used to live down in Md near DC, and there used to be a building, I think in Bethesda, which was called something like the "air space building" or "air rights" or something like that. From what I understood, they tried to buy a property to build a big high rise, but the owner wouldn't sell, so the buyer convinced the owner to sell the air space above the property. So they built the building ABOVE the property, touching the ground on either side of the property. At least that was the way the local story went.
 
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Would be cool if there was FTA for different types of data like there is for television like windows updates, certain types of files and applications and so forth that are used on the internet. It would be like a one way internet connection.
 
Years ago there was a free data delivery service that used the extra VBI lines that weren't taken up by captioning on PBS stations. I quit using it when they started delivering more ads than useful content, which was almost immediately actually :( In those days, a web page flooded with ads was the exception rather than the rule, and besides, it was eating up my limited hard drive space.
 
I like the healthy debate and information that I'm getting from this thread!! :)
 
I know one thing it’s not illegal to share information. What you do with it is your call.
...

Interestingly, as recently as about 15 years ago (I'm not sure if it's still the case or not, it's just that 15 years ago was the last time I was able to make my way through all those federal laws without getting dizzy) it WAS illegal to share information or use information about transmissions not intended for you that you monitored on radio. It was also illegal to even share the info about the frequencies you monitored. For example, if you would monitor the public service bands, and heard that there was an accident somewhere, you technically could legally listen, but you couldn't tell anyone about what you heard, and couldn't use the information, such as a tow truck business rushing to the crash, and you couldn't put those frequencies in a scanner book, etc, etc. Since this law was being routinely ignored, I'm hoping that it has been removed from the books, but it used to be the case. I assume that it was intended to protect telephone transmissions, but since they've made specific laws addressing that now, perhaps the general application wasn't needed..... or perhaps it's still there?
I just remember years ago, after reading that provision in the FCC regulations, I monitored some very interesting air to ground communications between a MAJOR oil CEO who was in the news all the time, discussing some international business deals, but I was afraid to discuss what I heard on the net due to the law about sharing monitored info. I didn't know enough at the time to understand what was being discussed, but it was kind of fun listening to him discuss an upcoming trip to a foreign country to discuss some deal.
 
Last I heard, the new rule regarding signals where, once it passes through YOUR equipment, it was yours. Which ment you couldn't put a descrambler on the cable coming in because that is considered to belong to the cable company. But you could put one on the video out of your vcr. It gets more complicated with sat. You own the cable coming down and any switches, you own the lnb that picks it up, you own the dish that reflects the signal, and the FAA says the air space above you for 500' above the tallest object (not just above ground, but above any trees or tower) is your air space and private property. But trying to use that will get you no where. Unless you are someone like Bill Gates.
interesting. I think there are local laws about how high you can put up a tower though. Something about if it's so many feet above the roof line you need permission from the local airport if you are so many feet from the airport. Maybe it's time to add a nice "expansion" to the house that goes up 500 feet, lol.
 
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