First, let me qualify my comments by saying I dont condone or approve of piracy. If someone gets caught doing it, they should have to answer for it. That being said, if this case holds water it is sad that the DMCA has enough moxy to get a conviction for an 'attempt' of any sort. That is TOO much power AFAIC. The govt is overstepping their bounds here. In fact this type of industrial reverse engineering is very common. DN and DTV have been locking horns over this very act for years. Anyone see Rupert going to jail for his part back then? NOT!
I have no love lost for Ergen, his cheezy service, piss poor customer service, and crooked business practices. If Nagrastar doesnt FINALLY get it right this time, it wont hurt my feelings if the patch-eye gang rape Echostar again.
Kwak is an opportunist. Profiting on the loss of others. Hell, virtually all the DVB mfgrs are, any that covertly sanctioned priateware for their products anyway. Robert Ward is a loudmouth puppet, parrot, idiot. I hold him in the same regard as I do ol' Charlie Bob. I've never heard of the other guy.
Point being, the DMCA is legislation written by corporate SIGs, for corporations, 'good 'ol boyed' thru the law making process, and revered as an equal to the Homeland Security Act. It is not a matter of National Security, or attempted murder, or solicitation of murder. Lets stay in perspective...Please!
Is Kwak going to use whatever info he gets to promote unsubscribed receiption of satellite signals?...Well of course he is, IF he get the info, but until then a crime has not been commited. I'm probably going to exceed the speed limit tomorrow at some point. I could even take out an ad in the local rag, or call DPS and tell them I intend to, but they arent going to come write me a ticket until I do. The whole DMCA thing needs to be thrown completely out and start over. Even making it a civil action would be better. If Echostar wanted to spank Kwak's butt in civil court, where intent and "who has the most believable story" wins the case, more power to them. This case should not even be considered in a criminal court of law. The DMCA has GOT...TO...GO!
Oh and I dont know if the reporter took the liberty of assumption, or was misinformed and reported erronously, but Echostar does not sell the CAM (smart card) It remains the property of Echostar.
Tony Perry's writing style strikes me as a Jr. reporter.
Disclaimer: I do not condone signal theft.
I did a writeup elsewhere on how many way this guy is in trouble just using the DMCA. It got deleted.
As a old-school hacker the breaking of the encryption is quite the task and thrill.
Vulnerabilities need to be published, or everyone will sit on their duff content with weak security. I talk mainly from the computer sense, but it applies everywhere else as well.
Any free person should be able to take on and break a publicly used encryption system. Note I only mean the encryption system. What data is there is a different matter. Older laws apply there quite well.
However the DMCA takes some given rights out of under peoples noses.
Freedom to use tools as you see fit after you have bought and paid for them. (Right of first sale)
Freedom from unlawful search and seizure. ("He broke our system officer, arrest him!") A civil case get brought in to criminal court.
Freedom to publish how you did it. (Freedom of speech and press)
That microscope he bought? Criminal intent, misuse of product (2 counts)
Intent to share how to break an encryption scheme? Heavy focus in the DMCA on so many way to criminalize a person with multiple counts.
Let me rephrase the above to something closer to how I originally wrote it:
Under the DMCA: You can break the encryption scheme.
Perfectly legal.
You must make all of you tools to break it yourself. Any use of tools bought or made by some other person for you is a
criminal offense
[In computer software this means any debugging tools- hex editors, compilers,
everything is off-limits unless you code them all by hand yourself ignoring the code-vs-complier=chicken-egg problem]
You can
NEVER share HOW with anyone (I mean everyone- no immediate family nonsense), or else
anyone who used the encryption scheme can come after you for unknown (read: Obscene) damages, all while you are being taken through
criminal court.
Oh and any Bush-Bashers can stuff themselves knowing this: the DMCA was written in 1996 and passed in 1998. Thanks Bill Clinton
