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Christopher Tarnovsky aka Big Gun talking about ha // 2010-02-04
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Black Hat DC Conference 2010 -- The ultra-secure technology used to protect some of the world's most commonly used microchips might not be so secure, a researcher said here today.
Christopher Tarnovsky, a researcher at Flylogic Engineering who has made a business of hacking "unhackable" chip technology and other hardware, was at it again today with the revelation of vulnerabilities in the Infineon SLE 66 CL PE chip, which is widely used in computers, gaming systems, identity cards, and other electronics.
Tarnovsky offered a step-by-step explanation of his successful efforts to crack the chip's defenses using electron microscopy. During the course of about nine months, Tarnovsky said he was able to bypass the chip's myriad defenses and tap into its stored information without detection or chip failure.
"I'm not saying it was easy, but this technology is not as secure as some vendors would like you to think," Tarnovsky said.
Using a painstaking process of analyzing the chip, Tarnovsky was able to identify the core and create a "bridge map" that enabled the bypass of its complex web of defenses, which is set up to disable the chip if tampering occurs. After creating the map, he used ultra-small needles to tap into the data bus -- without disturbing the protective mesh -- and essentially "read" all of the chip's stored data, including encryption keys and unique manufacturing information.
Using this data, criminals could potentially re-create the chip in order to develop counterfeit systems or subvert widely used systems, Tarnovsky said. Such exploits could allow criminals to break through the defenses of pay TV services, medical ID systems, or even Microsoft's much-vaunted Xbox license chip, he said.
Tarnovsky said he has informed Infineon of the flaws he has discovered, but so far the company has not responded. "Their initial reaction was to tell me that what I'd done was impossible," he said. "Then when I sent them some video and the code that I just showed [to the Black Hat audience], they went quiet. I have not heard back from anybody."
In addition to Infineon, Tarnovsky said he informed officials at the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) standards organization, which sets security guidelines for the widely used PC chip standard. But he has not heard back from them, either.
Tarnovsksy said he believes similar exploits would be possible with other chips as well as Infineon's, though he has not attempted them yet. The exploits would not be easy to reproduce -- Tarnovsky said he went through many chips and many needles, and electron microscope time costs $350 per hour. "But the reason it took so long was not so much what the vendors have done, but me learning how to do it," he said. "Once you know what to do, it's not incredibly hard."
Story published at http://www.darkreading.com/vulnerability_management/security/encryption/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222600843
Viewsat guys sentenced // 2010-01-30
Jung Kwak was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in satellite piracy.
Robert Ward and Phillip Allison were both sentenced to 30 days in jail, 6 months house arrest, and 1-3 years of probation.
That is the result of backstabbing, snitching and double crossing by the fellow hackers.
Nfusion Lawsuit news might not be accurate // 2010-01-29
I posted the news about Nfusion lawsuit yesterday, looking at the court docs carefully it might not be about Nfusion..... it reads
"AGREED FINAL JUDGMENT AND PERMANENT INJUNCTION
Document "Filed & Entered" into the Court Docket on January 28, 2010.
Refer to the attachment.
D*sh Network v. Dobos Case 'Highlights':
Case 0:09-cv-03448-JNE-SRN Document 8 Filed 01/28/10 Page 3 of 6
7. Defendant violated federal laws by offering to the public, providing, or otherwise engaging in the traffic of devices, components, and/or technologies that are primarily designed to circumvent and/or defeat Plaintiffs’ Security System and ultimately facilitate the unauthorized reception of Plaintiffs’ encrypted satellite signals and copyrighted D*SH Network Programming.
Such devices, components and/or technologies include: firmware and software designed or used for piracy in connection with FTA receivers, Internet Key Sharing, Control Word Sharing, distribution of data or code for use in piracy, and nFusion-branded FTA receivers.
Defendant acknowledges and admits that each of the foregoing was primarily designed, marketed and used to facilitate piracy of satellite television programming."
the paragraph below says "Nfusion branded" NOT Nfusion itself.
"Such devices, components and/or technologies include: firmware and software designed or used for piracy in connection with FTA receivers, Internet Key Sharing, Control Word Sharing, distribution of data or code for use in piracy, and nFusion-branded FTA receivers."
I will leave the yesterday news on with this news following it up, we will find out sooner or later what the actual story is.
Nfusion gets hit with $20 Million fine // 2010-01-27
This is the reason why Nfusion did not come back with a fix, they are hit with $20 Million fine.
Here is the court document for the case against Nfusion "Nfusion court docs"
I hope I am wrong with this news but all the evidences point to the problem Nfusion is having since December 2009.
Viewsat dealer ordered to hand over customers list // 2010-01-26
It looks like Dishnetwork is going hard after Viewtech, they asked for the court order to the viewtech associate for their customer records and were granted it.
Here is the info.
"UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
ECHOSTAR SATELLITE L.L.C.,
ECHOSTAR TECHNOLOGIES Case No. 07-CV-01273 W
___________________
CORPORATION, and NAGRASTAR L.L.C.,
Plaintiffs, (WVG)
v.
VIEWTECH, INC., JUNG KWAK,
and DOES 1-10,
Defendants.
_________________________________/
[PROPOSED] ORDER GRANTING DISH NETWORK’S
MOTION TO COMPEL ROGER TRUSS’ PRODUCTION
FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, it is hereby ORDERED that Plaintiffs DISH Network
L.L.C., EchoStar Technologies L.L.C., and NagraStar LLC’s Motion to Compel Roger Truss’
Production is hereby GRANTED.
Within 30 days of this Order, Roger Truss is ORDERED to produce documents
sufficient to identify each person that purchased or otherwise acquired a Viewsat receiver from
Truss during the period of January 1, 2004 to present date, including, but not limited to,
documents that identify each person’s name, address, phone number and email address, as well
as the purchase date, purchase price, purchase quantity, and model number for each Viewsat
receiver.
IT IS SO ORDERED."
I am sure they will go after the other Viewtech dealers also.
Here comes Thursday the ECM day // 2010-01-21
Thursday seem to be the day when all FTA receivers get hit, reports are coming in that majority of the receivers are down.
I will update the status later on.
Most of the ECMed receivers came back by the late evening.
Iks receivers as of Wednesday // 2010-01-20
Kbox,IKS slinger, Ilinks, Conaxsat, Sonysat, Coolsat and SonicView are up as of Wednesday January 20th.
The only non working receiver is Nfusion which is down for over a month now.
It seems to be a routine that receivers go down every week around Thursday and most of the FTA receivers get fixes next day or so.
IKS FTA status // 2010-01-05
Dishnetwork and Bell did their very first attack on all working IKS FTA receivers on Dec. 3 2009 which caused all of them to go down, few came back within a week and couple of them (Nfusion and Kbox) are still down.
Here is the list of working and not working FTA receivers list.
Conaxsat, Sonysat, Coolsat and SonicView are up.
Nfusion, Kbox, IKS slinger and Ilinks are down.
Warning by thebroken // 2009-12-29
"Originally Posted by thebroken
I can assure you, I have not been asked to write this plea to you, it was not written for me, and if you read any of my prior posts, I have a very good grasp on the english language. I have no other reason to write the post, but as a warning, because a shi#storm is coming, and I dont want to see any more people get sucked into the vacuum, that is Dish Network's legal team, and their pull on the law enforcement officials at their disposal...
All Hell has broken loose, people are going to jail, and getting drug through the court system like sheep to the slaughter, and you guys sit around like nothing is wrong, waiting for your FIX. It amazes me that so many people can be so damn blind, as to the ramifications of the current string of legal actions, and to put it in the simplest terms possible, we aint in Kansas no more, Dorothy.
If they feel that going after end users will put an end to the battle against free-tv'ers, that will be their next move. Television as a whole is in its death throws, and Dish and pals intend to get every last dime possible while the getting is good, and if that means dragging granny and cousin Jeb into court over an IKS dongle... thats what they will do.
They have already shown that they intend to go after the end users by their (failed) demands to Coolsat, and others, now, we have IKS servers going down, with IP logs, and soon, people are going to start getting letters in the mail demanding an explanation as to why there was 1 request on average, every 15 seconds from that IP address that the ISP leased to you for the 3600 minutes (or more in some cased) on X date, at X time, to a known piracy device that was confiscated (logs and all) in some podunk town in crimeville USA.
It was a warning.... Intended to enlighten, not to scare... Take it or leave it, I dont care... I get the same sentence no matter what."
I am not 100 percent sure what to make out of this? Is he helping the end users or is he helping himself?
IKS lawsuit starts // 2009-12-14
This explains why Nfusion and few others are not saying anything.
"UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
PLAINTIFFS’ ORIGINAL COMPLAINT
Plaintiffs DISH Network L.L.C., EchoStar Technologies L.L.C., and NagraStar LLC, by and through their undersigned counsel, allege as follows:
INTRODUCTION
1. Plaintiffs bring this action against Defendants Nathan Green and Does 1-10 (“Defendants”) for unlawfully using DISH Network satellite receivers and access cards to obtain decryption keys or control words for unscrambling encrypted DISH Network satellite television programming, and for distributing those keys or control words over the internet in order to allow others to view DISH Network satellite television programming without authorization from or payment to Plaintiffs.
2. Defendants’ actions violate the Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. § 605, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 1201, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-21, and state law.
3. Plaintiffs bring this action to restrain these illegal activities and for other relief described in this Complaint."
Detail here
"1 Plaintiffs’ allegations related to Defendants’ wrongful conduct are based upon the investigation Plaintiffs have completed to date, upon information and belief, and with the reasonable belief that further investigation and discovery in this action will lead to additional factual support.
19. Beginning at a time unknown and continuing to the present, Defendants have engaged in illegal and improper acts for the purposes of obtaining DISH Network satellite television programming and the encrypted control words that protect access to the copyrighted satellite television programming and distributing those control words over the internet.
20. Upon information and belief, Defendants or others working in conjunction with Defendants operate an IKS server.
21. This IKS server has multiple DISH Network satellite receivers and/or access cards attached to it that are used to decrypt DISH Network satellite television programming and obtain the control words for decrypting that programming. The server gathers these now-unencrypted control words and sends them over the internet to end-users who use the control words to decrypt DISH Network satellite television programming without paying a subscription fee.
22. There are numerous black and gray market satellite receivers imported from Korea that are designed and programmed to use these stolen and decrypted control words to intercept and decrypt DISH Network satellite television programming by interacting with an IKS server.
23. On or about April 2, 2009, Defendant Nathan Green created a residential account for DISH Network satellite television service, using a purported residential service address at 8208 S Charles St., Savanna, Illinois 61074. Defendant Nathan Green activated four DISH Network satellite receivers and access cards associated with this account. Plaintiffs’ investigation confirmed that at least three of the satellite receivers and access cards activated by Defendant Nathan Green are being used to supply Plaintiffs’ control words to others in violation of federal and state law and the customer agreement.
24. Upon information and belief, Defendant Nathan Green created this residential account for the purpose of obtaining DISH Network television programming and control words and distributing those control words over an IKS server operated by Defendants and/or those acting in conjunction with Defendants.
25. At the time Defendant Nathan Green created this residential account, Defendant misrepresented to DISH Network that the intended purpose and use of DISH Network programming was private viewing. That is, Defendant Nathan Green contracted for residential television service when in truth and fact Defendant knew and intended to use DISH Network programming and access cards to supply the control words for television content to others over the internet and without Plaintiffs’ authorization or consent and in violation of federal and state law, including DISH Network’s rights under the customer agreement.
26. At the time Defendant Nathan Green created the residential account, Defendant misrepresented to DISH Network the intended location where DISH Network programming would be viewed. That is, Defendant Nathan Green supplied a purported residential service address when in truth and fact Defendant knew and intended that DISH Network programming would be viewed at multiple other locations that obtained the control words from the IKS server.
27. Defendants’ wrongful conduct has caused and continues to cause significant and irreparable harm to Plaintiffs by depriving Plaintiffs of subscriber and pay-per-view revenues and other valuable consideration, compromising Plaintiffs’ security and accounting systems, and interfering with Plaintiffs’ prospective business relations.
28. Plaintiffs repeat and reallege the allegations in all preceding paragraphs as if fully set forth herein.
29. By distributing, retransmitting and re-broadcasting Plaintiffs’ control words over the internet to others for their use in receiving and decrypting Plaintiffs’ encrypted satellite signals, Defendants have received and assisted others in receiving Plaintiffs’ encrypted satellite transmissions of television programming and control words without authorization by Plaintiffs, in violation of 47 U.S.C. § 605(a).
30. Defendants’ violations have injured Plaintiffs, including, by way of example, depriving Plaintiffs of subscription revenues and other valuable consideration, compromising Plaintiffs’ security and accounting systems, and interfering with Plaintiffs’ prospective business relations.
31. Defendants have violated 47 U.S.C. § 605(a) willfully and for purposes of direct or indirect commercial advantage or private financial gain.
32. Defendants knew or should have known that receiving or assisting other persons in receiving Plaintiffs’ encrypted satellite transmissions of television programming and control words without authorization by or proper payment to Plaintiffs was and is illegal and prohibited. Such violations have caused and will continue to cause Plaintiffs irreparable harm, and Plaintiffs have no adequate remedy at law to redress any such continued violations. Unless restrained by this Court, Defendants will continue to violate"
It goes on and on for 16 pages.
More dish dockets can be seen here http://tinyurl.com/yetcj9u
Thank you my friend for sending it to me.... you know who you are;)
IKS FTAs receivers under attack again // 2009-12-10
On December 3rd five of the major players in IKS systems went down, most of them were back within 3-4 days except Nfusion (they claim that they want to fix the root of the problem instead of a quick fix).
There was an other hit today, 4 of the working one went down again this morning..... (cat and the mouse game starts again)
Explanation on the ECM (copied it from an other site)
What happened is DN slipped a hidden code into their encryption data....(that data is what makes the picture come alive in both subscribed and illegal fta boxes).....and that hidden code, which is not needed to get a picture, got sent into to all the boxes INCLUDING every subscribed box and most importantly the IKS one that Dn uses to spy on us with.
Then.....using THAT box (enabled with the same illegal third party software as some FTA'ers may do)........they were able to identify the NFUSION server, b/c the hidden code got sent back to them using IKS over the internet as OUR IKS boxes requested encryption data when users change channels.
There is an electronic identification number that's imbedded in the subscribed Nag3 card that Nfusion uses to extract the encryption data from their subscribed box that gets used as a host........this id number was included in the data that gets sent back to the illegal IKS box that DN has. (same Nfusion box end users use)
Using that ID number, (cam id I think), they were able to identify exactly who from the Nfusion team owns the subscribed host box that sends encryption data (info packets) to us by IKS using the internet so our receivers can work. Perhaps they know the location of it, perhaps they don't.
They then shut down Nfusions LEGAL nag3 host cards (looped them) thereby disabling their host boxes.
5 major IKS systems down // 2009-12-03
Reports are coming in that Nfusion, SonicView, CNX, NewSat and IKslinger went down roughly around same time.
Makes you wonder what is going on behind the scene? are these boxes hosted by the same company? they all got raided same time?
Let us wait and see what happens.
Back stabbings and dealings behind the scene // 2009-11-17
I received information from few different credible sources so this is not any assumption or finger pointing.
Here is the recording of the conversation that was provided at the Viewsat court case.
This is a single meeting recording.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ti5ytz
Here is a link to all 25 tapes as one MP3 file, there is like 5 seconds of silence between each tape.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/r8ual5
Now to give you guys a background of who these guys are (honestly I did not have any clue who they were till the original source told me and then it was confirmed by 2 other sources).
Trinity is the one that broke the map57 in 2006 and sold it to jung kwak(viewsat) for 250k (she invented the syndrome board, and was busted with moddish and dishmonkey in 2006).
Trinity says she received over 2 million dollars from jung kwak over the past couple of years, then when he stopped paying her 40k per month salary in may 2009 she called jj gee (dishnet investigator) the next day and set up a meeting to tell all about jung (viewsat guys).
JJ goes to meet her with what he claims is his partner.. 30 mins in his partner says "im not really a dish investigator, im special agent
xxxx something with the FBI"
You can imagine trinity (stefani xxxxx) shixxing herself right there and then.
Trintiy is Canadian and was 2 weeks away from being arrested with kwak, Ward (thedssguy) and allison according to the fbi agent.
The thing is because trinty is canadian she would have gone to jail without bail and made to server her full sentence.
Fred Raud has been around for a long time he was close to Ron xxxx and Chris xxxxxx as well as a regular on card coders.
He knows his stuff with smart card programming
he was also an admin on satscams for a short time.
The DSS Guy court docs // 2009-10-31
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
TAMPA DIVISION
DISH NETWORK LLC, a Colorado Limited
Liability Company, ECHOSTAR
TECHNOLOGIES LLC, a Texas Limited
Liability Company, and NAGRASTAR LLC, a
Colorado Limited Liability Company,
Plaintiffs,
vs.
ROBERT WARD,
Defendant
Case No.: No. 8:08-cv-00590-JSM-TBM
WARD’S MOTION TO STAY CIVIL
PROCEEDINGS REQUEST FOR JURY TRIAL
Defendant ROBERT WARD (“WARD”), through the undersigned, submits this Motion to Stay Civil Proceedings (“Motion”) pending the outcome of the parallel criminal proceeding taking place in the United States District Court, Southern District of California in which WARD was indicted for violations of Title 17 of the United States Code involving the theft of the satellite television signals of Plaintiffs, DISH NETWORK, LLC, ECHOSTAR TECHNOLOGIES, LLC and NAGRASTAR LLC (collectively “DISH”).
The same parties and facts underlying this civil proceeding. Counsel contacted DISH counsel under Local Rule 3.01(g) to resolve this motion and DISH declined.
RELEVANT PROCEDURAL HISTORY AND FACTS
The Pleadings and the Indictment On March 28, 2008, the DISH Plaintiffs filed a Complaint against WARD alleging that he was engaged in the piracy of DISH satellite television signals. Complaint (Doc. 1).
The Complaint was amended on May 27, 2008 with little change to the essential pleadings and claims. Amended Complaint (Doc. 19).
The Amended Complaint names the DISH Plaintiffs as the victims of Defendant WARD’S alleged unlawful actions. Amended Complaint, ¶¶ 8-11 (Doc. 19).
The Amended Complaint alleges that WARD violated Titles 17, 28 and 47 of the U.S. Code, by his personal unlawful theft of DISH’S satellite television signals as well as his assistance of others in such pursuits, including a company in southern California called Viewtech. Amended Complaint, 12, 34-60 (Doc. 19).
On July 9, 2009, WARD and two others were indicted in the parallel criminal proceeding
entitled United States of America v. Jung Kwak, Phillip Allison and Robert Ward, Case No.: 09-
CR-2646-JLS in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. (“U.S. v.
Ward”). (See Indictment, July 9, 2009, (Doc.1 ) attached as Exhibit 1). A copy of the Indictment
was transferred to the Middle District under the case number 8:09-MJ-1327MAP. (See Clerk’s
Minutes, Doc. 4 of U.S. v. Ward attached as Exhibit 2). Ward was arrested and arraigned on July 13, 2009 based upon the allegations in the indictment. (See Exhibit 2).
The Indictment names DISH as the victim of WARD’S alleged illegal actions. (Exhibit 1,3-6). The Indictment alleges that WARD violated Title 17 of the U.S. Code by engaging in acts that would further the theft of DISH’S satellite television programming. (Exhibit 1,4-7).
The Indictment names Viewtech as the southern California company with which WARD was acting in furtherance of these illegal acts.
Discovery after the Arraignment
WARD was arraigned on July 13, 2009 and on July 14, 2009, WARD responded to Dish Network’s Third Set of Interrogatories. (WARD’S Response to Third Set of Interrogatories, July 14, 2009, attached as Exhibit 3). WARD was forced to invoke the Fifth Amendment in response to the interrogatory in order not to jeopardize his criminal defense with an answer that would serve as evidence against him or tend to incriminate him in U.S. v. Ward. (See Exhibit 3).
On August 6, 2009, WARD was deposed for more than 6 hours. WARD invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination at least 400 times according to Plaintiffs (Motion (Doc. 59), p. 6) in order not to jeopardize his criminal defense with answers that would serve as evidence against him or tend to incriminate him in U.S. v. Ward. WARD was prevented from giving testimony in his own defense because of the choice between possible incrimination and defense of this civil proceeding. His defense in this civil proceeding was compromised.
DISH’S Motion for Summary Judgment
On September 24, 2009, DISH filed its Motion for Summary Judgment (“Motion”) (Doc.59).
In the opening statement in DISH’S Motion, Plaintiffs allege generally that WARD committed acts in violation of Titles 17 and 47 of the U.S. Code by engaging in illegal acts designed to support theft of its satellite television signals. (Motion (Doc. 59), pp. 1-2). Plaintiffs
note that they have a cornucopia of evidence against WARD involving internet related material
linked to WARD. (Motion (Doc. 59), pp. 1-2).
This evidence supposedly includes the use of
Internet monikers and e-mail addresses. (Id.). Plaintiffs state that: “Any doubt that Ward is using “Thedssguy” and “Veracity” is removed by
the adverse inferences arising from his refusal to answer questions at deposition about the monikers on the basis that a truthful response would incriminate him.” (Motion (Doc. 59), p. 2).
Plaintiffs then stated the Indictment involves allegations not at issue in this case. (Motion (Doc.59), p. 2).
Nothing is further from the truth. DISH is well aware, having cooperated in the investigation leading up to the Indictment, that the same parties, evidence and illegal acts are at issue in both cases and are inextricably interwoven such that WARD could not possibly defend this civil case without jeopardizing his rights and defense in the criminal case. In fact, this office is aware that many of the documents and evidence supporting the Indictment has been produced by Plaintiffs in this case.
In support of Summary Judgment, Plaintiffs also point to WARD’S alleged distribution of piracy technology and software as well as internet postings about DISH and its signals and the evidence they possess thereon. Once again, Plaintiffs point to the compelling nature of this
evidence because: “Ward, here again, refused to answer any questions at deposition regarding
the internet posts or the software files on the basis that doing so would incriminate him.” (Motion (Doc. 59), p. 3).
If the point wasn’t clear, Plaintiffs devout pages 3 through the top of page 6 of the Motion explaining to the Court just how devastating WARD’S invocation of his Fifth Amendment privilege is to his successful defense of the Motion and why “DISH Network’s following statement of undisputed facts must go largely uncontested.” (Motion (Doc. 59), pp.3-6). Plaintiffs make it clear that they believe that WARD’S invocation of his Fifth Amendment privilege compels an adverse judgment against him. Throughout the rest of DISH’S Motion,
Plaintiffs continue to refer to WARD’S invocation of his Fifth Amendment privilege in support of compelling an adverse judgment against WARD.
For the purposes of this motion only, WARD agrees with DISH that he will surely suffer an automatic loss with an adverse judgment against him as a result of the position he finds himself in because of the parallel criminal proceeding in U.S. v. Ward and his invocations of his Fifth Amendment rights throughout discovery following his criminal arraignment on July 13,2009.
THE LAW ON STAYS
The law on stays established by the Eleventh Circuit in U.S. v. Lot 5, et. al., 23 F.3d 359,
363-365 (11th Cir. 1994) is more fully set forth in the accompanying Memorandum of Law.
Applying the law to the facts, a stay is warranted until the conclusion of U.S. v. Ward.
Special Circumstances and the Interests of Justice.
There are special circumstances justifying a stay. WARD is required to defend this civil case in Florida while trying to defend the criminal case in the Southern District of California.
The expense of defending both as well as the time consuming nature of having to appear in both
jurisdictions presents a burdensome challenge to WARD.
He already has had to appear in the Southern District of California twice since his arraignment while getting back to the Middle
District to appear at his deposition on August 6, 2009.
It also appears that DISH was and is using the civil case to feed some information to the
prosecution in the criminal case thereby further jeopardizing WARD’S ability to defend himself
in the U.S. v. Ward. On July 13, 2009 during WARD’S arraignment in the identity hearing, FBI
Special Agent Brian Wilson testified that he received information from DISH that formed the
basis of some or all of the government’s criminal investigation and used that same information and his own investigation to establish the identity of WARD. (See Exhibit 2).
Compare American Gen. Life Insur. Co. v. Jones, 2008 WL 4949847 (S.D. Ala. 2008) at * 4 (no argument concerning feeding the criminal proceeding).
A stay would promote judicial economy. Since the arraignment, which occurred during discovery and before any depositions, WARD was prevented from properly responding to discovery other than to invoke his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.
Discovery has been effectively thwarted both by DISH and WARD. Moreover, a criminal conclusion in the U.S. v. Ward case, may be conclusive as to some or all of the civil claims in this case. Both cases involve violations of Title 17 and DISH satellite signals; both involve DISH as the victim and WARD and Viewtech as the main protagonists of the illegal acts; both cases involve many of the same witnesses identified by DISH in support of their case.
Further, a stay would not prejudice DISH or Ward. DISH has already sued Viewtech and WARD and others that appear in both cases. The FBI shut down Viewtech and WARD with the cooperation of DISH. DISH has done significant investigation and compiled thousands of documents as referenced in their extensive Motion for Summary Judgment and attached declarations.
DISH has eliminated the piracy threat from the parties involved. DISH will suffer no prejudice during the stay. The stay would benefit WARD by allowing a concentrated defense and conclusion of the criminal matter without further jeopardizing his defense of this case.
The Fifth Amendment Concerns and Automatic Adverse Judgment Unlike Jones in American General and the movant in Lot 5 and other cases, WARD has
actually had to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights in discovery and hundreds of times during his
deposition. DISH has gone to great lengths in its Motion for Summary Judgment to explain why
these invocations should result in an automatic summary judgment when taken with the other evidence they’ve compiled. DISH has explained why the Plaintiffs are entitled to adverse
inferences resulting in an automatic adverse judgment against WARD. Instead of calling into
question the inferences and the material factual issues in this case, WARD has had to use the
Fifth Amendment to protect his rights in the U.S. v. Ward case. With a pending criminal matter,
WARD cannot effectively defend himself either in the Motion response or any upcoming trial.
In the absence of the criminal proceeding WARD was prepared to defend himself in ongoing
discovery and most importantly his deposition. WARD is his only and best witness which he
cannot now use to defend himself as proven by his deposition answers as noted many times by
DISH.
CONCLUSION AND PRAYER FOR RELIEF
This Court should issue a stay of these proceedings pending the outcome of U.S. v. Ward.
Dated: October 26, 2009.
/s/ Albert A. Zakarian
Albert A. Zakarian, Esquire
16765 FishHawk Blvd.
# 360
Lithia, FL 33547
813-571-2546
(Fax) 866-259-1933
zakarian@tampabay.rr.com
Attorney for Ward
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I HEREBY CERTIFY that on October 26, 2009, I electronically filed the foregoing with the Clerk of the Court using the CM/ECF system which will send a notice of electronic filing to the following: Timothy M. Frank, Esquire. I further certify that I sent by mail the foregoing document and the notice of electronic filing to the following non-CM/ECF participant:
Albert A. Zakarian_____
Albert A. Zakarian, Esquire
Freetech says sorry and... // 2009-10-20
DISH Gets Its Apology
Back in late August we reported a significant victory for the DISH Network and the DBS platform’s security provider, NagraStar, as the duo won a mega ($106 million total) judgment against “free-to-air” provider Freetech. Freetech, as you might recall, was snatching the DISH signal and redistributing it – at significant profit – via its receivers.
The U.S. District Court of Northern California didn’t think too much of that and slapped a $97 million judgment against Freetech, $3 million against each of its three top officers plus it barred the company from reopening operations anywhere in the world. But money doesn’t always drive the point home. DISH wanted an apology as well.
Says DISH lawyer in the case, Chad Hagan of the Houston law firm Hagan Noll & Boyle, LLC, DISH hopes that any other would-be pirates “will see this and it will be a reminder that DISH is out there and will come after people” who try to steal its signal.
So here is the official Freetech apology to DISH:
“Freetech, Inc., the South San Francisco based importer and distributor of the Coolsat line of Free-to-Air Satellite receivers announces that it will dissolve and cease operations as part of its agreement to resolve a lawsuit filed by DISH Network, EchoStar Technologies and NagraStar (collectively “DISH Network”).DISH Network filed suit against Freetech in December of 2007 asserting that Coolsat receivers were primarily designed and used for the piracy of DISH Network’s satellite television programming. Freetech acknowledges that Coolsat receivers were used for this purpose and apologizes for any harm caused to DISH Network. As part of the resolution of the lawsuit, the Court entered a consent judgment finding in favor of DISH Network, EchoStar and NagraStar in the aggregate amount of $106,000,000.00 and entering a permanent injunction against Freetech and its officers and certain employees.
Freetech has also agreed to cooperate with DISH Network in its current and future anti-piracy actions.”
Sonicview IKS receivers down // 2009-10-15
Reports are coming in that all of the SV receiver are down for last few days.
Opponents (competition) of SonicView are claiming this is due to the lawsuit against SonicView, they are forced to take down their server (I think it is very unlikely).
SonicView guys are claiming that they hired a new team to work with IKS and services would be restored by Oct. 22 (they were struggling with IKS in past) (I think this could be true because their server is still online but not transmitting the right data).
Next few days will tell the truth.
No confirmation on DirecTv security compromise // 2009-09-27
I was told by a very reliable source about a month ago that DirecTv security has been compromised and I suppose to see the proof soon.
It has been about a month and NOTHING came out yet, the person is not even returning my emails for over 2 weeks now, either he is away, got scared or full of sh*t.
Directv hack coming soon? // 2009-08-28
There are very strong "rumors" on the underground forums that Directv has been compromised and it is coming out soon.... I dont know personally if that is true or not, only time will tell.
106 Million dollars judgment against Freetech // 2009-08-20
Freetech (Coolsat parent company and owners of the company) were ordered to pay 106 Million dollars to Echostar (Dishnetwork).
Judge James Ware gave his ruling in San Jose California on Aug 19 2009.
Cheap HD in Canada? // 2009-08-19
Upstart targets big boys in cheap satellite TV space
The Canadian broadcast industry is witnessing its own version of the space race, with three rival companies vying to launch a new kind of scaled-down satellite TV service aimed at penny-pinching consumers.
In a surprise move, the newest player, dubbed FreeHD Canada Inc., entered the fray yesterday to take on the country's largest satellite TV players.
Led by long-time industry executive David Lewis, Toronto-based FreeHD wants to offer local television channels at no cost to viewers across the country who don't want to subscribe to premium cable or satellite TV packages.
The proposal, which will be discussed by the federal broadcast regulator at hearings in November, comes on the heels of similar pitches put forward by BCE Inc.'s bell TV and StarChoice, the satellite provider owned by Shaw Communications Inc.
Though each proposal calls itself a free TV service, the catch for consumers is that they will have to spend $300 to $400 to buy the necessary hardware to receive a handful of local TV channels at no cost.
The companies are each trying to seize upon a coming 2011 transition in the broadcasting industry that will make analog signals used for decades obsolete.
By August of that year, Canada's television networks must broadcast their signals digitally over the air to free up analog spectrum for other uses, a move already undertaken in the United States.
However, CTV and Global Television have argued it doesn't make sense to spend millions to upgrade transmitters in small markets, as less than 10 per cent of Canadian homes use set-top antennas.
CTV and Global have upgraded transmitters in large markets, but want permission to forgo some smaller centres.
Sensing an opportunity to pick up satellite TV customers, bell TV and StarChoice both sought to launch basic satellite services that would offer local channels free in each market. Mr. Lewis figures he has now raised the ante by offering a service exclusively with high-definition channels. However, each proposal needs CRTC approval.
"What I basically saw is the large disruption that is coming in the Canadian market from the digital transition," Mr. Lewis said yesterday in an interview.
Having worked in the satellite TV industry for 31 years, including helping launch StarChoice and most recently serving as chief executive officer at Ottawa-based CL Satellite, which leases space on satellites to broadcasters, Mr. Lewis figures he can be up and running in 2011 if he can secure a licence by early next year.
For each player, the business model is to offer hardware as cheaply as possible to consumers who have been getting their TV through rabbit-ear antennas on their television set, then give them local channels at no cost. The carrot for the companies is the ability to sign up a customer, then potentially sell them premium packages on top of that, once they have purchased the d*sh.
In FreeHD's case, Mr. Lewis said he plans to offer 150 specialty channels at roughly $30 or $40 less than a comparable cable or satellite bill that offers high-definition packages. Financing will come from Canadian partners who have not been announced.
Mirko Bibic, bell Canada's chief of regulatory affairs, said the new proposal differs only slightly from bell's concept, which it took to the CRTC in the spring. "The idea is not new, it's very similar to what we have indicated we would be prepared to do under the right conditions," Mr. Bibic said.
He added that bell's application could be up and running faster than a company starting from scratch, since it doesn't have to install infrastructure or secure space on satellites. "We've got an ability to source the necessary equipment fast," Mr. Bibic said. "Basically, we don't need much lead time. Ours isn't speculative."
In taking on bell and StarChoice, Mr. Lewis is going up against some well-established players. b*ll TV has about 1.8 million subscribers and StarChoice has about 900,000, according to recent federal data.
Analysts and industry watchers are mixed on whether the satellite proposals will fly with the regulator.
Peter Lyman, a senior partner with Nordicity Group Ltd., a consulting firm that studies the industry, said the cost to sign up for free satellite television is more expensive than buying a new digital antenna. In the U.S., where the transition from analog transmission to digital transmission took place this year, a new digital-ready antenna to receive free, over-the-air TV costs about $40 to $50.
"It is interesting," Mr. Lyman said of the FreeHD proposal. "Whether it'll work or not, it's a good entrepreneurial shot by the owners."
However, one Bay Street analyst whose firm prevents him from speaking publicly said launching a new satellite business is a hard strategy to pull off because the infrastructure costs are high and the channels that can be offered are generally the same as competing services, making them difficult to differentiate.
ROM10X received court order // 2009-07-27
The Supreme Court of British Columbia has shut down a well known Canadian web site that has long been considered a haven for satellite signal pirates. The move came in response to a joint case brought by DISH Network, NagraStar and Bell ExpressVu Limited Partnership.
The permanent injunction includes two sites owned and operated by Andrew Bate, including piracy forum ROM10X.com and pirated software archive THEFILESHOP.com.
DISH and its partners in the suit first obtained civil search orders against Bate in January of 2008, calling on him to shut the sites down. The recent injunction finally enforces that order and bars Bate from having any further involvement with satellite piracy activities.
Sonicview named in the lawsuit // 2009-07-23
Dishnetwork filed a lawsuit against Sonicview on July 17 2009.
Dishnetwork, Echostar and Nagrastar are the plaintiff vs Sonicview, Sonicviewra, Sonicviewsa, Roberto Sanz, dontpay4tv, Duane Bernard, Courtney Bernard and Does 1-50 are Defendant.
Viewsat CEO out on bail // 2009-07-15
The owner of Viewsat, Mr. Jung Kwak has made bail! His motion for bail was granted just 2 hours ago and the hefty sum of half a million dollars was set
by Magistrate Judge William McCurine Jr.
He is now free to fight this case from the streets. While this is good news for Mr Kwak, unfortunately, this is only the beginning of what is sure to be a long & fierce battle.
Viewsat company CEO, coder and DSSguy indicted // 2009-07-13
SAN DIEGO - A North County resident and two Florida men were indicted for allegedly trying to hack new encryption codes used by the DISH Network satellite television service, it was announced Monday.
Jung Kwak of Oceanside, along with Phillip Allison, 35, and Robert Ward, 54 -- both of Seminole, Fla. -- are charged with conspiracy to violate the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitch Demblin.
The 33-year-old Kwak is the owner of Viewtech Inc. of Oceanside, which imports free-to-air satellite receiver boxes and sells them to the public through retailers.
Though free satellite programming is limited, the boxes marketed under the "Viewsat" name are popular because owners can download code to mimic DISH Network smart cards, allowing free viewing of the service's channels, Demblin said.
However, in late 2007 and 2008, DISH Network sent subscribers smart cards with a new encryption code, which meant owners of Viewsat boxes would no longer receive free programming, Demblin said.
The prosecutor alleged that in March 2008, the defendants decided to hire computer hackers to determine the new encryption code in order to save the market for their boxes.
Kwak bought a special microscope to analyze the smart cards and paid $20,000 cash for photographs of a purported new smart card, Demblin alleged.
Kwak also allegedly offered $250,000 to obtain the memory of such a card, he said.
The prosecutor did not divulge whether the defendants made any progress.
Demblin has filed a motion to hold Kwak without bail. A hearing is scheduled Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge William McCurine Jr.
Story from: http://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/story/Oceanside-Man-In-Trouble-Over-DISH-TV-Hack/S7ZGn4WyykyPXN2VatmolA.cspx
No N3 or Directv hack out // 2009-06-26
I am writing this news to clear out any confusion about Nagra3 and/or DirecTv hack on FTA or any other test device, there is NO hack at this time if/when anything comes out you will see a big headline on my news.
I received few emails from my readers that they saw banner ads on my page claiming to have N3 hack, there is NO such hack, these banner ads are "Google Banners Ads" as most of the people are familiar with those ads, they are rotating banner ads and I have no control over it, by the time they come and go it is too late for me to figure out who has them and what they claim.
Easier thing to do is IGNORE any claim by any one about the hacks, as I said earlier if and when anything happen you will read it right here, in my NEWS section, NOT in the banner ads.
Dishnetwork completes N3 migration // 2009-06-18
All the test devices should be black starting today because Dishnetwork has switched all of their channels to N3 stream.
The only working test devices would be IKS type FTA receivers Nfusion and Sonicview using iHub, both of the above methods are using internet connection to get the channels which are subscribed by the manufactures (channels are limited and no Events or PPVs).
More channels moved to N3 stream // 2009-06-15
Slowly but surely majority of the channels are moving to Nagra3 stream.
Here is the list of channels which moved in last few days.
104 - SRI
106 - TV Land
108 - Lifetime East
109 - Lifetime Movie Network
110 - Food Network East
114 - E!
116 - GSN
117 - TVGN
118 - A&E East
120 - The History
123 - Pirate
126 - BabyFirst T
128 - WE
130 - AMC East
131 - IFC US
132 - TMC US
134 - SHNBC
137 - FX US
150 - Speed
157 - International Music
159 - Si TV
161 - MTV 2 East
166 - CMT East
168 - Spike TV
169 - Noggin
172 - Disney East
173 - Disney West
174 - Toon Disney
180 - ABC Family
181 - I
185 - Hallmark
186 - National Geographic
188 - SoapNet
189 - Discovery Health
191 - G4 TV
196 - CURNT
204 - TRU
215 - Travel
217 - Water
219 - TV Outlet Mall
221 - IDrive TV
222 - Home Shopping Network
223 - Healthy Living
224 - SHOP
226 - QVC US
227 - 22-10
228 - Shop NBC
229 - Mon-Fri 20-03 & Sat
231 - RFDTV
232 - KTLA
235 - KWGN
236 - WSBK
239 - Superstation WGN
252 - KTLA
263 - Daystar TV
264 - Lime
266 - ANGL2
299 - Reelz Channel
303 - HBO West
404 - HorseRacing TV
405 - TV Games Network
847 - DISXD
874 - SITV
881 - WGN
885 - DHLTH
886 - NTGEO
889 - WE
890 - AMC
896 - HLMRK
7241 - PBS
7306 - PBS
7526 - PBS
7548 - PBS
7619 - WB - Bristol
7620 - UPN - Kingsport
7621 - PBS - Norton
7622 - WLFG-TV (Grundy)
7700 - ABC - Augusta
7701 - CBS - Augusta
7702 - NBC - Augusta
7703 - FOX - Augusta
7707 - PBS - Allendale
7866 - PBS
7877 - ABC - Perry
7878 - CBS - Macon
7879 - NBC - Macon
7880 - FOX - Macon
7881 - UPN - Macon
7997 - PBS
8004 - CW - Los Angeles
8175 - PBS
8204 - WB - Denver
8304 - My - Atlanta
8305 - CW - Atlanta
8307 - WTBS-TV (Atlanta)
8308 - Univision - Atlanta
8309 - WATC-TV (Atlanta)
8310 - PBS - Atlanta
8311 - WPXA
8354 - WB - Cincinnati
8356 - PBS - Cincinnati
8360 - PBS - Covington
8361 - PBS - Oxford
8429 - PBS
8448 - PBS
8568 - PBS
8654 - My - Charlotte
8655 - UPN - Charlotte
8656 - PBS - Charlotte
8657 - WAXN-TV (Kannapolis)
8660 - WHKY
8661 - PBS - Rock Hill
8775 - WSBK-TV (Boston)
8793 - FOX - San Diego
9099 - WB - Louisville
9100 - My - Salem
9101 - PBS - Louisville
9102 - PBS - Louisville
9103 - WBNA-TV (Louisville)
46 - PBS - Lexington
65 - WLJC-TV (Beattyville)
9264 - PBS - Carbondale
9328 - PBS
9394 - KTV
9395 - ANGL2
9398 - RFDTV
Dishnetwork swapping to N3 fast // 2009-05-30
As of 3:00PM Pacific all premium movie channels with exception of 300/303/318 have been moved to N3 encryption (the new Nagra stream) along with several other regular Dishnetwork channels.
Other channels will most likely follow soon.
All of the FTA receivers and other test devices are showing encrypted channel on the following channels because all of the test devices are using Nagra 2 (older stream).
$500,000 judgement against FTA programmer // 2009-05-04
There was lawsuit brought by DN and NagraStar against Phillip Allison aka thebroken for providing illegal unauthorized reception of DN signals, writing software codes for FTA receivers to de scramble Dishnetwork system.
It was alleged that software written by Phillip Allison was publicly distributed on sites including: completefta.com, f2atv.com, al7bar.tk and hashhu.com among others.
The judgment includes $500,000 along with various restrictions against Mr. Allison.
DirecTV brags about their security // 2009-04-26
Cable TV theft is a problem that costs the industry $6 billion a year in the US. As for satelite theft, representatives from DirecTV said they have defeated piracey by impleting bullet proof smart card technology.
There are billions of reasons why cable television theft is a yearly problem.
"In the cable industry nationally, it's about $6 billion annually," said Elaine Lunkes, director of community and commercial development for Comcast Cable. "Cable theft is a crime under state and federal law."
Lunkes did not want to discuss the specific ways individuals can illegally access cable. She did say, however, that customers' services can be affected through signal leakage, which can affect the quality of the picture.
Monitors are continuously in the field to check and make sure the thefts don't happen and to quickly fix problems if they do occur, Lunkes said.
"Comcast is diligent about being continually focused on cable theft," she said.
It wasn't a cable theft, but an Avon Park man was recently arrested on warrants alleging that he stole approximately $7,827.59 worth of services from DirecTV between Aug. 26, 2006 and Aug. 28, 2007.
Sergio Soto, 36, of 2417 North Dunwoodie Road, Avon Park, was charged with grand theft of $300 or more but less than $5,000, fraudulently intercepting communications and fraudulently obtaining property of $300 or more.
Soto reportedly used a DirecTV account that was registered to another customer. At the time, he was working for Mastec, a subcontractor used to install and service DirecTV systems.
The arrest may have come in the last two weeks, but the alleged crime is almost two years old. Sgt. Brian Kramer, with the Highlands County Sheriff's Office, said he has not had any complaints of cable or satellite signal theft in the past few months.
"I know it happens, and there's some way of obtaining some sort of a box that intercepts the codes," Kramer said.
Robert Mercer, with DirecTV's communications department, said the company has "defeated the pirates" through the use of "bulletproof smart card technology" and legal action.
"What really ended the scourge of piracy was our development of more advanced access card technology that effectively locked out the hackers, i.e., they couldn't crack the code," Mercer said.
The smart card, or access card, is identical in shape and size to a credit card. It is inserted into the set-top box and enables the subscriber's receiver to unscramble signals and allow the customer to view the programming offered in their subscription package, according to Mercer.
Each card has an identifying number and an embedded microprocessor, or computer chip, which controls the decryption process.
"That chip in the card was what the hackers were illegally modifying in the bad old days," Mercer said.
One such hacker was O.J. Simpson. In 2005, a U.S. District Judge in the southern district of Florida ordered the former NFL star to pay DirecTV $25,000 in damages, plus attorneys' fees and cost for stealing DirecTV programming, according to a report on www.businesswire.com.
DirecTV filed a civil lawsuit against Simpson following a 2001 raid on his Miami home, where two illegal devices, called bootloaders, were seized. Simpson said he did not have a legitimate account and the devices were designed to steal programming, the report stated.
The device enabled the access card to loop around some of the circuitry that was damaged in an electronic counter measure, according to Mercer.
"That was another way we discouraged users of these illegally modified cards; we would frequently send codes over the satellite data stream that instructed the card to destroy itself," Mercer said.
Saudi targets illegal TV decoders // 2009-04-14
Saudi Arabian authorities are set to crack down on television decoder boxes which give viewers free access to subscription-based channels, the Arabian Anti-piracy Alliance said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.
The Saudi ministry of culture and information, the ministry of commerce and the ministry of finance are jointly implementing a ban on decoder boxes, and are studying ways to enforce the new rules.
“The move marks a major milestone in the [Saudi Arabia’s] intellectual property rights protection efforts,” said the Anti-piracy Alliance, a copyright enforcement advocacy group affiliated with the US-based Motion Picture Association.
“The kingdom is taking a strong stance against piracy because it compromises religious values, weakens the economy, tarnishes the country’s image, and hurts consumers,” Abdul Rahman al-Hazzaa, an undersecretary at the ministry of commerce and industry, said in the statement.
Illegal TV decoder boxes have become popular in Gulf markets, the Anti-piracy Alliance said, and despite efforts to suppress the market, access to these devices remains easy. This is leading to a collaborative effort between governments and the private sector to stamp out piracy in the region, the anti-piracy group said.
Two pay TV broadcasters, Orbit Satellite Television and Showtime backed the government’s plan and said piracy damages investors’ interests and ultimately hurts consumers.
*** Saudi Arabia has banned auto licence tags whose Arabic characters spell out offensive words when romanised, with the list of banned combinations including ‘USA’, Al Watan newspaper reported yesterday.
Saudi plates normally have three Arabic characters and three numbers, but the growing fashion is for auto owners also to display a version using the Latin alphabet and some buyers of personalised “vanity plates” deliberately choose Arabic letters which turn into words considered offensive.
The authorities in charge of issuing vanity plates have released a list of nine prohibited three-letter combinations, and ordered all branches to stop renewing plates that include them, according to Watan.
Nfusion Canada might be in trouble // 2009-04-02
Here is the info I received today.
"At 8:25 pm 31 Mar an extreme reliable source watched the Digital store in Newmarket Ontario, as XXXX, (Digital) a male in a dark blue suit talked and appeared to be signing documents as two younger guys, disconnected several pieces of electronic equipment boxed them and then moved them into the vehicles a Budget rental cube van and a dark sedan at the rear of the store.
The Digital stores, (6 locations), all closed suddenly yesterday, and the nFusion server for B3V went black.
For those who don't know XXXX, (digital) is the Canadian distributor for nFusion and as also nFusion Canada.
There were also two other dealers "visited" yesterday in the Toronto area. Maxx Electronics and RTC Electronics. Again equipment was removed and the MAXX website now lists NO products available under the NEOsat, nFusion and Captain brands. These two dealers are affiliated and their "raids" were for a different reason although MAXX was well known for selling nFusion clones.
This is NOT good news.
Also two well known forums have disappeared form the web in the last 24 hours one is completely gone and the other shows a white page with the message
database maintenance in progress."
Satellite piracy costing TV industry billions // 2009-03-15
But even the threat of legal action doesn't scare off thieves
March 15, 2009
Tony Wong
BUSINESS REPORTER
The modern day pirate doesn't sport a patch or walk with a limp.
His weapon of choice is an unassuming pizza-sized satellite dish that can literally harpoon signals from space - and provide lucrative and illicit profit.
And it's happening across the country. The Canadian Motion Pictures Distribution Association estimates that the total loss to the industry from satellite piracy in 2001 alone was about $1 billion - and that number is likely far higher today.
If pay television is to ever have a viable future, providers have to figure out a way to make sure they get paid.
But lately, satellite companies, including Bell ExpressVu and U.S. based DISH Network have been fighting back. The companies are switching to a tough new encryption system while using the threat of court action to target end users.
"We take this very seriously and we have taken a number of actions to counter signal theft," Bell spokesperson Julie Smithers said. "We are taking all appropriate steps to prosecute criminals."
Satellite companies like to remind users that theft of signal not only means less subscription revenue for providers but also a fall in ratings for stations, which translates into lost advertising revenue, and for artists who are given a portion of profits from subscriptions through the Canadian Television Fund.
Los Angeles-based media analysts The Carmel Group estimates there are at least two million illegal satellite television households in the U.S. and Canada, out of a universe of about 15 million legal households. And the number is growing exponentially.
"This could cripple the industry," said Carmel chair and analyst Jimmy Schaeffler. "This is the equivalent of someone driving up to a gas station, filling up their tank and driving away, and then doing it every month."
In the digital age, pirates are likely to look a lot like James, a middle-aged Toronto engineer with two children who happens to enjoy watching the Tennis Channel, which is not available on Canadian television.
"I can't believe I was actually paying for cable before," he enthuses. James has access to a universe of more than 200 channels on Dish Network, including current pay-per-view movies that are only available at the video store for a cost. Last summer he put up a second satellite at his cottage, with a dish and receiver from a computer store in downtown Toronto, that he purchased for less than $200.
James is currently watching a live tennis match in his living room, which is decorated with trophies from his local club. Flipping through channels on a black set-top box reveals that he has fully unscrambled access to dozens of Hollywood movies (currently playing is The Dark Knight and Milk) for which legitimate subscribers have to pay up to $5.99 each.
At the heart of the problem are "Free to Air" satellite receivers that are widely available throughout Canada. While the possession of the equipment is not a crime, modifying it to access subscription signals is.
Free to Air is a system widely available in Europe, where television and radio broadcasts are typically sent unencrypted. There are some 250 Free to Air channels in North America, typically for ethnic programming.
"The way piracy works in North America is when consumers turn their Free to Air receivers into Free to Air units that steal," says the Carmel Group report.
A USB port on the system allows consumers to change the internal programming of the module after downloading software from the Internet.
"What the manufacturers and retailers are doing may not be illegal, but it is wilful blindness," argues Luc Perrault, co-chair of the Coalition Against Satellite Signal Theft and a vice-president of the Weather Network. "These things are being imported by the container load in Canada and it's a serious issue."
The coalition, which represents Canadian cable and satellite providers, is lobbying government to toughen laws against piracy, including harsher sentences for pirates.
There have been some charges, but they aren't coming quickly enough for the industry. In 2007, Durham Regional Police charged three Whitby men with theft of telecommunications.
In what police say was the first bust of its kind in the province, authorities seized $20,000 in satellite receivers, dishes and computers. Web sites connected with the businesses were also shut down.
"This is theft - a criminal offence - no different than stealing goods from a retail store," said police.
Persons convicted of modifying, selling or distributing equipment for piracy are subject to fines of $5,000 per count and the possibility of imprisonment. But satellite providers say the penalties aren't tough enough.
The federal government recently announced new copyright legislation aimed at the downloading and copying of intellectual property such as DVDs.
However, theft of signal was not addressed.
"We didn't expect to be included, but it would have been nice," said Pierre Pontbriand, vice-president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, a coalition member.
Pontbriand says he would like to see more action against dealers who sell modified equipment.
CASS is also looking at ways to target websites that provide software that allows for illegal access to satellites.
In the United States, satellite providers are closely watching a lawsuit launched by EchoStar Communications against a California set-top distributor. EchoStar claims Oceanside, Calif.-based Viewtech has modified receivers to receive illegal programming. Viewtech has said the claims are "baseless."
So far, similar actions haven't happened in Canada, but the alliance against software theft thinks they have a simpler solution: They want authorities to outlaw FTA receivers that have USB access ports that allow them to download those signals.
"If you are simply using this to receive free channels over the air, why would you need to modify your receiver?" asks Perrault.
Schaeffler of the Carmel Group says doing that would be a "Brilliant idea. It would stop the problem outright."
The move would be controversial and would meet with opposition from manufacturers and retailers who stand to lose millions.
Don McEwen, North American sales manager for Mississauga based Fortec Star, which is named in the Carmel paper as one of the three largest distributors in North America, says USB ports are needed to modify equipment for different world markets. Making only one type of receiver for the North American market wouldn't be economically viable, he says.
"I think the solution they're proposing is to beat up on the little guys, rather than addressing the real problem, which is to spend the money to fix their system to protect it against hackers in the first place," says McEwen.
While other manufacturers target the black market, McEwen says his company has held meetings with satellite providers to see how they can work together. He says the vast majority of his clients use the equipment for legitimate programming.
"They have valid points about signal theft, but it's not the responsibility of the people who make the Free to Air boxes, it's the responsibility of the people who want their service protected to fix it."
Chris Frank, vice-president of programming for Bell ExpressVu says the company has "done everything to ensure the integrity of our platform. Secret services around the world spend billions of dollars upgrading encryption systems to make sure their data is secure," he told the Star's Chris Sorensen last year. "We are a commercial company, we can't spend billions, but we spend what it takes within reasonable bounds."
Frank would not say how many people steal from Bell; only that it was "speculative to try and figure it out. But the illegal reception is well within industry bounds."
So far, Bell's electronic countermeasures with a new ecryption route introduced last November, seem to be working, blocking access to many channels. DISH Network is also in the process of migrating to the new system.
"Dark days are coming and no one knows for how long," says Kenmoresp, a blogger on FTAbins, a website for satellite users. "This more than likely will not be a quick fix."
But hackers have been here before. In 2005 Bell announced they had put into place tough anti-piracy measures that were eventually cracked.
Hacker groups are currently working on the new system, and some feel it is only a matter of time before the code is broken.
Meanwhile, one final route that would have a powerful deterrent effect is to go after consumers who steal signal, and that's already happening.
In a get-tough policy, Bell has targeted end users by threatening legal action against customers who have been sold FTA receivers and were registered members of websites that promoted piracy.
"We are contacting you because the operation or possession of illegal signal theft equipment to access Bell ExpressVu's programming constitutes a violation," says a letter sent to customers of a distributor selling satellite equipment.
From TheStar.com:
The letter states that Bell is willing to drop legal proceedings if the user pays a $1,000 fine and hands over the equipment to Bell.
But the new tactics aren't scaring some pirates.
"They'll have to pry the remote control out of my hands before I give it up," says James.
Piracy equipments are readily available:
EQUIPMENT READILY AVAILABLE IN GTA
Satellite equipment that will decode pay television signals is widely available for sale throughout Toronto.
In addition to dozens of web-based companies that will ship a complete system to your home, there are many bricks and mortar retailers in the Greater Toronto Area that sell the equipment.
On the Kennedy Rd. and Ellesmere Rd. retail strip in Toronto, for example, there are at least a half-dozen retailers selling the devices within blocks of each other.
Some retailers openly advertise on billboards outside their stores that Free to Air receivers are available.
While it is not illegal to sell Free to Air equipment, using that equipment to download pay television signals without a subscription is a crime.
One small store is packed with customers who are looking for everything from stainless steel travel mugs for $2.99 to LCD televisions.
The salesperson says one of their most popular brands is the made-in-China Viewsat on sale at $89. A dish will cost an additional $27.
For less than $200 you can purchase equipment capable of receiving hundreds of channels, including pay-per-view, worth thousands of dollars. For a few hundred dollars more, you can upgrade to an HD-capable receiver.
When asked by a reporter whether the system will decode channels from Bell ExpressVu, the salesperson is careful to say he is "only responsible for selling the equipment."
The salesperson suggests the potential customer, after buying the equipment, do a search on the Internet to find an installer.
In another nearby store, which sells a jumble of assorted computer peripherals, the same system is on a shelf for $119.
When asked whether Bell ExpressVu can be downloaded, the salesperson says, "I'd rather not talk about that. But that's why people buy them in the first place."
The salesperson says he can provide the phone number of a installer who will do an in-home set up for $70.
Once the system is in place, the consumer needs to have a computer and Internet access at home, where he or she can access dozens of websites to download encryption codes that will allow free satellite service. The codes to fix the system are usually up within 24 to 48 hours.
– Tony Wong
DISH Terminates More Retail Agreements // 2009-03-06
As per Sky Report
DISH Network on Thursday announced that it had terminated its partnership agreements with 10 of its retailers for engaging in fraud and misrepresentation when establishing new customer accounts for the DBS service.
The retailers involved this time around included Superior Satellite Services of Streetsboro, Ohio; American Satellite Co., L.L.C. of Salt Lake City, Utah; Alexis Proenza (dba Panamerican Digital Satellites) of San Juan, Puerto Rico; Caguas Satellite Corp. of San Juan, Puerto Rico; D&C Entertainment, L.L.C. of Jefferson, Wis.; Big Boy Entertainment of Parlier, Calif.; Rosario Gonzalez (dba System Sate, Inc.) of North Hills, Calif.; TV Sur Satellite, Inc. of Gaithersburg, Md.; Technic Satellite, Inc. of Tampa, Fla.; and Calvin Cockman (dba Tech Services) of Carthage, N.C.
The provider didn't release any specific details about the conditions surrounding the terminations but did say that "DISH Network L.L.C. does not tolerate illegal activity and will take action against any retailer that it believes has engaged in any form of fraud or misrepresentation in its dealings with DISH Network L.L.C."
More Dishnet channels moving to N3 // 2009-03-04
Majority of the South Asian channels have been switched over to new datastream (N3), all of Pakistani channels were gone to the new system middle part of the last month and rest of the Hindi channels are switched over to new stream today.
It looks like the switch over is pretty close to be completed.
European satellite piracy // 2009-02-24
Against the backdrop of a global recession, pay-TV operators' revenues are being protected from a decline in advertising spend through subscription income. However, while subscription levels remain robust, the biggest threat to profit in 2009 is an expected increase in piracy. As a result, conditional access providers in developing nations may need to invest in more robust systems.
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The broadcast industry is believed to be relatively sheltered from the economic downturn, as consumers are opting for home-based entertainment rather than going out. Indeed, while commercial free-to-air broadcasters are suffering from a fall in advertising spend, state-funded public service broadcasters and pay-TV operators have a relatively more secure income stream derived from license fees and subscriptions.
However, Datamonitor believes that while consumers are more likely to use home-based entertainment to save money, this driver also makes them less inclined to consume media content through legitimate channels. The dynamics of pay-TV piracy differ between the developed and developing nations; the latter providing the biggest opportunity for conditional access providers with proven, robust products.
In Western Europe and North America, where broadband penetration is high, internet piracy is much more of a threat than in the developing nations, where the principal medium to deliver pirated content is through the TV set. Indeed, in developed nations, consumers are able to access pirated video content from a number of file-sharing and live streaming sites on the internet.
However, this is not to say that efforts to circumvent pay-TV operators' conditional access systems in the West are declining. For example, in Ireland, it was estimated in 2008 that 20% of UPC's nearly 550,000 cable customers were using illegal decoders to unscramble all content broadcast on the service.
Datamonitor believes that the recent redundancies announced by pay-TV operators in Western Europe and the US add a further risk into the equation: sacked employees may seek to augment their redundancy cheques by using their industry knowledge to assist organized pirates to cheat their previous employers out of revenue.
While the risk of piracy is increasing in Western Europe and the US, it is in the developing countries where the pay-TV operators' revenues are most at risk. The principal drivers for the increase in piracy are the expected growth of digital TV in these developing regions, the large potential market for pirated content, and the relatively less secure conditional access systems. From Russia through the Middle East to China there is a widespread cultural ambivalence toward the illegality of pay-TV piracy among consumers.
For example, in Russia and the Ukraine, Datamonitor expects subscribers to digital pay-TV services to grow 28% year-on-year to 8.7 million households in 2012; without the implementation of effective conditional access systems, Datamonitor expects the growth in piracy-related losses to grow nearly 37% year-on-year to E273m.
With far lower revenues per user than in developed countries, pay-TV operators have tended to implement cheaper, less robust conditional access solutions. While this increases the margin earned from each legitimate subscriber, Datamonitor believes that, in some cases, profits will become impaired due to loss of revenues from piracy more than capital costs will be saved by implementing cheaper conditional access systems.
A case in point is the Philippines, where piracy is almost endemic. The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia valued pay-TV piracy in the Philippines at $94m for the end of 2008. While many broadcasters have been compromised by piracy in the country, NDS has made great capital from its Philippine client Mediascape, which so far claims to be piracy-free.
While pay-TV piracy is a huge, worldwide problem, Datamonitor believes that the biggest opportunities for conditional access vendors lie in the developing world. While robust, proven technologies are more expensive, Datamonitor expects that further increases in piracy will see a shift away from cheaper alternatives to protect revenue streams. As a result, 2009 will be the year that pirates make or break conditional access companies.
Illegal Satellite TV Equipment Seized by RCMP // 2009-02-14
Project ODOWN, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) led project, has made two arrests in its on-going efforts to combat satellite piracy.
On February 10th, 2009 the London Detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Federal Enforcement Section executed a search warrant at a business in The Town of Aylmer and as a result seized a number of items associated to commercial level satellite television piracy.
Also during this investigation, another search warrant was executed earlier in January at a London area home. At that time, RCMP officers seized a number of items associated to commercial level satellite television piracy.
Although both incidents were part of the same investigation, they were not related, a police spokesperson explained.
In both cases it is alleged that legal "free to air" receivers had been modified to receive encrypted signals from Bell Express Vu and other satellite systems by the accused and that they offered for sale these same receivers.
Larry Hudson of Tillsonburg, Ontario and Shan Qin Zhang of London, Ontario have been charged under the Radio Communication Act for allegedly modifying and selling satellite equipment. An individual found guilty of such an offence is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to a fine not exceeding $5,000, or both.
"Satellite piracy is not a victimless crime. It denies Canadian artists and broadcasters millions of dollars in revenues. It endangers Canadian jobs, stated Inspector Dwight Blok, Officer in Charge of RCMP London Detachment. "Satellite piracy also creates a real threat to public safety. The use of pirating devices has been found to create signal interference with communications systems used by airline, search and rescue and police services."
The RCMP says it is committed to pursuing enforcement action against commercial ventures engaged in the selling of illegal decoding equipment.
Sorry for lack of news // 2009-01-27
Hi readers.... I am sorry for my lack of news updates, we are going through a family sickness and my priority is to take care of the family member.
I will be staying in Vancouver until middle of the next month, there will not be any update or replying any of my emails till then.
Nagra Latino using old hacked card. // 2009-01-06
It is interesting to see NagraVision using their old hacked access card for their new customer "Telefonica" (Latin America dish).
This could be one of the 2 scenarios, first one, they are new kid on the block and no one knows them so by using an already hacked access card they will attract lots of buzz.... once they are popular and established enough they will swap the cards to newer/no hacked version.
Second scenario is simply a revenge move on their rival NDS who are in that market a bit longer than Nagravision, NDS supplies card scurity for DirecTV Latino.
Telefonica is already hacked by the card hack and FTA hacks.
DirecTV Latino is hacked (not really an actual hack) by IKS type FTA receivers, where you get all regular subscribed channels but no PPVs.
Intersting read on card swap by Dishnetwork // 2008-12-28
This was sent to me by one of the reader who sends me lots of very good information (thank you my friend you know who you are.
"In last weeks call to investors Charlie Ergen said that only the HD channels would be secured in the 1st qtr of 2009 with the remaining channels being secured in blocks during 2009 and all the channels being secured by the end of the 3rd qtr so they won't see any major change in piracy levels until the 4th qtr.
So we are talking next fall before they can get new cards to all the subs. In the mean time they will secure all of the hd channels and then go to work on securing the international channels next.
He also said there wasn't a piracy problem until spring of 2007... and he then blamed their 'security vendor' for the delay in updating their security however he failed to mention that he owns 50% of the 'security vendor' so that would make it 50% his fault.
Just for the record, this is the fifth year FTA receivers have been getting his channels for free so the 'security problem' happened in the spring five years ago and not last year... it was last year when they finally started doing something about the 'four-year old' problem. I guess we can blame this delay on the 'security vendor' too.
When asked if they had budgeted enough money for mpeg4 boxes Charlie went around and around and never actually answered the question. In last month's Charlie chat he admitted that the decision had been made that each house hold would only get one mpeg4 upgrade receiver for free however it is not exactly clear when this 'upgrade' is to take place.
It looks like most of SD channels will be on the unsecured end of the stream for another six to eight months.
It also means that there will be continues attacks of counter measures."
Dishnetwork 1st attempt to ECM IKS receivers // 2008-12-21
I read this thread on the Google search.
"New Mapcall 0x39 3E with a form of N3 was insurted into the stream and went active at 4:14 CST today. If you saw freezing on the channel, and a sound accompanying it, that was the newest version of MAP0x393E,v2.9.4.1 this is a form of N3 they are trying out to stop Nfusion attacking the CAMS directly thur the ROM card used, this procedure is to support the process of finding the location of the server the Nfusion Server is now on.
It actived a code, to transmit the Rom Cards Indentity back to the provider thur there own interent server."
I am not too technical with above terms and I dont have access to any IKS type receiver either so I can not say one way or the other, just reporting it as I have seen on the underground forums.
Update on NDS 8.3 million fine // 2008-12-11
This is from the actual court paper.
"For the foregoing reasons, NDS’s Motion to clarify the Injunction is GRANTED, IN PART, and NDS and Echostar’s Motions for Attorney’s fees are BOTH GRANTED, IN PART.
Echostar is to receive attorney’s fees in the amount of $12,972,547.91 plus full costs of suit. NDS is to receive attorney’s fees in the amount of $8,968,118.90 and no costs."
NDS must pay DISH $8.3m // 2008-12-08
NDS has been ordered by a federal judge to pay Echostar and Dish Network a total of $8.3m in attorney fees and costs. The ruling follows the long legal battle between Echostar and NDS.
In essence Echostar won its action against NDS but was awarded just $1500. US District Judge David Carter for the Central District of California issued his ruling last Thursday, but it was only made public Monday Dec 8. Echostar had sought damages of $184.8 million, plus $823 million in penalties and statutory damages of up to $1 billion.
“We are pleased that Judge Carter ordered NDS to pay us $8.3 million in fees and costs," Dish said in a statement. "We are pleased that both NDS and DISH Network can put this issue behind us and hope that we can collectively with other industry players work to ensure signal security in the future."
Satellite Lawsuit // 2008-12-01
This was sent to me by one of the reader today.... Dont know why Direct TV is suing some one in Manitoba since there is no known Direct TV hack yet? May be they know something we dont?
Here is the link to news http://www.cjob.com/News/Local/Story.aspx?ID=1043212
"Two satellite television giants are suing a Winnipeg based provider for five-million dollars each alleging the business is helping customers steal pay per view events.
Direct TV and Bell Express Vu claim Freeway Support Services is fraudulently selling so-called grey market technology that helps its customers unlawfully receive and decode programming signals.
The suits are asking a court to prevent the company from distributing the alleged services in Canada and the U--S. Direct and Bell are also seeking the names and addresses of Freeway's customers and suppliers.
A representative of the defendant declined comment.
The allegations have not been proven in court."
NDS Europe hack problem // 2008-11-30
There is a buzz on the European underground forums about NDS hack..... IKS (Internet Key Sharing)is being discussed using open source/Linux base FTA receivers like DreamBox, Triple Dragon, Humax, Relook, Qbox etc.... I will not be surprised if this surface up in North America soon.
This was also posted on one of the Czech satellite information site.
"Nordic satellite pay-TV platform Viasat, which uses the NDS Videoguard Conditional Access System, has been hit by a wave of Satellite Piracy. Already in October, there were errors being exploited in the super-secure NDS Videoguard system.
Emulators have emerged on the Black Market which allow viewing of encrypted programming on Viasat's Sirius satellites (5 ° E).
Similar problems were previously reported on the German "Premiere" platform shortly after implementation of Videoguard Encryption.
It now appears operators may have major problems with unauthorized reception of pay-tv programming.
At the present time, Irdeto, Viaccess and Conax are experiencing the biggest problems. Currently, Viaccess PC 3.0 is the most secure, and it is "a matter of time" before older systems such as Viaccess PC 2.5 and 2.6 are switched to 3.0 or another system.
According to unofficial information, the Russian pay-TV provider NTV Plus is now considering a switch to a different encryption system, because of the constant hacker attacks on the Viaccess system.
Irdeto, particularly in the Arab world, faces major problems: "Virtually all packets coded in this system have been broken"."
Newcardnews founder got busted // 2008-11-25
c/p from msnbc http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27894318
"SAN JOSE, Calif. - Facebook has a won $873 million judgment against a Canadian man who bombarded the popular online hangout with sexually explicit "spam" messages.
The victory, sealed with a judge's order issued last Friday, probably won't yield a windfall for privately held Facebook Inc., whose revenue this year is expected to range between $250 million to $300 million.
Court records indicate the alleged spammer, Adam Guerbuez of Montreal, has been difficult to find since Facebook sued him four months ago.
But Facebook is hoping the size of the judgment will scare off other spammers who might be tempted to target the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company's audience of more than 120 million users.
"Everyone who participates constructively in Facebook should feel confident that we are fighting hard to protect you against spam and other online nuisances," Max Kelly, Facebook's director of security, wrote Monday on the company's blog.
Efforts to reach Guerbuez for comment on Monday were unsuccessful.
The case against Guerbuez and his business, Atlantis Blue Capital, illustrates how Internet rogues can manipulate Facebook's communications system to unleash massive marketing blitzes.
According to Facebook, Guerbuez fooled its users into providing him with their usernames and passwords. One method was the use of fake Web sites that posed as legitimate destinations.
After Guerbuez gained access to user's personal profiles, he used computer programs to send out more than 4 million messages promoting a variety of products, including marijuana and penis enlargement products, during March and April of this year, Facebook said.
"Despite the resources dedicated to spam eradication, current available technology does not permit Facebook to completely prevent the transmission of spam on its site," the company's lawyers wrote in the case against Guerbuez."
BTW this is the same guy who stole or had something to do with stealing my old domain www.dishnewsonline.com
Type that URL in and see what comes up.
Nfusion claims to be working on Bell // 2008-11-20
I received many emails after my last news report, they all claim that Bell Xpressvu is not totally gone from FTA receivers..... Nfusion suppose to have more than 100 channels working on their FTA receivers including NHL package, all HD package and many others.
I was also told that they will be adding more Nagra3 channels to their lineup.
Bell TV strikes back at satellite pirates // 2008-11-18
c/p from http://www.digitalhome.ca/content/view/3100/279/
In the spring of 2005 Bell TV (formerly Bell ExpressVu), proudly announced that effective July 1st 2005 the company would be introducing comprehensive anti-piracy measures that would stop satellite pirates in their tracks.
Sadly, within a year, Bell's new encryption scheme was laid to waste by a group of satellite thieves who had learned how to defeat Bell's encryption scheme using modified Free-to-Air (FTA) satellite receivers.
This week, without any fanfare or press releases, BellTV quietly turned on a new signal encryption system which the company hopes will thwart pirates from stealing its satellite television signals.
Bell TV would not respond to questions by Digital Home about the implementation of the new encryption scheme, however, knowledgeable industry insiders tell Digital Home Canada the latest encryption scheme, dubbed Nagravision 3, has effectively knocked out Bell TV satellite pirates using modified free-to-air (FTA) satellite receivers throughout North America.
Encryption De-mystified
Simply speaking, encryption is the digital process of modifying data to prevent unauthorized access or viewing of the information. The process of transforming the data back into a format that is readable is called decryption.
To defeat pirates from stealing their broadcasts, digital cable and satellite television providers, such as Bell TV and Dish Network, encrypt television signals prior to transmission. Once the signals reach the subscribers homes, the encrypted signals can only be decrypted by an authorized digital set top box or satellite receiver.
With BellTV, the SmartCard essentially holds the magic key that allows your satellite receiver to decode the encrypted signal. Without a properly authorized SmartCard, subscribers won't be able to watch television.
Nagravision 3 - the new hope
After the summer of 2005, satellite pirates had devised a way to re-program Free-to-Air satellite receivers so they could illegally decrypt Bell's Nagravision 2 encryption scheme.
The only way to stop the pirates was to develop a new encryption scheme. Once a new scheme was developed, implementing it was a costly and expensive endeavour for the company that took place in three stages over the last year.
In the first stage, Bell issued new firmware updates to all ExpressVu direct-to-home (DTH) satellite receivers. These firmware updates were sent out by the company at night to selected receivers without any intervention by the subscriber.
In the second stage, ExpressVu (as BellTV was know at the time) sent its subscribers new upgraded Conditional Access (CA) SmartCards along with instructions on how to swap out the old card from their satellite receiver.
In the third and final stage, which began last week and ended on November 12th, Bell changed the encryption scheme used to transmit television signals. Once the change was made, only Bell subscribers with valid subscriptions, valid receivers and updated smartcards could properly decrypt the new Bell TV signals.
By November 13th, satellite pirates with modified Free-to-Air (FTA) satellite boxes suddenly found they could no longer watch Bell TV signals.
How many pirates were affected?
The number of satellite pirates is unknown, however, in the middle of 2007, the Carmel Group estimated that over 2.5 million North Americans pirated Bell ExpressVu and Dish Network signals. Their research also indicated that the number was growing at a rate of 50,000 or more a month.
Digital Home estimates that by the time of this week's shutdown, more than 300,000 North Americans were pirating Bell TV using Free-to-Air satellite receivers.
Nagrastar North America is moving fast toward the // 2008-11-10
Bell XpressVu has the card swap almost completed and majority of their channels are working on the newer encryption Nagra3.
Dishnetwork is watching the swap in Canada and they will follow their northern neighbor's lead as soon as they feel all the kinks are taken care of.
This was done because of the widespread piracy of their Nagra2 system.
Man fined for satellite piracy // 2008-11-06
RICHIBUCTO - A 32-year-old Saint Maurice man pleaded guilty earlier this week to charges related to the possession of pirated and modified Canadian and American satellite TV receivers, Free to Air receivers including Viewsat, SonicView, Pansat, NFusion and others.
Marcel Basque made the guilty pleas in Richibucto Provincial Court Monday to two charges violating the Radiocommunication Act. Basque was fined $4,000 after the court determined he was involved in the illegal activity for commercial enterprise.
The charges were laid by the 'J' Division Moncton Federal Enforcement Section following a lengthy criminal investigation which led to the search of a local residence last March. Numerous items associated with commercial level satellite television piracy were seized, including computers, access cards, card programmers, computer software and satellite TV receivers. Other items seized were associated with the installation of illegal satellite TV systems, including evidence documenting that money was being made from the scheme. In addition to the fine, Basque was ordered to forfeit computers and other equipment used in the offense.
In Canada, the only legal DTH satellite TV services are Bell ExpressVu and Star Choice, with the use of American DTH satellite equipment banned.
TiVo vs Echostar, again // 2008-11-03
Chris Forrester, on 03-11-2008
Just when you thought it was safe to use your Echostar DISH DVR, TiVo is reopening its long-running battle with Echostar.
Legal eagles will remember that TiVo in April won a very long-running lawsuit (the action started in 2004) with Echostar that saw the court award TiVo with $104m in damages and interest for patent violations by Echostar. The patent in question was for a “multimedia time warping system” that the US Patent and Trademark Office found to be valid and enforceable.
Echostar paid over the cash on October 8. But the legal battle between the pair is far from over, because the court also ruled that Echostar/Dish must disable all its DVRs.
Echostar insists it has “worked around” the patent-protected areas and is no longer using the TiVo intellectual property. Echostar/Dish says its customers can continue using their existing set-top boxes. Three weeks ago Dish said: “the Supreme Court’s decision does not impact our software design-around, which has been placed in Dish DVRs subject to the district court’s injunction, and our customers can continue using their Dish DVRs.”
Echostar/Dish could eliminate this problem instantly by paying a licence fee to TiVo, but most observers see any prospect of this happening as lower than zero. But there’s a larger question for the world, which concerns other non-TiVo DVR/PVR units, and the question of their basic internal functionality. TiVo’s “time warping” technology gives viewers the ability to pause, rewind and fast forward live television shows. Just like the NDS system, or technologies in widespread use by Korean and Chinese box-suppliers.
The ongoing US litigation might give everyone some eventual guidance, but the original litigation spent much of its time in studying in minute detail the specific patents, and delivered its verdict in favour of TiVo.
Lawsuit aftermath // 2008-10-27
The long spat between Echostar and conditional access specialists NDS resulted in a Court decision against NDS of a trifling $45, and nowhere near the $5 billions that Echostar was seeking. However, NDS will face an injunction that prohibits NDS from engaging in illegal conduct as found by the jury. We reported on the case's verdict back in May. Now the full Court ruling is to hand.
The Court found that in the 1996-7 period both Echostar and rival DirecTV were suffering piracy of their smart card systems "including substantial piracy of the DirecTV system provided by NDS" stated Court documents (which have just been unsealed and can be read in full at http://www.courthousenews.com/2008/10/20/EchoStar46.pdf ).
Echostar decided on a complete card swap-out of their Nagra Kudelski-supplied smart cards in 2005, which cost the broadcaster $94.6m. Echostar (and Kudelski) filed suit against NDS, seeking to hold NDS responsible for the cost of card swap-out and alleging that certain web-postings by NDS contacts necessitated that swap-out. NDS filed a counterclaim.
Earlier this year a jury found that NDS:
a. NDS did not violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
b. NDS did violate the Communications Act;
c. NDS did violate the California Penal Code ßß 593d(a) and 593e(b);
d. NDS did not violate the Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organisations Act (RICO) and
e. EchoStar did not violate the California Uniform Trade Secrets Act
District Judge David Carter awarded actual damages of just $45.69 against NDS, and the minimum statutory damages of $1000 under the Communications Act verdict, and a further $500 on the Penal Code verdict.
More importantly for the overall credibility of NDS the jury did not find that NDS had acted with ìoppression, fraud or malice and did not engage in a conspiracy.
Echostar further claimed that NDS had acted unfairly and used unlawful business practices, and it is this element that has now been determined by the Court with an injunction. Echostarís claim of $94.63m (the cost of the card swap) was "defective on a number of grounds" said the judge's finding.
Bell shutting doors on FTA receivers // 2008-10-21
Bell TV Channels that have switched to Nagra 3 and will not show on your FTA unit.
Here's a list of channels that have switched to Nagra 3 so far:
Channel #/Channel Name/Satellite
180 - Super Écran 1 - 91
300 - M - 91
301 - MMore - 91
305 - MPIX - 91
320 - Movie Central 1 - 91
321 - MC 2 -91
324 - EA1 - 91
423 - NHL Center Ice Extra - 91
426 - NHL Center Ice 1 - 91
427 - NHL Center Ice 2 - 91
428 - NHL Center Ice 3 - 91
429 - NHL Center Ice 4 - 91
430 - NHL Center Ice 5 - 91
431 - NHL Center Ice 6 - 91
432 - NHL Center Ice 7 - 91
442 - Nascar2 - 91
471 - CBSHE1 - 82
780 - Playboy TV USA - 91
781 - AOV TV - 82
782 - Maleflixxx - 82
804 - CBC HD West - 82
806 - CTV HD West - 82
807 - Global TV Ontario - 82
815 - WHDH-TV (NBCHD - Boston) - 82
816 - WCVB-TV (ABCHD - Boston) - 82
817 - WBZ-TV (CBSHD - Boston) - 82
818 - WFXT-TV (FOXHD - Boston) - 82
819 - WGBH-TV (PBSHD - Boston) - 82
825 - WGN-TV (CWHD - Chicago) - 82
852 - Rogers Sportsnet HD 2 - 82
860 - Radio-Canada HD - 82
880 - Skyway
This also includes the NFL network channels.
Expect more black-outs in the coming days/weeks.
NDS hack in Europe? // 2008-10-17
The NDS Videoguard Conditional Access System, which was recently selected by Premiere to provide better content security, has reportedly been compromised by hackers. It is reported that since September 30, it has been possible to view the newly encrypted signals using emulation.
According to the information, DF said there was an interception of a firmware update to Premiere set-top boxes.
Already in August, there were indications of a potential problem, and Hackers became very interested. Internet reports say they were able to discover a new vPlug 2.3.8 designed for the new DVB cards, which are temporary support for some Premiere "program packets."
Emulation has been able to decode Premiere programming channels Direkt, Blue Movie, (one of the erotic channels) as well as Premiere 1-4. Other channels have been confirmed working as well.
The NDS System has been recognized as one of the safest sytems in the World, even though experts know this is not true. There may now be a problem with other platforms including Sky Digital, Sky Italia, Viasat, or German cable networks like Tele Columbus.
In a statement, NDS and Premiere have responded by reminding people that Unauthorized Decoding Schemes are illegal, and may lead to imprisonment.
TiVo Collects $105 Million From EchoStar // 2008-10-16
EchoStar Pays Up After Supreme Court Declines Request to Review Infringement Ruling
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News,
TiVo said it received $104.6 million from EchoStar on Oct. 8, after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a lower court’s ruling that the satellite operator had infringed one of the DVR maker’s patents.
TiVo said the $104,600,472 from EchoStar included the initial $74 million in damages awarded by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, after the satellite company was found to have infringed TiVo’s “Time Warp” patent for DVR controls, plus interest and supplemental damages accrued through Sept. 8, 2006.
The companies are still awaiting a decision from the Texas court on TiVo’s request to hold EchoStar and Dish Network in contempt for not disabling its DVR functionality as previously ordered under the court’s permanent injunction. The judge in the case said he would try to rule by Oct. 1 but indicated a decision could come as late as November.
In a statement Thursday, TiVo said, “We remain confident that the District Court will enforce the injunction and award further damages from EchoStar's continued infringement of our Time Warp patent."
Dish and EchoStar, in a joint statement earlier this week, reiterated their position that the satellite operator's updated DVR code does not infringe TiVo’s patent and that TiVo’s pending motion for contempt should be denied.
Kudelski Group claims victory in Germany // 2008-10-09
The Kudelski Group announces a new judicial success in its continuous fight against all forms of piracy attacks or threats against pay-TV signals.
In a verdict rendered on August 27, 2008, the county court of Frankfurt-am-Main prohibited one of the main "free-to-air" TV decoder importers in Germany, Heinrich Zehnder GmbH, from importing, possessing, or marketing a model of TV decoders containing an electronic mechanism that makes possible the circumvention of conditional access systems and allows the illegal reception of pay-TV programs.
Although the banned "free-to-air" decoders also allow reception of free (unencrypted) television programs, the Court found these devices illegal because they contain an electronic mechanism with the sole function of facilitating piracy of encrypted content.
Heinrich Zehnder GmbH risks a fine of up to € 250'000 or a prison sentence for its managing director of up to 6 months if it does not comply with the verdict.
This verdict is a clear message for manufacturers and importers of "de facto" pirate decoders. From now on, they will have to ensure that such decoders are not equipped with technical elements that - by themselves or through the downloading of pirate software - allow circumvention of content protection systems and the illegal reception of encrypted content.
The verdict, which will become final after the one-month appeal deadline, is the result of a judicial procedure initiated by Nagravision.
The Kudelski Group is engaged in an active and fundamental fight against television piracy. As part of this effort, it is prosecuting companies and individuals who are involved in piracy activities as well as those who develop infrastructures designed to facilitate such activities. Through these actions, the Kudelski Group aims at extending the lifespan of the solutions used by its clients by reducing the economic attractiveness of large-scale industrial piracy in the long term. These actions complement the significant development of new security technologies.
Court Protects Privacy of Satellite Receiver Owner // 2008-10-02
Last month, EFF filed an amicus brief in Echostar v. Freetech, where Echostar sought the identities of every consumer who purchased a Freetech "CoolSat" free-to-air (FTA) satellite receiver during the past five years. EFF argued that this demand, issued in discovery in a lawsuit between Echostar and Freetech, represented an unwarranted intrusion into the privacy of individual consumers. Today, the court agreed, issuing an order blocking Echostar's subpoenas.
The ruling potentially sets an important precedent, as it represents the first time a federal court has explicitly rejected a third-party subpoena on the basis of the privacy interests of nonparty consumers.
Echostar is the company behind the DISH satellite TV service. Freetech makes receivers for unencrypted, free-to-air satellite transmissions (there are many free, unencrypted satellite channels). In December 2007, Echostar sued Freetech, alleging that the Freetech CoolSat receiver was specifically designed for after-market modification to enable unauthorized reception of DISH programming. According to Echostar, Freetech "sold thousands of these FTA Receivers to consumer pirates for the sole purpose of circumventing [Echostar]'s Security System."
In the course of discovery, Echostar sent subpoenas to the distributors of CoolSat receivers, demanding that they hand over their customer lists, including the name, address, email address, and purchase details for every person to have purchased a CoolSat receiver over the past 5 years.
As EFF explained in its amicus brief, these subpoenas represent a serious intrusion into the privacy of legitimate purchasers of these FTA receivers. Not only would it be an intrusion to be contacted by Echostar about a device you purchased months or years ago, but other satellite TV companies have used customer lists to launch mass litigation campaigns against consumers. After DirecTV obtained similar customer lists in litigation in 2001, it sent more than 170,000 letters to individuals demanding "settlements" of $3,500.
In refusing to allow Echostar to obtain the CoolSat customer lists, the court specifically weighed Echostar's need for the information against the privacy interests of the customers whose information would be disclosed. The court expressed concern that "both those who purchase the FTA receivers for proper and improper purposes will be swept up in the process." The court went on to conclude that "the requests for customer lists, therefore, could lead to the perceived harassment of legitimate users and a concomitant chilling effect on the purchase and lawful use of Freetech's FTA receivers."
Kudos to the court for keeping the privacy interests of nonparties in mind as commercial litigants dispatch third-party subpoenas that would otherwise carelessly intrude into the lives of individual consumers.
AT&T-DirecTV partnership just foreplay? // 2008-10-01
Late last year, many on Wall Street were anticipating and predicting that AT&T would acquire EchoStar, the company that owned satellite TV player and AT&T partner Dish Network. That deal never happened, and this week, AT&T said it is planning its satellite TV future with new partner DirecTV. It didn't take long for news of that partnership to generate speculation that perhaps the current deal is just a prelude to AT&T acquiring DirecTV.
It is true that buying a satellite operator would immediately allow AT&T--or any other telco for that matter--to own a TV subscriber base numbering in the millions. With IPTV growing, the need for satellite partners seems to have only short-term importance, but what if a major telco like AT&T bought a satellite firm and effectively began to tout satellite as its primary current and future video strategy, rather than IPTV? Such a move would change everything, not only the future IPTV investment plans of AT&T, but also the entire IPTV ecosystem.
We're not saying it's going to happen (because those who predicted AT&T would buy Dish look pretty silly now), but it's an interesting what-if scenario.
Major RCMP bust in Montreal // 2008-09-25
Montréal, September 25, 2008 -- Yesterday, members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Financial Integrity program conducted nine searches and arrested four persons for theft of radiocommunication services as part of an investigation led by the Québec Detachment Federal Investigation Section. Charges could also be laid at the conclusion of the investigation.
The investigation, dubbed operation "Connecteur", resulted in searches being conducted in several places of business and residences in Montréal, Sainte-Thérèse, Granby, Sorel and Shawinigan. The investigators seized many items, including decoders and computers that were allegedly used to develop access codes required to steal satellite signals.
Through operation "Connecteur", the investigators intend to demonstrate that the suspects sold decoders and supplied access codes for the purpose of illegally accessing numerous pay television channels.
The alleged fraudsters advertised on the Internet, inviting potential clients to come to their place of residence or business to buy and pick up the equipment for approximately $300.
The arrested suspects could be charged with fraud and possession of device to obtain telecommunication facility or service under the Criminal Code of Canada.
The investigation was launched in December 2007 by investigators of the RCMP Federal Investigation Section.
The RCMP will continue to pursue appropriate action to enforce federal laws pertaining to illegal business practices such as fraud and theft of telecommunication services. The theft of satellite signals accounts for losses estimated at more than 300 million dollars annually for the Canadian economy.
The RCMP takes this opportunity to promote public awareness of this social evil and to encourage electronic equipment retailers and consumers to refrain from engaging in this illegal trade. The illegal distribution, theft or piracy of satellite signals remain serious crimes in Canada that are punishable under the Radiocommunication Act.
UAE government blocks Korean pirate TV websites // 2008-09-19
The Government, targeting pay-television piracy, has blocked 10 websites that allowed users to view exclusive sporting events illegally.
The Ministry of Economy said it acted against the websites, all of which were based in Korea, after a tip in June that they were being used in the Emirates to view Euro 2008 football matches.
“We received communications that illegal operators were broadcasting unsubscribed Euro 2008 matches and other programmes over the internet and promptly co-ordinated with enforcement authorities to conduct a raid,” a ministry official said.
“We were able to identify 10 foreign internet links and immediately ordered the disruption of local internet connections to these addresses. We are currently investigating similar cases.”
The ministry said it would order the internet service provider to block websites offering illegal services.
“Cases of pay-TV piracy have been increasing in the UAE, with dishonest operators showing more confidence that they can elude the law,” said Mohammed al Shihhi, undersecretary of the ministry.
Ola Khudair, the deputy chief executive of Arabian Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAA), said the raids were aimed at “the new face of piracy that is emerging in the region”.
“Piracy is now getting more and more complicated, as it is not just illegal TV channels but websites offering illegal access,” she said.
At least 11 more websites identified last month are now blocked.
The AAA assisted in the raids and has hired a team of “hackers and IT experts” to track down internet addresses that offer illegal television viewing. “Such websites offer access not just to sports event channels but also other pornographic channels, which are illegal here,” Ms Khudair said.
The ministry has also issued orders for the confiscation of illegally imported decoder boxes, which are used to acquire satellite TV signals without subscriptions.“These decoders are manufactured in countries like Korea and China. We raided three shops in Fujairah and one in Dubai where such decoders were being sold,” said an IT expert at AAA.
Kudelski Claims Piracy Victory in Europe // 2008-09-12
courtesy SKYnews Sept. 12
Kudelski, which through its NagraStar relationship with DISH Network provides signal security for the DBS service, said it scored a big victory in its fight against pay-TV piracy in Europe.
A German court has prohibited one of the main "free-to-air" TV decoder importers working in the country from importing, possessing or marketing TV decoders that have decoding capabilities. The decoders contain an electronic mechanism that makes its possible to circumvent conditional access systems and allow for the illegal reception of pay-TV programming, Kudelski said.
Although the banned "free-to-air" decoders also allow for reception of free (unencrypted) programming, the court found that the devices are illegal because they contain the electronic mechanism, the company said. The company, Heinrich Zehnder GmbH, risks a fine of up to 250,000 euros ($348,424 U.S.) or a prison sentence for executives if it does not comply with the verdict.
"This verdict is a clear message for manufacturers and importers of ‘de facto' pirate decoders. From now on, they will have to ensure that such decoders are not equipped with technical elements that - by themselves or through the downloading of pirate software - allow circumvention of content protection systems and the illegal reception of encrypted content," Kudelski said in a statement.
Nagravision card security improvement // 2008-09-09
Conditional-access systems are not just for stopping illegal access to video content anymore. There is a growing demand for their developers to function as overall system integrators providing turnkey solutions — especially advanced services for IPTV. Mike Feazel reports ...
Increasingly, IPTV operators are asking that their conditional-access systems (CAS) include modules for management, such as information management systems (IMS), subscriber management systems (SMS), smart cards and interactive applications. In fact, CAS developers are increasingly asked to function as overall system integrators, providing turnkey solutions with all the required management modules.
The rapidly-growing IPTV market is also putting heavier requirements on CAS — mainly in handling the extreme bandwidth required and the throughput rates, as well as providing the required reliability, industry officials say. Perhaps more importantly, CAS must allow the system operator to recognise and gather information on the viewer, allowing operators to utilise the information in their marketing efforts, such as relevant targeted advertising, they suggest.
Clearly, the market for IPTV CAS is growing. The number of worldwide IPTV subscribers more than doubled last year to 12.3 million, according to UK-based business intelligence provider Informa Telecoms and Media.
Over half of all IPTV subscribers are in Europe, but the Asia-Pacific region is catching up fast. China alone has about one million IPTV subscribers, excluding Hong Kong, Informa notes. In Harbin and Shanghai, for example, the IPTV-subscription rate for SMG has increased more than nine-fold.
However, Informa reveals that the rest of the country probably trails Hong Kong, which passed the one-millionth mark in IPTV subscription by a slight margin last September. The intelligence provider has called Hong Kong “the world’s most mature IPTV market”, delivering digital video to more than 60% of all DSL subscribers.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s Alticast is gearing up for its own IPTV service, after agreeing to use Sun Microsystems’ digital rights management (DRM) technology. Sun’s DRM Everywhere Available (DReaM) is an open-source system designed to control access to programming, with billing and purchasing handled through downloadable open-source CAS technology.
Like many others, the Sun DReaM uses AES encryption, originally developed for the US military. Its encrypted keys are sent with the content, and paired with a public key after entitlement messages are received.
Sun boasts a fully-integrated end-to-end infrastructure that includes the Sun Streaming System, Digisoft.tv applications, IMake software, and Verimatrix security systems.
Meanwhile, Irdeto is making inroads into India by signing a deal with Bangalore-based cable operator Atria Convergence Technologies to begin a 30-month roll-out of its CAS technology.
“Irdeto’s scalable content- and revenue-protection platform was the deciding factor in the evaluation process,” says an Atria official. “Its end-to-end content security offerings and variety of business models fit well with our business needs, and will set a solid foundation in meeting our future DTV development.”
Irdeto announced in June this year that China’s Hebei Broadcasting and Xinjiang Broadcast and Television have chosen its security system. The deals require the content-security provider to deliver more than two million smart cards over the next 24 months for installation in the two Chinese provinces.
“Piracy is an ongoing battle,” says Hebei Broadcast, which chose Irdeto’s CAS because of its seven-year record untainted by piracy-related smart-card swaps.
The deal came on the heels of a March announcement that Irdeto would provide CAS to one million Shanxi Cable subscribers, as the operator migrates from older Irdeto CryptoWorks technology to the Irdeto DTV CAS security system.
Irdeto recently opened a new office in Tokyo, Japan, to strengthen its presence in the Asia-Pacific, where it already has offices in Singapore, Thailand, China, India, South Korea and Australia.
Meanwhile, Taiwan-based ZyXEL Communications is partnering Belfast-based Latens to offer low-cost, highly secure IP/hybrid set-top-box (STB) technology, designed to ease IPTV launches. The partnership incorporates the Irish company’s content- and revenue-security technology into the ZyXEL STB-1003 and STB-1001H systems.
The partnership “enhances the abilities to provide IPTV operators with a highly secure, flexible platform on which to deploy advanced services now and in the future,” says Herman Chen, assistant vice-president of ZyXEL’s IPTV product division. Among other things, he adds, it will allow easy upgrades without disrupting service in the future.
Latens’ CAS technology is software-based, replacing proprietary smart cards or static hardware/software combinations. The company’s officials maintain that the technology is also designed to start with a modest investment, but can be scaled up easily towards larger installations.
For Nagravision, the key is the NagraCard smart card, which provides the essential “barrier” to protect video and other content from unauthorised access. The card can also function as a security platform for interactive applications such as online shopping, games, banking transactions and payments. To meet those demands, Nagravision has increased the memory capacity of the NagraCard and added new software that can handle tasks, including e-commerce, electronic signatures and interactive services.
The company’s IPTV CAS even allows the delivery of services such as start-over, time shifting, and catch-up TV, as well as a recommendation engine for targeted advertising. It also supports e-mail, messaging and chatting applications, as well as emergency alert services and on-screen caller ID.
Kudelski’s 'substantially higher' losses // 2008-09-02
Smart card specialists Kudelski Group (headed by Andre Kudelski, left) moved from profit to loss in its latest half-year numbers, not helped by a 15% weaker dollar and consolidation in some of its key markets helping drive the company into loss at its digital TV encryption business. But there were high spots, not least a turnaround at its Open TV business.
Kudelski is busy morphing itself into what it describes as a “service mode” business, which CEO Andre Kudelski has said could lead to up to 30 million smart cards being shifted from a sales mode to a rental model. “Even if it leads to a significant shortfall in the immediate future due to revenues being carried forward, this migration is a real opportunity to add value to the new conditional access technologies in the coming years,” he said six months ago. His prediction was spot on. Seven million cards had been switched into this service/rental mode, but it will take a little longer for these revenues to materially assist Kudelski.
They were “weak results” said Landsbanki Kepler analyst Roger Steiner. "The loss in the core digital TV unit was substantially higher than expected."
Not mentioned in the company’s statement was the taboo word “piracy”, because it is piracy that has held the company back this past year or two, specifically at Premiere in Germany and at Echostar’s DISH network in the US.
“Total revenues and other operating income came in at CHF 424.2 million, which is slightly up compared to the first half 2007. The compounded annual growth rate for the first half year results in the period 2004 to 2008 was 11.4%. The 15% decline of the USD exchange rate against the CHF compared to first half 2007 had a negative impact on sales, operating margin and net income. At a constant first half 2007 exchange rate, total sales have increased by CHF 45.5 million, corresponding to 10.8% growth. The negative CHF 43.7 million exchange rate impact reduced reported growth to CHF 1.8 million,” said Kudelski’s statement.
New business wins were registered, with DTT contracted numbers doubling in the past year. “Both the IPTV and the mobile TV markets continued to generate new contracts however, still not translating into a material revenue base. Overall, net contribution from new business areas in the first half was still in the negative high single digit million range,” said Kudelski.
33 months sentence // 2008-08-22
DENVER (LAWFUEL) – Joseph Masek, age 30, of Orange, California, was recently sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Wiley Y. Daniel to serve 33 months (over 2 years) in federal prison for wire fraud associated with the establishing of 4,294 fraudulent satellite television accounts. The defendant was also ordered to pay $663,729.28 in restitution to EchoStar (now Dish Network). He previously had paid $1,089,171.00 in restitution. Masek was ordered by Judge Daniel to report to a facility designated by the Bureau of Prisons by September 8, 2008.
Masek was charged by Information on June 5, 2007. He pled guilty before Judge Daniel on August 9, 2007 to one count of wire fraud. Judge Daniel sentenced Masek on August 8, 2008.
According to the stipulated facts outlined in the plea agreement, Joseph Masek was the owner of Satellites and More, a Santa Ana, California company, responsible for purchasing and installing satellite dish equipment and programming for Echostar (now Dish Network). Masek was an independent installer of Echostar, a direct television satellite service, which is an alternative to cable.
On July 15, 2005, Echostar Satellite contacted the FBI in Denver to report that they were the victim of fraudulent activity. According to Echostar, Masek created bogus accounts in order to obtain fees and commissions from Echostar. Specifically, Masek created over 4,000 customer account applications from February, 2005 through June 2005, through which approximately $2,000,000 in hardware reimbursement, reseller commissions, and other payments were made to him by Echostar.
“Pirating satellite TV may land you in federal prison,” said U.S. Attorney Troy Eid.
“The FBI Denver Division has an excellent team of agents and analysts who worked diligently with the United States Attorney’s Office and the victim to see this case through to the end,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge James Davis.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Masek was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Mydans.
Group Targets EchoStar Suit on Piracy // 2008-08-20
An advocacy group has started a legal challenge that targets work by EchoStar to address its piracy issue.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation said it has asked a federal court to reject efforts by EchoStar to get the names and addresses of consumers who purchased a free-to-air satellite receiver. EchoStar has claimed that the receiver can be modified to pirate its satellite TV programming.
The foundation said EchoStar's demand would violate user privacy and leave innocent purchasers vulnerable to bogus legal threats. "Innocent customers should not be dragged into federal litigation just because they bought a product that other, less scrupulous purchasers may be hacking for unlawful purposes," said EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann.
The demand for customer records is part of litigation involving EchoStar/DISH and Freetech, manufacturer of Coolsat free-to-air satellite receivers. The legal case also involves distributors of Coolsat receivers.
EchoStar/DISH declined to comment on the foundation's moves.
Dishnetwork and Directv talk merger // 2008-08-05
Dish Network is considering merging with rival satcaster DIRECTV, The Wall Street Journal reported today.
The newspaper reports that the companies have not discussed a formal proposal, but have had "general discussions" about the idea.
The two satcasters attempted to merge several years ago, but the FCC rejected the plan in 2002 on grounds that it would be anti-competitive.
However, in the years since, other video competition has emerged, including TV services from telco giants AT&T and Verizon and set-top Net TV services from Apple TV, Amazon, TiVo and Netflix.
WSJ reports that Dish CEO Ergen believes that federal regulators may be more receptive to a merger at this time, particularly after the agency just approved the satellite radio merger between XM and Sirius.
Can-Am raided by Directv // 2008-08-01
"On June 26th, 2008, Directv raided our offices with a Court Order in hand that prevents us from assisting our customers to access Directv programming. Directv, with the authority of the Court Order, seized our Directv customer list and have begun terminating accounts. The Court Order prevented us from disclosing these events until 10 days after the fact. Please be advised that we are weighing our legal options and in a week or two we will be able to determine our future with respect to this matter. In the meantime, we invite your comments and suggestions as to how we might best serve your interests. At this time, Dish Network customers are unaffected."
source: http://www.smalldish.com/mm5/merchant.mvc
NDS leads new content security rankings // 2008-07-29
UK-based conditional access firm NDS has come top of a new report ranking the top independent content security vendors in the IPTV and IP video market globally, with Irdeto coming second and Nagravision tying for fourth place with Verimatrix.
The report, by US market research firm Current Analysis, places Widevine in fifth, Latens in sixth, Viaccess in seventh and Secure Media in eighth place. The rankings were reportedly based on the three main criteria of network flexibility, ease of integration and cost.
"Operators are increasingly leveraging IP technology to expand their consumer video service offerings with functionality such as interactive services and non-linear content," said Yoav Schreiber, Senior Analyst, Digital Media Infrastructure for Current Analysis. "This puts increased demand on content security vendors for enabling operator business model flexibility to provide differentiated services."
It has been LONG time since Directv hack and that should prove the point also.
Viewsat launches counter lawsuit // 2008-07-19
Jung Kwak CEO of Viewtech Inc. launched a hundred million dollars counter lawsuit against Echostar Inc. and other FTA manufactures are contemplating about joining the lawsuit.
Furthermore, Ergen, DeFranco and several high-ranking officers within Echostar will be named in the suit for civil prosecution as things proceed. Criminal proceedings may also be filed by the State Attorneys of California and Colorado at their discretion.
Viewtech Inc. claims that FTA receiver is a device that is "Free To Air" receiver which is made to pick up radio and satellite signals which are not scrambled and encrypted that signal is offered free of charge to receive and play with FTA receivers.
These are unique channels which are not available on cable or pay channels such as Directv or Echostar, these channels often include ethnic, religion, business and news etc... these channles are available on satellites in North America and Worldwide.
Canadian Citizen charged in Texas // 2008-07-15
(HOUSTON, Texas) - Garr Thickens, 56, has pleaded guilty to one count of the illegal manufacture, distribution and possession of unlawful wire, oral or electronic communication devices, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today. Thickens, a Canadian citizen, was arrested by Secret Service agents in January 2008 and will remain in the U.S. while on bond pending his sentencing.
Commercial satellite television programs are broadcast by the satellite television service providers in an encrypted format only allowing a customer to view the programming if they have a signal decoder box and the proper un-encryption codes installed. Legitimate satellite television customers must open an account with a satellite television provider in order to obtain satellite television decoder boxes. Customers must also pay a monthly subscription fee to the satellite television provider for their satellite television programming as well as pay separately for each “pay-per-view” television event, such a movies, concerts and sporting events.
Thickens, a Canadian citizen who spent the winter months of the last several years in a trailer park in Port Aransas, Texas, was apprehended following a two-year Secret Service investigation. Thickens was a major North American distributor of a particular type of satellite decoder device called Dreamboxes. These Dreamboxes contained un-encryption codes that allowed persons who bought the decoder devices to illegally obtain satellite television programs, including pay-per-view events, from providers such as Direct TV and Dish Network without having a satellite television account or paying any fees for the programming.
Undercover Secret Service agents purchased at least three of the satellite decoder devices from websites operated by Thickens who then provided the agents with the un-encryption codes for the devices. This allowed the agents to obtain satellite television programming and pay-per-view events without having a satellite television account or paying for the programming.
Satellite television service providers change their encryption codes periodically for security reasons. Thickens provided the new un-encryption codes to all his customers, including the undercover Secret Service agents, who were also his customers. Thickens also sold the undercover Secret Service agent a newer and more electronically sophisticated satellite television decoder box that would automatically download and install its own un-encryption codes directly from surreptitious sites on the internet.
A federal search warrant was executed on Thickens trailer home in Port Aransas in January 2008 and found that Thickens had his own satellite television decoder box installed in his home along with the un-encryption codes that allowed him to watch satellite television programming without paying for it. Thickens also sold and set up another satellite decoder box system for a fellow resident of the trailer park, which was also recovered from that person. As additional supply of unsold decoder boxes was found in Thickens’ trailer, Thickens was arrested on these charges following completion of the search.
Evidence presented to the court during the guilty plea hearing revealed Thickens sold more than 4,000 satellite television decoder boxes along with un-encryption codes over the last few years, at prices from $289 to $699 each.
Thickens will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore on Nov. 11, 2008 and faces a maximum term of imprisonment of up to five years imprisonment, plus a fine of up to $250,000 and a maximum term of three years of post-imprisonment supervised release.
The crime was investigated by the Houston office of the U.S. Secret Service, with technical assistance from satellite television industry investigators. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mike Schultz.
Kudelski dropped from Swiss Exchange // 2008-07-10
Smart card supplier Kudelski will be dropped from Zurich’s blue-chip SWX bourse. Along with a couple of other under-performing Swiss companies, Kudelski is being removed from its place in the SMIM mid-cap section of Zurich’s SWX exchange.
The removal will happen September 22. The reason is that Kudelski’s market capitalisation, based on its share value, has tumbled in this past year (by around 70%) and it no longer meets the valuation threshold required by the exchange.
Kudelski has been troubled by anxiety over its encryption system, and during the year saw one of its major accounts (Premiere) switch loyalty to rival NDS. Nevertheless, Kudelski has enjoyed some solid business “wins” during the year, but now must prove to the industry that its products are dependable.
Former Diretv installer jailed on fraud charges // 2008-07-07
A Carthage man was assessed a suspended sentence and probation Monday on a conviction for setting up fraudulent DirecTV accounts using the names and Social Security numbers of Butterball Turkey Co. employees.
At a hearing in Jasper County Circuit Court in Joplin, Circuit Judge Gayle Crane sentenced Jose N. Velasquez, 37, to two years in prison for identity theft but suspended execution of the sentence and placed him on supervised probation for five years.
Velasquez pleaded guilty to the charge on March 24 in a plea agreement with the county prosecutor’s office that limited any prison time he might be required to serve to no more than two years.
The defendant was a former installer for DirecTV who had not worked for the company for more than six months when a Carthage police investigation linked him to a number of phony accounts set up with the satellite-television service.
Police began receiving complaints in August 2006 from about 20 people whose names had been turned over to a collection agency for collection of delinquent payments to DirecTV for service they never sought or received. Police said the accounts included their names and Social Security numbers but had phony addresses.
All of the victims were current or former employees of the turkey-processing plant in Carthage, according to court records. DirecTV assisted police in determining that the accounts had been set up with an installer using a telephone number that proved to be the defendant’s phone number.
Identity theft is a Class C felony in Missouri carrying up to seven years in prison.
Police and court records do not indicate who actually received the satellite-television service listed under the victims’ names. But the judge ordered that the defendant pay restitution in the case once a total dollar amount of the fraud has been determined and reported to the court by the local probation and parole office.
News Corp to de-list NDS // 2008-06-30
Parent company News Corporation and private equity firm Permira have made an offer to buy the shares of NDS that News Corp., run by Rupert Murdoch, does not already own, and take the company private.
NDS, a manufacture of conditional access solutions for pay television, has more than 1,000 employees in Israel.
News Corp., with financing from two new companies set up by private equity firm Permira Advisers LLP, made a purchase offer to NDS's board at $60 per share, a premium of 20.7 percent over the company's closing price of $49.70 on Friday.
The companies offered $60 per share for all series A shares of NDS and for 68 percent of the series B shares held by News Corporation. News Corp. currently owns all the series B shares, which give it 96 percent of the voting power in NDS. The series B shares also give News Corp. a 72 percent equity holding in NDS. News Corp. will keep a 49 percent stake in the company after the transaction.
Permira will own 51 percent of the company after the transaction.
The series A shares would be bought for about $970 million in cash. (According to a quarterly SEC filing, there are about 16 million shares outstanding). The series B shares would be paid for with $1.5 billion in cash and a $200 million vendor note.
News Corporation bought its stake in 1992 for $15 million.
NDS has a market cap of $2.89 billion, based on Friday's closing price. NDS said that it had appointed an independent committee of NDS directors who are not directors or executive officers of News Corp. to review the deal and that the board has hired Citigroup Global Markets Ltd. as its financial advisor.
NDS has enjoyed positive momentum in recent months, signing a series of major contracts, some of which have been at the expense of its rival, Nagra Kudelski Group, (SWX: KUD) of Switzerland. NDS recently signed a follow-on six-year contract with DirecTV Group Inc. (NYSE: DTV) and has entered the German and Indian markets. In May, NDS also won a lawsuit filed by Dish Network Inc. (Nasdaq: DISH) for allegedly hiring hackers to break into its broadcasts.
Shares in NDS rose in after-hours trading to $54.66, nearly 10 percent above Friday's closing price of $49.70.
Satellite TV Piracy to see changes // 2008-06-22
Satellite TV subscribers in Canada will undergo another satellite Smart Card ( Conditional Access Card) swap in Bell ExpresssVu's attempts to thwart Satellite TV signal theft. The transition by Bell to another new encryption system is now in its second stage and requires many ExpressVu subscribers to remove the SmartCard inside their satellite receivers and swap them with a new one.
In the first stage of the new encryption transition, ExpressVu issued new firmware updates through their satellite signal streams to selected satellite receivers. These firmware updates were sent out discreetly at night to said selected receivers without any intervention by the subscriber.
In the second stage of the update process, ExpressVu sent a letter in the mail to affected subscribers which included a new upgraded SmartCard. Swapping the SmartCard on the ExpressVu receiver is a simple process. On most ExpressVu receivers, the SmartCard is located at the front, on the left hand side behind a small plastic panel or door. The card fits into a small slot is hidden by closing the plastic panel door.
The subscriber simply swaps the old card for the new one. Once the new card is in place, customers are required to activate the new card online or via a toll free phone number. Bell says it will then take approximately 15 minutes to 2 hours for programming to return to normal. Failure to activate the new Smartcard in the given time limit may result in loss of programming, or a continual on screen reminder advising them to do so.
You can expect the US Satellite company DishNetwork to follow suit very shortly. Bell ExpressVu and DishNetwork use the same technologies and similar satellites. Bell purchased the technology from Echostar Communications in the US. Echostar is the parent company to Dishnetwork. Although DishNetwork and bell ExpressVu are completely separate companies using separate satellites, they do share common methods and technologies. Smart cards, Satellite receiver boxes, satellite dishes and broadcasting methods are virtually the same.
Since the last encryption scheme update in 2005, ExpressVu and Dish Network have been seriously compromised by satellite piracy using inexpensive Free-to-Air (FTA) receivers to illegally watch ExpressVu and Dish Network programming.
More than 2 million homes in 2007 were pirating Bell ExpressVu and Dish Network Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite television signals. The new encryption scheme currently in deployment is an attempt by ExpressVu and Dish Network to shut down the satellite pirates.
Article was posted at: http://www.informativepost.com/2008/06/10/Satellite-TV-Piracy-to-see-changes-882.htm
Murdoch's hacker tells all // 2008-06-12
Full story with pictures and video at wired.com
http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2008/05/tarnovsky?currentPage=all
SAN DIEGO -- Christopher Tarnovsky feels vindicated. The software engineer and former satellite-TV pirate has been on the hot seat for five years, accused of helping his former employer, a Rupert Murdoch company, sabotage a rival to gain the top spot in the global pay-TV wars.
But two weeks ago a jury in the civil lawsuit against that employer, NDS Group, largely cleared the company -- and by extension Tarnovsky -- of piracy, finding NDS guilty of only a single incident of stealing satellite signals, for which Dish was awarded $1,500 in damages.
"I knew this was going to come," Tarnovsky says. "They didn't have any proof or evidence."
The trial was years in the making, yet raised more questions than it answered. It came down to testimony between admitted pirates on both sides who accused each other of lying. Now that it's over Tarnovsky, who was fired by NDS last year, is eager to tell his side of the story.
Dressed in loose jeans, flip-flops and a T-shirt, Tarnovsky, 37, spoke with Wired.com by phone and in an air-conditioned lab in Southern California where he's been running a consultancy since losing his job. Surrounded by boxes of smart cards and thousands of dollars worth of microscopes and computers used for researching chips, he talked excitedly at lightning speed about his strange journey, which began in a top-secret Pentagon communications center, and ended with him working both sides of a heated electronic war over pay TV.
Satellite-TV hacker Chris Tarnovsky opens his laboratory to Threat Level reporter Kim Zetter, providing a unprecedented peek into the world of smart-card hacking.
Editor: Annaliza Savage
Camera: Steve Raines
His story sheds new light on the murky, morally ambiguous world of international satellite pirates and those who do battle with them.
The stakes are high: Earnings in the satellite-TV industry reach the billions. In the first quarter of this year alone, U.S. market leader DirecTV announced revenue of $4.6 billion from more than 17 million U.S. subscribers. Dish Network earned $2.8 billion from nearly 14 million subscribers. Although satellite piracy has greatly diminished from its peak seven to 10 years ago when the events detailed in the civil lawsuit took place, the two companies lost millions in potential revenue, and spent millions more to replace insecure smart cards used in their systems and track down dealers selling pirated smart cards.
Those smart cards are at the center of the controversy over NDS, a British-Israeli company and a majority-owned subsidiary of Murdoch's News Corp. The company makes access cards used by pay-TV systems, most prominently DirecTV -- itself a former Murdoch company. Nagrastar, a plaintiff in the case and NDS's chief competitor, makes access cards used by Dish Network and other runners-up in the market.
According to allegations in the lawsuit, in the late '90s NDS extracted and cracked the proprietary code used in Nagrastar's cards, a fact that NDS doesn't contest. What happened next, though, is hotly disputed. Nagrastar says Tarnovsky used the code to create a device for reprogramming Nagrastar cards into pirate cards, and gave the cards to pirates eager to steal Dish Network's programming. Tarnovsky was also accused of posting to the internet a detailed road map for hacking Nagrastar's cards.
Nagrastar says NDS had an obvious motive for these antics: Their own chip, the so-called P1 or "F Card," had already been thoroughly cracked by pirates, and the company wanted to level the playing field with its competitors.
NDS denied the allegations at trial. The company declined to comment for this article or to confirm details of Tarnovsky's employment other than to say it was pleased that the verdict "ended in a resounding affirmation of NDS and its business ethics and proper conduct."
Tarnovsky began his pirating career in the '90s while serving in the U.S. Army. He had a top-secret SCI security clearance working on cryptographic computers in Belgium for NATO headquarters, and spent a year at Ft. Detrick in Maryland providing support to the National Security Agency for satellite transmissions to Europe.
In 1996, he was stationed in Germany when his colonel sold him a used satellite-TV system, along with two pirated access cards, neither of which worked. Tarnovsky began posting on online pirate forums, and developed contacts in the community, ultimately learning how to fix the cards to access English-language programs from Sky in the United Kingdom.
After leaving the Army and returning to the States, he got a call from Ron Ereiser, a Canadian pirate who'd heard about him through the grapevine. Pirates had found a back door in the P1 card and were vigorously exploiting it to get DirecTV content. But the cards kept failing. In a game of pirate pingpong, DirecTV periodically deployed electronic countermeasures, or ECMs, in the satellite stream that killed the cards in their set-top boxes. Ereiser needed someone to fix the cards.
There was serious black-market money on the line. In Canada, where pirating of U.S. satellite services wasn't considered illegal until 2002, syndicates of dealers did enough business that they could afford to chip in about $50,000 to hire a programmer to reverse engineer the latest cards. Pirate cards would sell for about $200 each, with the profit split between the investors and engineers. Tarnovsky claims Canadian pirate dealers could make $400,000 in a weekend; when Reginald Scullion, a notorious pirate in Canada, was raided in 1998, authorities seized $5.5 million from his bank accounts and safe-deposit boxes, though not all of it was from piracy.
Ereiser, who now works as a consultant to Nagrastar, concedes that the money from piracy was good, but insists that nobody became an overnight millionaire. "It was lucrative," he said in a telephone interview. "But to suggest that millions were being made in a month is an absolute crock."
DirecTV's countermeasures were a nagging drag on this lucrative trade. Every time an ECM was deployed, Ereiser and other dealers would be harangued by customers demanding to have the cards fixed and their TV programs restored.
Tarnovsky, who was known online as "Big Gun," says Ereiser offered him $20,000 to fix cards that were killed by ECMs, and he agreed. Each time NDS created a countermeasure, Tarnovsky would analyze the code and find a way to circumvent the countermeasure. He did it while working full-time as a software engineer for a semiconductor company in Massachusetts.
"I'd be at work and I'd check the IRC (channel) to see if they'd launched their Thursday countermeasure yet," he says. "It was like a chess game for me. I couldn't wait for them to do a countermeasure because I would counter it in minutes."
Tarnovsky suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which he says helped with the detailed work.
"I think so fast," he says.
It wasn't long before NDS came courting. Tarnovsky had a contact at the company to whom he'd begun passing information about holes in its software, even supplying patches to fix them. NDS offered him a job earning $65,000 a year. By the time the company fired him last year, he was earning about $245,000 in salary and bonuses and had another $100,000 in stock options, he says.
The company set him up in a lab in Southern California equipped with a computer, some DirecTV set-top boxes, sample DirecTV cards and NDS source code. There was no fancy equipment at first, but his relationship with NDS and the lab grew over the decade he worked with them. Tarnovsky says the job was a dream come true. While living in Europe he'd once seen a news report showing an engineer at a French satellite company writing countermeasures, sitting in a lab with smart cards piled around him on his desk.
"I always thought it would be so cool to be that guy," Tarnovsky says. "Finally I got the chance."
Tarnovsky had two roles at NDS -- to find holes in its software and work undercover with pirates to discover what they were doing against NDS technology.
To conceal his relationship with NDS from pirates, few people at the company knew his identity. He used the name "Michael George" and for the first four years was paid through other companies, including, for about five months, HarperCollins, the Murdoch-owned book publisher.
"It was very hush-hush, because we didn't know who could be an inside informant," he says.
Part of his job was developing ECMs for NDS. He'd examine pirate NDS cards to determine how they worked, then send instructions to engineers in Israel to create a kill for them.
"I didn’t actually load the gun and pull the trigger but I got to make the bullet," Tarnovsky says.
Among the countermeasures he says he created was one known among pirates as the "Black Sunday" kill -- an elaborate scheme that destroyed tens of thousands of pirate DirecTV cards a week before Super Bowl Sunday in 2001.
Instead of being delivered all at once like other measures, the Black Sunday attack code was sent to pirate cards in about five dozen parts over the course of two months, like a tank transported piece by piece to a battlefield to be assembled in the field. "They never expected us to do this," Tarnovsky says.
The kill didn't last long before pirates found a way to jump-start the cards. But it holds an enduring position in pirate lore; for the first time, they could see a cunning mind at work on the other side.
While Tarnovsky was killing cards, however, he was also helping pirates fix them.
Days before Tarnovsky began working for NDS, the company began phasing in its latest-generation smart card, the P2, which was thought to be virtually uncrackable. But word reached the company that two Bulgarian hackers working for Ereiser had cracked the P2. On NDS's instructions, Tarnovsky met with Ereiser undercover in Calgary to get the code. When he got there, Ereiser offered him $20,000 to work for him fighting whatever countermeasures NDS and DirecTV cooked up to thwart their P2 hack.
NDS considered it a great opportunity for Tarnovsky to maintain his pirate identity, but DirecTV insisted on some controls. Under "Operation Johnny Walker," as they dubbed it, Tarnovsky gave Ereiser a program to create pirate NDS cards, but encrypted it so no one could copy it. The program worked only with a dongle attached to Ereiser's computer and created a limited number of cards that could be killed at any time.
But, according to Nagrastar, Tarnovsky wasn't just helping NDS fight piracy by working undercover and creating ECMs, he was also committing piracy against NDS's competitors to weaken their place in the market.
After NDS engineers in Israel hacked the Nagrastar code in the late '90s, Nagrastar says Tarnovsky created a "stinger" program that turned Nagrastar cards into pirate cards. He allegedly gave the program to a Canadian named Al Menard in 1999 who sold reprogrammed Nagrastar cards for $350 each. Then in December 2000, someone anonymously posted code and detailed instructions for hacking Nagrastar's card to two websites, one of them run by Menard, exposing Dish Network to even more piracy. It was estimated in court testimony that between 100,000 and 165,000 pirated Nagrastar cards were released to the market in the wake of this posting.
Nagrastar says Menard began sending Tarnovsky cash from the sale of the pirate cards. At the end of August 2000, authorities acting on an anonymous tip seized two boxes destined for a mail drop Tarnovsky rented in Texas. Inside, they found a CD and DVD player with $20,000 and $20,100 concealed inside.
The boxes were sent from a phony address for "Regency Audio" in Vancouver to C.T. Electronics at Tarnovsky's address. A customs form for a third package that wasn't seized indicated that it was sent from Menard to Tarnovsky and also contained electronic goods.
Tarnovsky was in Israel at the time, and says he didn't know anything about the packages until he was notified that they'd been seized. He thinks they were sent by someone in Nagrastar's camp who was trying to frame him. He says Nagrastar's accusations about the "stinger" program were baseless, and that he never gave Menard any software.
On Feb. 9, 2001, U.S. Customs agents appeared at his doorstep. On advice of a lawyer, he declined to let them search his house without a warrant. Tarnovsky was never arrested or charged with any crime, but suspicions against him were mounting. NDS gave Tarnovsky a polygraph test, but asked only two, self-interested questions that never touched on the Nagrastar accusations: Had Tarnovsky sold any modified NDS smart cards, or company secrets, since he'd been working for the company? Tarnovsky answered no, and passed the test.
He continued to work for NDS for six years. But then last year, Nagrastar confronted NDS with a sheriff's report showing that fingerprints lifted from the seized electronics equipment sent to Tarnovsky's Texas mail drop belonged to an associate of Menard, raising suspicions again that Tarnovsky might have sold pirate Nagrastar cards without NDS's knowledge. NDS fired him.
Tarnovsky says his termination proves he and NDS weren't conspiring against Nagrastar. Had they been, NDS would have done anything to keep him happy, and quiet. He says the fact that Nagrastar lost the case shows he wasn't pirating on his own either.
"I've never sold a single Nagra card, ever," he says.
Although he was angry at NDS for abandoning him, he told Wired.com before the trial ended that he hoped to work for the company again.
"I want to make sure that NDS wins this lawsuit because that will clear my name," he said at the time.
When it was suggested that someone might view this as motivation for him to lie on NDS's behalf, he disagreed.
"That's crazy. I could go to jail," he said. "I would never perjure myself for some company."
Since NDS fired him he's been consulting for two semiconductor companies and a manufacturer of dongle tokens, but he misses his life in electronic warfare. If NDS doesn't want him, he says he'd be happy to work for Nagrastar -- jumping sides once again.
"I could design a whole entire chip for them like I did for NDS," he says. "NDS thinks today that their technology is superior to everybody else's and it probably is, because they're 17 years ahead of Nagra technologically. But Nagra could catch up overnight if they used my services.
"I'm a very valuable asset as far as smart-card technology goes," he adds. "I know everything about (NDS) as far as their intellectual property models go."
He offered his services to the company last year, while the lawsuit was pending. Nagrastar declined.
Dishnetwork used same tactic as NDS // 2008-06-10
SANTA ANA, Calif. - DISH Network Corp has engaged in the same kind of satellite television piracy that it accused News Corp unit NDS Group of in a lawsuit, a lawyer for NDS argued Wednesday during closing arguments in the case.
Attorney Darin Snyder told the jury in his closing remarks that DISH employed an infamous hacker and attempted to crack the encryption codes of rivals in the satellite TV business.
DISH has sued NDS in a corporate espionage case that has the potential for damages of $1.6 billion if a jury finds against the News Corp unit and awards punitive damages.
Jury deliberations were set to begin in the high-profile case as early as Thursday morning.
"The plaintiffs are doing the same with practically everything they're complaining about with NDS," Snyder said. "They had a multi-million-dollar project where they tried to break into a Motorola (black) box."
Snyder said DISH employed convicted hacker Ron Ereiser, who had been caught trying to steal the codes of formerly News Corp-owned DirecTV.
NDS employed several hackers, including Christopher Tarvnosky, who was keeping tabs on Ereiser in a sting operation titled "Johnny Walker," according to testimony during the one-month trial in Santa Ana, California.
In her closing argument, DISH attorney Wade Welch countered by asserting that Tarnovsky's real role was to hack into DISH's network and flood the market with "smart cards" that unscrambled the satellite signal when placed in a black box.
DRAGGING THE MARKET DOWN?
Trial testimony showed that NDS employed several engineers in an Israeli lab and dubbed the group "The Black Hat Team." Their mission was to extract codes from rival systems. According to testimony, more than 100,000 DISH cards were produced that Tarnvosky sold for $350 each.
NDS officials denied producing the cards and testified that they used engineers for reverse technology, which is standard in the industry.
But DISH charges that the result was not a better NDS product, but rather they "chose to drag the market down because they couldn't compete. So they hired the world's two best hackers."
Welch pointed to a trial exhibit that was a confidential NDS report he described as a "how-to" manual for hacking. Then he went through a series of Internet posts and e-mails where the compromised DISH code was discussed.
Snyder argued that the manual was created as a prevention measure so NDS could save itself from pirates. He called DISH's allegations "lies" and pointed to NDS's aggressive track record in ferreting out pirates and prosecuting them.
In fact, NDS has such an aggressive investigative team that they were able to find a piracy ring in Canada that was the culprit for DISH's hack, Snyder said.
"All of these things are legitimate activities, there's nothing wrong," he said.
Thursday ECM // 2008-05-29
The usual Thursday ECM is here, most of the devices are down except plastic and IKS type receivers.
Coolsat Saga // 2008-05-28
I have been receiving lot of inquiries regarding Coolsat support (may be NO support)on their older models 4000, 5000 and 6000, here are the details I got after doing some digging around.
Coolsat 4000, 5000 and 6000 were made by a separate company out of the Korea than the 6100, 7000 and 7100, to make the matter even more complicated they decided to go with a 3rd company for the 8000 and 8100 receivers..... Freetech (North American importer) of the above receivers did not pay their first gen. receiver coders well to take care of his product so they decided to screw him around with his older models, 6100, 7000 and 7100 coders did not like his pay either and they decided to throw their support behind the different importer K HUB (K1 Heros and K2 Extreme same manufacture out of Korea as Coolsat 6100, 7000 and 7100 models), these guys claim that the end seem to be near between Freetech and Korean manufacture, Freetech is offering to take back 4000, 5000 and 6000 and trade them up to Coolsat 6100 with a fee of $89 (that is wholesale price of Coolsat 6100 and it will help them get rid of 30,000 units they are stuck with) once they have money in their pocket they will go on with different manufactures and customers will be left to fend for themselves with no support just like the older models they just traded.
I was told that K Heros coders can take care of the coding of 6100, 7000 and 7100 if they decide to do it, the k-hubs work with coolsat 6100, 7100 currently and they auto run off of k-hub servers NOT coolsat servers,coolsat dongle and server are still at only a few dozen channels.
The current coolsat 6100 and 7100 files are from the khub team.
That is the story on Coolsat and future does not look too bright for them at this time.
ECM by both providers // 2008-05-21
Reports are coming in that there is ECM by both providers which knocked out majority of test devices except plastic and IKS receivers.
NDS vs. NagraVision aftermath // 2008-05-17
7 years of court case and $1500 victory instead of one billion dollar, is not really a victory for Nagrastar....
What I found very disgusting, looking through bits and pieces of the released court documents, were the names of the advisers, depositions and behind the scene investigators on both sides.
One of my former site moderator Neo's deposition was a shock to me, I had no idea he was going to give damaging deposition against the guys he was getting sued along.
Under cross examining Nagra security guy said that Reg Scullion and Mr. Perlman were his consultant while they were running dr7 site, these 2 guys were heavily involved in legal defense fund site at one time along with others.....
Ron and few other past big name dealers/hackers were also named as Dishnetwork consulatnt.
Chris Tarnovsky aka Big Gun a well known hacker was named a NDS employee while he sold/provided codes to hack Nagrastar encrypted card, Big Gun was involved in DirecTV hacking scene at one point also.
All this show you that what you think you know is NOT always the way it is, sad but true.
Echostar wins the hollow victory over NDS // 2008-05-15
Santa Ana, Calif.—A California jury Thursday found that NDS Group Americas, a division of News Corp., had violated a pair of piracy laws by hacking EchoStar Communications’ conditional access system, however it only awarded $1,500 in statutory damages—a far cry from the $1 billion in damages EchoStar had been seeking.
EchoStar (now Dish Network) alleged that NDS Group in 2003 reverse-engineered its "smart cards" then leaked the hacking information on the Internet. EchoStar asserted the company sought to improve its position as a system security provider by diminishing the reputation of NagraStar LLC, EchoStar's security provider.
EchoStar owns 50% of NagraStar.
EchoStar could opt to accept the statutory damage award or the actual damages. But the latter award was even smaller: $46.95 for each of the two counts the jury believed EchoStar had proved.
The jury felt EchoStar had met its burden of proof that NDS violated an anti-piracy section of the Cable Communications Policy Act and California state law against piracy. The award represents the cost of a single piece of EchoStar's anti-theft system. The jury voted no damages for co-plaintiff Nagrastar.
In prepared e-mail statement, EchoStar officials sounded both vindicated and dejected by the jury’s decision.
“We are pleased that after four weeks of testimony on all the facts, the jury concluded that NDS violated the Federal Communications Act and the California Penal Code,” the company said in the statement. “We will continue to vigorously prosecute those individuals and companies that engage in stealing our satellite signals. While we are disappointed in the jury’s damages award, we are pleased that NDS will be responsible for our attorney fees in this case, and that we were completely vindicated on NDS' meritless counterclaims."
Darrin Snyder, one of the attorney's for NDS, said "NDS is pleased with the jury verdict."
The trial put an end to the lie that NDS had any responsibility for piracy at EchoStar, he said, adding the jury's verdict was consistent with the evidence.
Tuesday ECM by both providers // 2008-05-13
Reports are coming in on an ECM by both providers, most of the FTAs are down along with other devices.
Plastic and IKS type FTAs are reported to be up at this time.
DISH/NDS Trial Jury Ready for Deliberations // 2008-05-09
Jury deliberations are set to begin next Tuesday in the high-profile federal trial involving DISH and NDS Group centering on claims that the News Corp. technology unit allegedly hacked the satellite TV company's conditional access technology.
As of press time, there was no new news on the trial, taking place in southern California. In closing arguments that wrapped up Wednesday, NDS attorneys alleged that EchoStar engaged in the same behavior that NDS is accused of participating in through its internal operations. According to press reports, DISH stuck to its story that NDS hired a well-known pirate to hack its security system and shared the knowledge with others, which led to a large number of pirated conditional access smart cards flooding the illegitimate market.
EchoStar and its conditional access provider NagraStar are seeking $1 billion in damages in the litigation, alleging that NDS compromised the conditional access technology utilized by the companies.
In their complaint, EchoStar and NagraStar allege NDS cracked their access card technology, and extracted proprietary codes from within the system. What's more, NDS personnel then designed and built a pirating device that was capable of reprogramming those access cards, stated the litigation. Those devices were then allegedly distributed to the pirating community, the lawsuit said.
Source:http://www.skyreport.com/
ECM by both providers again // 2008-05-06
Reports are coming in that both Nagra providers sent out the ECM again, it looks like they are getting pretty serious in their efforts toward piracy.
Thursday ECM // 2008-05-01
There is ECM in the stream by both providers, reports are coming in that international and PPVs are down on most of the platforms including IKS FTAs, expect rest of them to go down shortly.
Majority of the Private and public plastic are down this time also.
NDS vs. NagraVision a disater for P.R // 2008-04-30
NDS vs Nagra is a nightmare for both companies PR people, it shows what kind of tactics were used and being used by both companies.
Nagrastar alleges in it's lawsuit that NDS used a group of hackers headed by Chris Tarnovsky (known as Big Gun on the underground forms), to hack their card and gave the information to dr7.com which sold the hacked dishnetwork cards to public and to other dealers, as a proof they submitted evidence from custom who confiscated a VCR full of money from dr7 to Big Gun.
Nagrastar had few of their witnesses revealed in front of the judge to testify against Chris Tarnovsky and NDS, their witness Marty Mullen is already in jail for NDS piracy charges so he can not testify, their other witnesses were Reg (vcipher owner, one of the biggest pirate site in thier time) who passed away and Ron Ereiser (a self confessed hacker/dealer who at one time had an article published in newspaper about his piracy empire......) both sides have asked the judge to seal the documents so no information can be released on the identity of the other informants.
The above 3 guys were the top guys on hacking front in their days and now they are revealed as informant/witness for the satellite company, looking at the request to seal the documents I will not be surprised to find some big name underground guys/hackers who are/were acting on both side of the fence.
This case has revealed what goes behind the scene in those big corporations who preach against piracy but do not think twice to hire a pirate to do piracy for them or use them in other ways.
Even the judge at this court case commented on the allegations and credibility of the witnesses who are testifying, he asked the both companies to come up with mutual agreement (which is very unlikely)
Top hacker claim NDS hired him // 2008-04-24
A HACKER, described as one of the two best in the world, has told a court hearing into corporate spying that he was hired by News Corporation to develop pirating software.
But Christopher Tarnovsky, who said his first payment was $US20,000 ($21,136) in cash hidden in electronic devices mailed from Canada, denied using the software to hack into the security system of a rival satellite television service.
Mr Tarnovsky was testifying in a Santa Ana court in a corporate-spying lawsuit brought against News Corp's NDS Group by DISH Network Corporation.
The trial could result in hundreds of millions of dollars in damage awards.
NDS, which provides security technology to a global satellite network that includes satellite TV service DirecTV, has said it was looking only at its rival's technology to determine how it worked, a standard in the electronics industry.
DISH's attorney Chad Hagan described Mr Tarnovsky as one of the "two best hackers in the world".
Mr Tarnovsky told the court he was paid on a regular basis by Harper Collins, a publishing arm of News Corp, for 10 years.
He said one of his first projects was to develop a pirating program to make DirectTV more secure.
Lawyers for DISH said Mr Tarnovsky's mission was to hack into DISH's satellite network, steal the security code then flood the market with pirated smart cards, costing DISH $US900 million in lost revenue and system-repair costs.
Smart cards enable satellite TV converter boxes to bring in premium channels.
Mr Tarnovsky conceded that he made a device called "the stinger" that could communicate with any smart card in the world.
Another hacker, Tony Dionisi, testified that Mr Tarnovsky bragged about creating "the stinger" and that he knew of another hacker and NDS employee who reprogrammed 50 smart cards with the device.
News Corp is the parent company of the publisher of NEWS.com.au.
More on Ariza / David Fuss // 2008-04-22
Here is the update on the story I wrote on April 12th.
As part of their ongoing anti-piracy push north of the border, DISH Network/EchoStar, NagraStar and Canada's Bell ExpressVu said the execution of civil search and seizure orders were made against David Fuss and Incredible Electronics, Ariza Technology and Electronics Wholesale, all in Toronto.
The companies said that earlier in the month they executed search and seizure orders of Fuss' property in order to preserve evidence for litigation. Large quantities of DISH Network receivers and access cards were recovered, said the companies. Also found during the order execution were Nagravision “embedded” free-to-air receivers, hard drives and business records disclosing the identities of Fuss' suppliers and customers, the companies claimed in a statement.
The companies alleged that Fuss supplied free-to-air receivers to piracy dealers and provided piracy software for FTA receivers through various Web sites.
The move was the latest in a series of enforcement actions by the companies in Canada, and is the culmination of several years of joint investigations conducted by the companies.
Source: http://www.skyreport.com/
NDS on trial for alleged tech sabotage // 2008-04-21
Did a Rupert Murdoch company go too far and hire hackers to sabotage rivals and gain the top spot in the global pay-TV war?
This is the question a jury will be facing in a spectacular five-year-old civil lawsuit that is finally being tried this month in California but which has, oddly, received little notice from U.S. media.
The case involves a colorful cast of characters that includes former intelligence agents, Canadian TV pirates, Bulgarian and German hackers, stolen e-mails and the mysterious suicide of a Berlin hacker who had been courted by the Murdoch company not long before his death.
On the hot spot is NDS Group, a UK-Israeli firm that makes smartcards for pay-TV systems like DirecTV. The company is a majority-owned subsidiary of Murdoch's News Corporation. The charges stem from 1997 when NDS is accused of cracking the encryption of rival NagraStar, which makes access cards and systems for EchoStar's Dish Network and other pay-TV services. Further, it’s alleged NDS then hired hackers to manufacture and distribute counterfeit NagraStar cards to pirates to steal Dish Network's programming for free.
NagraStar and one of its parent companies, EchoStar, are seeking about $101 million for damages for piracy, copyright infringement, misconduct and unfair competition. The list of witnesses in the case includes EchoStar's founder and CEO Charlie Ergen; several hackers and pirates; and Reuven Hazak, an Israeli who heads security for NDS and is a former deputy head of Shabak, or Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security agency (the equivalent of Britain's MI5).
The case, which began April 9 in the U.S. District Court's Central Division in Santa Ana, California, could conceivably result in an award of hundreds of millions of dollars, although neither side is expected to emerge unscathed from testimony that threatens to expose the messy underbelly of the high-stakes pay-TV industry.
As if to emphasize this point, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter said after the proceedings began that he was concerned that the case would hinge on testimony from known lawbreakers like hackers and pirates, who have been employed by the companies on both sides of the lawsuit. The judge urged the plaintiffs and defendant to settle rather than face potentially devastating harm to their reputations.
EchoStar wouldn't comment on the case while it's ongoing, but Jim Davis, a senior analyst with the 451 Group, a market research firm, said the company isn't likely to settle.
"It gets taken very personal when your security product has been hacked," he said. "And to have a competitor do that through, allegedly, the services of a known hacker, has got to be particularly galling to NagraStar."
As for NDS, which currently has more than 75 million access cards on the market, Davis says the company probably sees the trial as an opportunity to defend against the image that it is "simultaneously promoting a product that secures networks while working with folks that work outside the law [to break networks]."
The company said in a statement to Wired.com: "We are confident our position will be upheld at a trial."
According to court documents, the scheme began to unravel in 2000 when law-enforcement agents in Texas seized suspicious packages containing CD and DVD players stuffed with more than $40,000 in cash. Parcels similar to this were being sent almost daily from Canada, via Texas, to a hacker in California named Christopher Tarnovsky, who was working for NDS as an engineer. The money was allegedly part of the conspiracy between Tarnovsky and NDS Group to sabotage NagraStar's cards.
As laid out in the allegations, NDS' hacking is said to have begun in 1997 after its own access cards were cracked and it was at risk of losing clients like DirecTV, which was being hit hard from pirates who were selling unfettered access to its system.
But rather than deal with its security breach, NDS hired Tarnovsky and other pirates who had compromised its system to help the company hack and pirate its competitors' cards and even out the playing field, it is alleged.
In addition to Tarnovsky, the company also hired Oliver Kommerling, a hacker known for writing the primer on cracking smartcards. Kommerling has acknowledged in an affidavit that he helped NDS set up a research lab in Haifa, Israel, where NagraStar's smartcard was allegedly cracked by NDS engineers.
NDS didn't hire only hackers, however. According to EchoStar/NagraStar, it also hired a handful of other people with colorful pasts who they say had a role in hacking and pirating EchoStar/NagraStar. There was Reuven Hazak, who had been deputy head of Israel's Shin Bet during the notorious Bus 300 incident (when two Palestinian terrorists who hijacked an Israeli bus were killed in custody by a Shin Bet agent. Hazak eventually blew the whistle on the subsequent cover-up).
NDS also hired a former U.S. Navy intelligence officer named John Norris and a former Scotland Yard commander named Ray Adams. Finally, it hired a former would-be terrorist, Yossi Tsuria, who became chief technical officer of its lab in Israel. Tsuria was part of a radical group of Jewish Israelis in the 1980s that plotted to bomb the Dome of the Rock -- a shrine that sits on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, a holy site for both Jews and Muslims.
NDS has maintained in public statements that Hazak, Norris and its other security officers were hired to help it track down hackers and pirates and get them arrested. But EchoStar and NagraStar allege that Hazak and Norris played central roles in committing hacking and piracy as well.
In late 1997, NDS researchers in Israel reportedly cracked the NagraStar card after about six months of effort, using an electron microscope.
NagraStar became aware its card was hacked in late 1998 when meeting with DirecTV to discuss the pay-TV company's desire to switch from the hacked NDS cards to NagraStar's cards. But DirecTV employees surprised NagraStar at the meeting when they informed NagraStar that its cards had also been hacked.
EchoStar/NagraStar claim that NDS, aware that DirecTV was about to abandon its cards in favor of NagraStar cards, cracked NagraStar's card to discourage DirecTV from making the switch.
After NDS cracked its rival's card, Tarnovsky and his associates allegedly created and sold counterfeit NagraStar cards through a piracy site based in Canada, among others, that allowed pirates to access Dish Network programs for free. Tarnovsky is also accused of later posting on the Canadian site the code, secret keys and instructions for hacking the microprocessor on EchoStar's access cards, allowing pirates to flood the market with even more cards. He has denied the allegations. Hazak and Norris are accused of providing Tarnovsky with the code so he could post it online, but NDS maintains this didn't happen.
According to court documents, the sabotage scheme worked remarkably well throughout 1998 and 1999 as counterfeit NagraStar cards flooded the market.
It was around this time, however, that a German hacker in Berlin known as Boris Floricic, aka Tron, disappeared while walking home from his parents' home one day. He was found several days later hanging from a belt in a park.
Among his possessions, authorities found correspondence from NDS. NDS later said it had offered Boris a job, which he had rejected. Prior to his death, Boris had obtained source code and information about hacking access cards that were being used in a German satellite TV system. His friends in the German hacker group, Chaos Computer Club, were convinced that he'd met with foul play.
Although his death was officially ruled a suicide, there were enough details around it to create suspicion. Floricic's feet were on the ground when he was found hanging, for example, and other evidence suggested that his body might have been placed in the park after he died.
During this time, NagraStar wasn't the only alleged victim of NDS hacking and piracy. In 2002, the French pay-TV service Canal Plus filed a damages suit against NDS, from which the EchoStar/NagraStar case emerged. In an affidavit from that case, Kommerling disclosed that NDS had cracked the Canal Plus cards using a method he had taught its engineers in Israel. Then, he revealed, the company instructed Tarnovsky to post the Canal Plus code on the internet.
The Canal Plus suit fizzled after its parent company, Vivendi Universal, struck a business deal with News Corporation that included a condition that Canal Plus would drop its suit against NDS. This is when EchoStar joined the litigation.
Before Canal Plus's case against NDS died, Tarnovsky indicated to the company that Reuven Hazak had given him the Canal Plus code to post it on the internet. He reportedly told the French firm he would testify in the case, but later backed out, citing fear for his life and his family.
In May 2002, two months after Canal Plus filed its suit, someone broke into the car of one of NDS' British employees and stole the hard drive from his laptop, making off with thousands of NDS documents and e-mails. EchoStar/NagraStar say the e-mails provide proof of NDS' hacking and piracy activities. NDS has suggested that the e-mails might be fabricated and has battled to keep them out of the court proceedings.
NDS has denied the lawsuit allegations. The company maintains that it was simply engaging in reverse-engineering, as any company would do to understand rivals and compete in the marketplace, but that it did not distribute cards or information about hacking NagraStar's encryption to pirates.
In an e-mail statement to Wired.com, the company took a dig at its competitor's competence and touted its superior skills.
"The hacking of EchoStar was the result of inferior technology arising from inadequate investment in research and development by [NagraStar]," said the statement. "NDS, on the other hand, invests heavily in research and development ... we reinvested over 30 percent of our revenues into R&D -- and the result is that we have zero piracy and the platforms of our customers are completely secure."
The trial is expected to last at least two more weeks.
NagraGuy faces possible jail sentence // 2008-04-18
Jeremy Corkery, known also as “NagraGuy”, was deemed in contempt of court after refusing to allow DISH Network/EchoStar and Bell ExpressVu to examine computers, hard drives, and electronic media he had in his possession. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that Corkery “deliberately interfered with the efforts of the companies to exercise their authority.”
Corkery was supposedly a well-known satellite piracy coder, and the primary officer at a company called Blue Screen Computer Services.
Sentencing is pending, and judging from the track record of other Canadians in similar situations, Corkery may be facing jail time.
Coolsat camp in disaaray // 2008-04-17
Coolsat owner Eric is in a tug a war with the coders (specially the older model 4000, 5000 and 6000 receivers), this is all about the new dongle they are trying to introduce so the receivers can be turned into IKS (Internet Key Sharing).
It looks like the coders have upper hand at this point, they are delaying / holding off the bin releases and have Eric as a hostage at this point, it looks like if Eric does not listen to them on the release of the dongle they will release the bins under different group and have most of the old receiver customers relying on them, once that is accomplished they will introduce the dongle and have all the sales in their pocket.
Let us see how this power struggle plays out.
Wednesday afternoon ECM here // 2008-04-16
The usual weekly ECM is here, reports are coming in that ViewSonic released the fix few hours after ECM, rest should follow soon.
Plastic and IKS type receiver were not affected with this ECM either.
Ariza / Incredible in trouble // 2008-04-12
It has been confirmed that Ariza / Incredible Electronics(Toronto) got visited by authorities, cube vans were being loaded with evidence and they were closed for business afterward.
It is most likely that they have been served with Anton Pillar order.
RCMP bust in NB // 2008-04-10
MONCTON, N.B. — Two New Brunswick residents are facing charges following the seizure of a large quantity of satellite TV piracy equipment.
RCMP Cpl. Marc Bridges said Wednesday the evidence seized from a home in St. Maurice suggests a commercial-level satellite piracy operation.
Police received information that led to a search Friday.
They seized computers, access cards, card programmers, software and modified satellite TV receivers.
Bridges said the equipment allows users to access satellite channels without paying for them.
Charges are expected to be laid related to the possession, modification and sale of devices used to steal satellite signals.
Thank you for the report my friend.... you know who you are.
ECM by both providers // 2008-04-09
Fixes are already out by SonicView and rest of the FTA guys will be releasing it soon.
Some of the plastic guys are reporting lost of few PPVs but majority of them went through this key change just fine, IKS FTAs did not get affected also.
History of FTA receivers // 2008-04-07
I came across this article at one of the FTA sites, well written and informative (this is not my article, all kudos go to the author).
"-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am no expert, but I AM an observer to what has transpired over the last couple of years.
Free To Air receivers have been around more than a decade, but weren't that popular until they started offering solutions to pay provider's encryptions. This didn't happen until DTV tightened up their security issues with the P4.
In the beginning it was the "open source" devices that were first to incorporate algorithms to defeat certain encrypted signals. PCI DVB cards and Dreambox lead the way in opening up these services to the masses. With the ending of the HU stream, and the much tighter P4 platform, Companies already manufacturing a legal device (FTA makers), boldly made a move to increase their product sales. That move was to follow the lead of "open source" devices and incorporate the necessary algorithm in a "firmware" update. Private sources hired coders and adapted new "firmware" to existing units to create the first STB's that boldly offered an alternative to hacking cards. Blackbird was born. Their early units required "private ware" support, and the units were very pricey, but DID work as proclaimed. It didn't take Korea long to see the market for an FTA receiver with 3rd party software updates, that circumvented security features of providers Conditional Access Modules (cards).
Fortec steps up;
The first company to offer a public "free" solution to open secured signals was Fortec. One of their key engineers was assigned the task of "coding" a fix that would make their unit much more appealing to purchase. The name for that engineer was coined from the task at hand. He had to figure a way to incorporate a code to decrypt the signal of pay providers. He had to do this in his off time, & off company premises. Armed with only a notebook and knowlege of what needed to be done, he would sit in bars ALL of his spare time and write in C++ to perfect the code. Hence his nickname Al7bar..(short for ALL 7 days working in a bar till completed) Needless to say he was successful, and Fortec started selling like hotcakes!
Enter Pansat;
Now another smart business man saw the success, and the sales impact of this code creation. His STB unit was being made in the same factory as the Fortec and was so similar in construction, that the newly patched firmware, would work on his units also.
Both Pansat & Fortec were being made in Korea by Globaltech. It was simple to have Pansat engineers look at what Fortec was doing and to start coming out with their own fixes as well. Sales exploded for both of these companies after DTV introduced the P4. It quickly became apparent there was a huge market that was hungry for more Free TV! A spokesman and promoter was brought in to make annoucements, add drama to the forums, and overall, push to increase sales. The guy they picked was loud, arrogant, and purposeful about his duties. He quickly found himself banned and BLACKLISTed from the original FTA site, Al7bar. Blacklist was born! Offering a well established product (Pansat) with the added decrypt capabilities, Pansat was an instant winner for the public. Now we had ourselves some competition between coders.
Introducing "market frenzy";
Sales were beyond optimistic, and at one point Pansat was selling 50,000+ units per month! The owner of Pansat was smiling BIG time, and became a multi-millionaire in a years time. Blackbird became obsessed with protecting their product & investment, and tried in vain to prevent "clones' of their product, by adding an encrypted protection chip to their units and were the first to do a "clone kill" and inadvertantly killed their own boxes. Pansat's spokesman became a bit disillusioned over the money he was to receive, and went looking for another company that had a good product but needed exposure, that he could help find their way in this fast moving market.
Enter Coolsat;
The owner of Coolsat had seen Fortec & Pansat take off and sell millions of $$$ worth of product, and also wanted to compete. Originally, all this fast paced sales game had caused a shortage of parts to build units with in Korea. Hyundai saw this and stepped up to provided more parts for ALL competing companies. Hubtech was producing units that were basically the same unit and marketting it under 4 names around the world. Coolsat was among these names and wanted a piece of the North American pie. With Hyundai support & assistance with firmware, Coolsat only needed a spokesman to get the product noticed.
Blacklist switches camps;
Blacklist was contacted by the owners of Coolsat, and in turn contacted me and excitedly told me about Hubtech and the great product being introduced as Coolsat.
It was immediately apparent their engineers were superior to anything we had previuosly seen, as they were first to implement a working Electronic Program Guide (EPG) to the market. Sales Exploded overnight for Coolsat as they offered the world a peak at advanced Hyundai coding that worked better than the rest. Unfortunately for the industry, the owner of Coolsat would prove out to be less than reputable in his dealings with those around him. Blacklist packed up and went back to Pansat and has helped improve their firmware again.
Coolsat battles "clones"
Not long after Bl left as spokesman for Coolsat, the popularity of their product became apparent as clones from China hit the N.A. market. With Hyundai engineers & support, Coolsat was the first company to successfully defend their intellectual rights (firmware they had developed) by introducing a timebomb that killed ONLY cloned units. This was no easy task, yet they pulled it off successfully. It was mismanagement of the company later on that resulted in loss of Hyundai support and financial problems for Coolsat. Continued mismanagement of the company has caused Coolsat's unfortunate position in the industry now.
Viewsat debut's a new design;
One of the original partners of Coolsat had been squeezed out of that company and decided to introduce his own box and a departure of the usual StMicro mainboard. The purpose of the Viewsat quickly became apparent. They had disected a top of the line Dishnetwork box, and had chosen the Conexant mainboard with a much faster processor and more RAM. I was skeptical at first of the change to Conexant based units, but was assured this design had merit. It's over a year later, and the design has proven itself well. The difference that seperates this unit from the others has been their purposeful commitment to the N.A. market and the leaps & bounds of improvements they've introduced. With over 500,000 units now in service, the company strives to bring the end user what they want. Features have been added that were a direct result of forum members input on what they wanted to see in a unit. With some 70 engineers at their disposal, they are here to stay.
Others follow;
While this post may be a bit long winded, there were alot of milestones that needed to be mentioned. I haven't covered all of these, just the ones I've witnessed or been privy to. As Dishnetwork began the switch to N2, and it wasn't immediately apparent that these companies would have a solution, I staunchly held & reported N2 would fall. South Korea is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. Much of their knowlege comes from the "shared technology" pool of information available there. While nobody could say for sure that N2 would fall, I firmly believed this country would find a way to beat the system. On Aug 31st. when Dishnet switched 160+ channels to N2, within 6 hrs. Korea responded by adapting a known European N2 hack from Spain into the firmware releases. Co0lsat, Viewsat, Pansat, all released N2 fixes that stunned everyone but me. Fortec had already packed it in and given up on the N.A. market due to the competition and their fear that N2 would prove to be secure. Today, some 11 mo. later, they decide to return..
The Saga continues;
Many new companies have cropped up. Many are still forming. Competition is fierce, and the FTA market has grown incredibly. I have NEVER doubted FTA would be the #1 sought after solution. I did however under estimate the total sales figures of all of the players combined. There are some 4 million FTA units currently in service (approx. 1/3 of a certain providers subs). This doesn't sit well with the 2 major providers in Canada & the U.S. We will surely continue to see them pull out all stops to defeat these companies that manufacture FTA units. I have always told you guys the truth to the best of my knowledge. I have predicted much of what has occurred, and I still firmly believe that with GREED as a motivation, these companies will continue to provide solutions for whatever they throw at us. My biggest fear is that the S.E.C.,& the F.C.C. will succumb to pressure being applied by these providers and institute some type of sanctioning body that will enforce trade agreements, and limit the importing of these devices. As it stands now, there appears to be no end in sight. Mpeg 4 is awhile off and presents the next hurdle for these companies. New units are in development & future units DO include mpeg4 & HD capabilities."
Thursday ECM // 2008-04-03
Reports are coming in on the usual Thursday ECM, it is being sent by both providers.
The only working hacks at this time are plastics (public and private), IKS type receivers (Nfusion etc...)
Fixes were out within hours of the ECM (an other lame attempt by the providers), Viewsat, SonicView, CaptiveWorks and Coolsat (newer models only by Coolsat) were the first few to release the fixes.
Coolsat not supporting their first generation rece // 2008-04-01
Lot of complains coming in from end users that Coolsat is not supporting their first generation receivers (Coolsat 4000, 5000 and 6000 models).
For any company to drop their earlier generation receivers so they can sell their newer models can be double edge sword, they might get few people upgrading to the newer models but majority of them will buy from other manufactures who have history of providing support for ALL of their receivers, newer and older.
Kudelski card hacker at Black Hat conference // 2008-03-31
Latest on the Big Gun......
Original source: http://www.letemps.ch/template/economie.asp?page=9&article=228747
Christopher Tarnovski's website: http://www.flylogic.net/blog/
Translation
PAID ACCESS SYSTEMS. A key witness in the court case opposing the Swiss group against the media giant News Corporation was passing by in Amsterdam, attending a conference on computer piracy. We met him.
François Pilet, Amsterdam
Saturday, March 29 2008
The audience is glued to the lips of Christopher Tarnovsky. In front of a podium of hackers and security specialists - with an average age of 25 - the self-taught electronics specialist revealed the techniques that allow him to break open chip cards that block access to pay TV chains in the whole world.
The scene takes place in the Mövenpick hotel in Amsterdam, where the European edition of the Black Hat conference was held Thursday and Friday last week. This is one of the prime professional meetings dedicated to computer piracy. Among the twenty or so speakers invited to this big get-together, Christoper Tarnovsky talked for more than one and a half hour in the "Lausanne" room - a sign of destiny (Tr. note: Lausanne is a Swiss city close to the headquarters of the Kudelski Group).
Employed by NDS
The 39 year old American is accused of having been recruited in 1999 by the Israeli company NDS, a competitor of Kudelski, to break the security codes of Canal+ (French Pay TV) and publish them on the Internet, and to have repeated the operation, to the detriment of the Swiss group and its clients. The publication of these codes allowed hundreds of thousands of savvy users to access encrypted TV channels without paying the subscription fees.
The American satellite TV company Echostar also uses Kudelski cards to protect their content. They confirmed having lost hundreds of millions of US dollars due to these pirate activities and demand one billion US$ of damages from NDS, a subsidiary of the media group News Corp.
This April, Christopher Tarnovsky will take the witness stand in a California court in defense of NDS, his employer for ten years following 1997. According to him, Kudelski and Echostar have wholly invented the conspiracy they claim having been victim of in order to mask the weakness of their encryption.
In his eyes, the case against NDS is nothing short of an extortion attempt. "Sure, I've broken the cards of Kudelski", he annoyedly states. "I was paid by NDS to do it. This is an activity that all companies in the trade do. But why would I have published these codes on the Net for free? I am not stupid, and I never had the intention of taking that risk."
Having become an awkward asset, Tarnowsky is no longer employed by the group since a year. He started his own company, Flylogic, through which he offers his know-how to electronics manufacturers, to test the resistance of new products to pirate attacks before they are launched.
Christoper Tarnovsky details the general weakness of systems based on certain chips designed by a handful of companies like Motorola and Infinenon (sic), systems used in products as divers as garage door remotes, car alarm systems and TV decoders.
"Unbreakable? That's wrong!"
"The manufacturers of semiconductors claim that their chips are unbreakable. The companies integrating them into their products trust the specifications they obtain. They believe that their secrets will be well kept. That is wrong, of course."
He showed pictures of his laboratory, set up with second-hand equipment worth a couple of thousand dollars. The centerpiece is a powerful Zeiss microscope to access the heart of the chip, where the precious codes are hidden. Successive layers of silicone are peeled away, using acids and lasers.
The engineer then explains how he takes over control of the card by short-circuiting one by one its protections with long microscopic needles. It takes a few minutes for the weakest of them, a few hours for better designed chips, but the content of the card gives in to these attempts 9 out of 10 times. For such an operation, Flylogic bills "about 30'000 dollars".
When questions were taken, a voice is heard from the end of the room. A Microsoft engineer is wondering: "Did you take an interest in the processor of our Xbox360 game console?" - "I was offered 100'000 dollars to break it", says Tarnovsky. "But I replied that that wasn't enough."
"They didn't invest enough"
The next question comes from an Estonian journalist. His country, forerunner of cyberdemocracy, has introduced a chip-containing identity card, which can be used for e-banking, as well as online voting. "It's a Motorola", sneers Tarnovsky. "An old model, badly protected."
What about the Kudelski cards? A short embarrased silence before his reservations disappear: "Sorry: The last two generations were broken. The next one will be, as well. They did not invest enough into research in the last ten years. Today, Kudelski is running out of money, look at their stocks. They hope to reestablish themselves with this lawsuit, but they will lose."
Little background on the above article "
Nagra lawsuit "
ECM by both providers // 2008-03-27
Reports are coming that there is new ECM in the stream by both providers, ethnics channels are down and rest of the channels should be down shortly.
As usual, this ECM did not effect plastic and IKS (internet Key Sharing receivers (NFusion etc...)
Reports are coming in that fixes were out within hours after this ECM, CaptiveWorks, SonicView and Viewsat released the fixes first, you can except the rest to release it also since it is already on the net.
Weekly ECM is here // 2008-03-04
Reports are coming in that both providers added their ECM in the stream this morning, that is causing majority of the devices go down or freeze.
Only few working devices are the same as before, Plastic (public and private) and IKS type devices (Nfusion etc..)
ROM10X is gone // 2008-03-02
The site has been off the net since yesterday and rumor is that it's owner Snag has been served with Anton Pillar order.
If above is true then it is a sad news for all those guys who followed that site, it was one of the biggest and the best site in it's field.
ECM by both providers // 2008-02-29
It looks like both of the providers sent out ECM at the same time, reports are coming in that most of the FTAs are down along with other modified devices.
Plastic and Nfusion (IKS type) is unaffected by this ECM.
I was told that Coolsat did not get affected by this ECM also? reports are also coming in of Viewsat receivers freezing and buzzing with the ECM?? any one wants to write me back and confirm it please?
Bell is ready for a card swap // 2008-02-26
ExpressVu implementing new anti-piracy measures Monday, 25 February 2008 For the second time in three years, Bell ExpressVu is introducing a new signal encryption system which the company hopes will thwart pirates from stealing its satellite television signals.
The implementation of the new encryption system by ExpressVu is a two step process similar to the company’s last encryption scheme change in July of 2005.
To defeat pirates from stealing their broadcasts, digital cable and satellite television providers, such as ExpressVu, encrypt the signals prior to transmission. Once the signals reach the subscribers homes, the encrypted signals can only be decrypted by an authorized digital set top box or satellite receiver.
Since the last encryption scheme update in 2005, the ExpressVu and Dish Network systems in the United States, have been seriously compromised by satellite pirates who are using inexpensive Free-to-Air (FTA) receivers to illegally watch ExpressVu and Dish programming.
Last year, the Carmel Group estimated that more than 2 million homes in North America were pirating Bell ExpressVu and Dish Network Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite television signals.
To combat the pirates, ExpressVu is introducing its new signal encryption system in a two step process. The first step is to issue new firmware updates to all Bell direct-to-home (DTH) satellite receivers. The firmware update is typically sent out by the company at night to selected receivers without any intervention by the subscriber.
Digital Home readers inform us that Bell has already begun upgrading the firmware in several satellite receivers including the ExpressVu 5100, 5800 and 5900 standard definition PVR's and 6100 HD receivers.
The second step in the update process is for subscribers to perform a card swap. In a national dealer bulletin issued earlier this month, the company informed dealers that all impacted clients will receive a letter in the mail with the new upgraded Conditional Access (CA) SmartCard and instructions on how to swap their cards.
Swapping the SmartCard on ExpressVu receivers is usually a simple process. On most ExpressVu receivers, the SmartCard is located at the front on the left hand side. The card fits into a small slot and, depending on the model, is either exposed or behind a protective panel.
The subscriber just removes the old card and slides in the new one. Some ExpressVu receivers may not have a SmartCard in the slot so the subscriber simply slides the new card in the free slot.
Once the new card is in place, customers can activate the new card online or via a toll free phone number. Bell says it will then take approximately 15 minutes to 2 hours for programming to return to normal.
Nagra ECM // 2008-02-25
Reports are coming in that both providers sent out ECM, knocking down majority of the FTAs, Atmegas and other test devices.
Public and private plastic and Nfusion (IKS FTAs) did not get effected with this round of ECM.
Thursday ECM // 2008-02-21
Both of the providers changed the keys today, reports are coming in that majority of the FTAs, Atmegas and other similar devices are down.
Nfusion and other IKS type FTAs are still up along with all the public and private plastic fixes.
Pansat owner left the country // 2008-02-19
Sources close to Pansat revealed that owner of the company has gone to Korea on one way ticket.
He left the day after the alleged Blacklist bust (no proof of bust so far), might be a paper served to Blacklist not an actual bust.
In any case there might be something that made him fled the country next day on one way ticket?
Half hearted ECM by Dish // 2008-02-18
The new key routine was done by dishnet today using old method, fixes for majority of the FTAs are posted all over the net within minutes of the ECM because it is just an old key morphing.
USB Atmega author is claiming that his new software routine is backward compatible so these kind of ECMs will not effect his latest project.
Rumor about Blacklist's bust // 2008-02-16
Several sites have been reporting this story since yesterday.
" It seems that several pre-dawn raids in LosAngeles county area have resulted in the arrest of Blacklist "the infamous Pansat coder" and his accomplice, Adam Lackman - aka Mr. Leaker."
On the other hand Blacklist's site is up and running as usual, distributing the files just as before.
I will report on the story once it is confirmed one way or the other for time being it is just a rumor.
It is not true...... just a BS spread by some one who hates him.
An other hint of the card swap // 2008-02-13
Kudelski Group to acquire EmbedICs, Inc.
* Strengthening delivery of state-of-the-art security solutions and reverse engineering defense
* EmbedICs firmware and designs already deployed in set-top boxes
Cheseaux, Switzerland – February 8th, 2008 – The Kudelski Group (SWX Swiss Exchange: KUD) today announces its agreement to acquire EmbedICs, Inc. EmbedICs, Inc. is a US-based embedded software, cryptography and fabless semiconductor design firm delivering state-of-the-art security solutions for the Digital TV market. EmbedICs has successfully developed customized security solutions for several Fortune 500 companies. Their customers have been extremely satisfied with the quality of their work and their responsiveness. Recent projects included the development of: system level requirements definition, secure ASICs and embedded firmware design, continuously available secure database services and critical personalization and manufacturing infrastructure to support a US-wide security initiative.
André Kudelski, Chairman & CEO of the Kudelski Group, says: “This acquisition will add value to our innovation capability, our security know-how and also allow market expansion, as well as increasing the know-how of our people. It strengthens the Kudelski Group’s ability to deliver state-of-the-art technology solutions to the digital pay TV market by increasing system security knowledge and diversification as well as reverse engineering defense to make our products even safer. As EmbedICs is strongly positioned in the US cable market, it will also allow us to expand our presence there.” He continued: “We welcome our colleagues from EmbedICs and will together deliver even more value to our customers.”
PolyCipher, a joint venture of Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications, is developing a next generation Downloadable Conditional Access System (DCAS) - a new security architecture that enables the download of renewable security clients to cable-ready devices, in order to safeguard video, audio and other content delivered over cable networks. EmbedICs, Inc helped to specify the system level requirements and messaging protocol and also developed security elements and production and operational support infrastructure that are critical to the deployment of DCAS.
The parties anticipate that the acquisition will close in the next 30 days.
Bell is getting read to do a card swap // 2008-02-12
It looks like Canadian Nagra is ready to do a card swap, here is the link on their site with all the information
" Card Swap "
I am sure Dishnetwork will be the next to do their card swap also.
FTA receiver questions // 2008-02-11
I have received fair amount of emails asking who has the best FTA support.
I really can not answer that question personally because my experience is based on my readers feedback, it use to be Dreambox, Coolsat, Viewsat and Sonicview in the past but with all the new feedback coming in tells me that Coolsat is really suffering with lack of support and rest of the guys are doing OK, it looks like Nfusion (with their IKS system), Dreambox, Sonicview, CaptiveWorks, Viewsat are taking care of their business, Pansat has picked up the slack and few of the new comers have been doing well also.
This is what I have gathered from all your feedback... thank you.
Dishnet key morphing // 2008-02-08
Reports are coming in that Dishnetwork has changed their key routine that is causing majority of the FTAs and Atmegas to go down.
Bell follow the dishnet suit..... reports are coming in that majority of the test devices are down on Dishnet and Bell at this time, the only few working solutions are Nfusion on IKS, private and public plastic.
Monday ECM / Florida bust // 2008-02-04
Reports are coming in on Dish ECM, majority of the FTAs are down along with USB Atmega and other devices, public and private plastic suppose to be working fine at this time.
Fixes came in pretty fast this time, USB Atmega and majority of the FTA were up within an hour after the ECM.
BEV ECM reports coming in // 2008-01-31
I have been receiving emails about Canadian Nagra ECM, I can not confirm it but with the amount of emails coming in it sure looks like there might be something.
Wednesday afternoon ECM here // 2008-01-23
Reports are coming in that there is an other key change in the stream by Dishnet, ethnic channels are down,expect PPV and premium channels to go out shortly.
This cat and mouse game will keep going till the hackers figure out the key routine but then Dishnet will figure out something else to carry on the game.
Apparently the only few working solutions are plastic (ROM 102, 103 public and private) and Nfusion using IKS (any other FTA receiver with IKS should be up also), this is what I gathered by cruising on different forums (card-coders is a very interesting forum to read information).
The usual Thursday ECM // 2008-01-17
It is Thursday today and reports are coming in on the usual Thursday ECM......
This is getting quite boring but oh well yawn.
Thursday night ECM here // 2008-01-10
The usual Thursday night ECM is here, majority of the channels on both providers are down.
An other Canadian pirate jailed // 2008-01-02
Another alleged satellite TV pirate busted north of the border has landed in jail.
EchoStar, along with security partner NagraStar and Bell ExpressVu, participated in a case last year that amounted to another victory against satellite piracy and the imprisonment of a reported offender. The satellite TV company said Steven Rodgers was sentenced to four months in prison after being found in contempt of an Anton Piller Order granted in Toronto by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
The sentence marked the fourth time an alleged satellite TV pirate has been jailed for contempt of an Anton Piller Order, the equivalent of a civil search and seizure warrant in the United States. EchoStar said the order was granted against Rodgers after a joint investigation conducted by the company and partners NagraStar and Bell ExpressVu.
EchoStar alleged that Rodgers operated companies and Web sites tied to satellite TV piracy.
Rodgers has continued to deny involvement in the businesses and Web sites. But a Canadian justice said those claims were "not credible at all" and "everything Mr. Rodgers has done since the Anton Piller Order was served has been designed to thwart it, disobey it and thumb his nose at the legal system."
Happy New Year ECM // 2007-12-27
It looks like Nagra is sending a Happy New Year message to all the hackers, most of the FTAs (Except Nfusion on Internet Key Sharing aka IKS) and other devices lost all BEV channels today.
Dishnetwork ethnics, PPV and most premium channels are gone.
Here is what Fab5 had to say about this
Quote:
Battle of the Bulge?
Well, this is it folks. I am calling it the Battle of the Bulge. This is the final desperate push by Nagra to defeat all hardware emulators. The stakes could not be higher: if they win, no single stand-alone hardware emulator is coming back. If they lose, they have nothing else to throw at us, at least nothing harder than this.
Their tactic is the (expected) timer hash of XXXXxXX. XXXXxXX, as most coders know is a convoluted implementation of elliptic curve multiplication (ECC). Timing a standard ECC function is hard enough, but timing a proprietary one is much, much harder - if not impossible.
My plan is to counter this attack with my favourite weapon of choice: statistics.It worked well for us last time, lets hope it works out this time too.
For those who are culturally deprived, the Battle of the Bulge was the last desperate offensive by the Germans, prepared with skill and secrecy, to capture the key strategic city of Bastogne around Christmas of 1944. Greatly outnumbered and outflanked, the allies held the city and the men who survived came to be known as the "Battered Bastards of Bastogne".
Lets see what the battered, bastard coders can do this time around...wish me luck!
Temporary patches released by FTA coders // 2007-12-22
I went through different chat forums and noticed that Viewsat, Coolsat, SonicView, CaptiveWork, Pansat and few other's released the patches for few of the models, these are all "TEMPORARY" patches not the actual fix for their problems.
I did come across an excellent article by Dr.Stealth which explains everything about the ECM toward the FTA receivers.
"All the latest ECM and PID keys 0106/0907 explained.. by DStealth
ECM Info
With every ECM there is always a fair bit of misinformation about regarding the “new” encryption techniques used, and how it may portend the death of FTA.
With the present difficulties, for instance, the following items of interest have been repeated around the net on various sites:
* This ECM is specifically targeted at FTA
* Multiple MAP call are being used
* A dynamic code is being used
* There is a new timer function
This ECM is specifically targeted at FTA
This is likely true! Card based hacks like plastic, card-sharing, and IKS (Internet Key Sharing, another form of card sharing) access video encryption differently than the emu in FTA firmware. Card solutions simply send encrypted VPID (video packets) to the descrambler chip where the included CW (control word) packets are sent right away to the CAM (conditional access module/card), the answer is sent back and then applied to the video packet. The actual CAM values, apart from definitions and order of the CW gathering commands (i.e., MAP calls) need not be known, as it is all done automatically when requests are sent to the card. FTA firmware on the other hand must know the precise CAM locations and thus order and routine of MAP calls, and this has to be patched into each bin; when this changes a new bin is required where relevant portions of the CAM are emulated.
Multiple MAP calls are being used
This is true, however this is nothing new either. Providers routinely use at least 4 or 5 MAP calls at any given time. MAP calls are intense arithmetic equations that request CWs from the CAM to be sent back to the descrambler. We now have 4e and 4d; there are others in play, but apparently these particular ones are the difficulties (i.e., CAM location unknown).
A dynamic code is being used
“Dynamic” implies changing according to some input. It sounds scary, like a mutating virus, lol. In actuality, “dynamic” is little different that “random” at the level of intense mathematics as the functions and outputs are extremely difficult or impossible to be predicted. By definition, control words are random numbers.
There is a new timer function
Each channel uses different CWs, and this is how now for instance some locals may be viewable and other pay channels remain scrambled. CWs change every few minutes, and this in itself is as secure as practically can be: even an NSA super-cryto computer could not solve an 8-byte algorithm in 2 minutes, lol. CWs have always changed this fast, and all TV providers, even cable, use the same system.
So what is going on?
Nothing radically new, likely. Coders are not crytologists, and even if they were, it would be senseless to attempt decryption on something that changes as quickly as CWs, as mentioned above. And neither can card data be read with any apparent ease (remember all the baloney a year ago about peeling the cards and reading with an electron microscope, hahahahaha, if you believed that one, well, I have some bog land you may be interested in….). Some CAM locations are known, some are not. ALL of the MAP calls CW answers are currently in the cards and are not changeable, this requires a card swap. What can be changed are the specific MAP calls and their order. These can be read and defined, and even used for card hacking (why IKS is up and running), but FTA is a different story, as mentioned.
Coders must be given specific CAM locations which can be patched into or emulated for FTA binary files. Saying a bin has the “full emu” is ridiculous, as it can’t by sheer size limitations, as it would have to run in non-decompressed format. What is needed is a MAP map, as it were, lol. Or at least someone to give directions, like a navigator.
Most of this information is purchased rather than hacked, at least initially. When a group says they have the “full emu”, what should be understood is that they have access to the information, and it may be purchased as a service over a period of time. This is rather like calling up customer service plan: you call to say your widget isn’t working, and being told to press buttons 1, 2, 3, then A, B, C in that order, you do, it works, but you have no idea why. It seems Viewsat had an arrangement like this after MAP57, they bought a 1 year plan, lol. Others can purchase information on a one-off basis. Or once a bin is released, the bin can be dumped and reverse engineered for patching to different boxes, but this takes a little extra time.
DN PID 0106 keys... and Bev PID 0907
DN has introduced a new secondary key code and provider PID 0106...the usual main PID (Provider ID) is 0101...normally we change the keys and autoroll to keys 0101, which we must ALWAYS still keep updated and current...but with this new PID (introduced originally 22 October) we cannot change these keys, and the autoroll doesn't input them, so a NEW bin is required whenever DN changes the keys in PID 0106...The new PID can be used on any specific channels that DN want to , so in many cases DN will input them on the PPV's, adult channels,and international channels..so that why U can get the regular channels with the older bins, but need a new bin for the channels that DN uses the new PID 0106 keys now...
The same thing applies to Bev PID 0907 secondary keys..****usually main active Bev keys are 0901, NOT 0907...but Bev can use either or both sets of keys 0901 or 0907....
just like DN can with main active keys 0101 and secondary new 0106 keys now..ON ANY CHANNELS THEY CHOOSE, WHENEVER THEY CHOOSE..OR ALL CHANNELS, IF THEY WISH..
AT THIS POINT IN TIME, U CAN NOT MANUALLY INPUT THESE SECONDARY DN 0106 AND BEV 0907 KEYS MANUALLY INTO FTA RECEIVERS..AND REQUIRE NEW FIXES...BUT SHOULD GET SOME CHANNELS UNLESS THE SECONDARY KEYS ARE APPLIED TO ALL CHANNELS..."
FTAs are completely blacked out // 2007-12-20
Bell took FTAs down last week (or week before), Dishnet followed their lead and took out all FTAs from most of the channels today, it will be interesting read on all the underground forums for next few days.
I do not imagine that FTA coders/manufactures will let this golden goose die but for time being goose is getting shot at and it is injured.
What I have been informed is that USBAtmega256, plastic and Nfusion using IKS (Internet Key Sharing)are the only few working Nagra hacks left in North America.
Dish & BEV did a number on FTA crew // 2007-12-18
It looks like Dish and BEV have a good choke hold on all of the FTA hackers, there is a talk on various chat forums by BL that they are very close to have the solution but for the time being there is no solution for any stand alone FTAs.
I did read threads on few very reliable forums on working hacks, the only few working solutions are USBAtmega256, plastic and Nfusion using IKS (Internet Key Sharing).
Viewsat bell fix, Dishnet hit later on the day // 2007-12-14
Cat and mouse game goes on, Viewsat coders released a fix to run BEV on their boxes, rest of the FTA guys should be around the corner also.
Dishnet hit the illegally flashed receivers later on in the day by knocking down PPVs and International channels...... as I said the cat and mouse game.
BEV ECM in the stream again // 2007-12-09
Reports are coming in that BEV is attacking the illegally flashed FTA boxes again, it is one heck of a job they have been doing this month....
Cat and mouse game:)
Freetech is sued by Echostar // 2007-12-08
Freetech (parent company of Coolsat) is getting sued by Echostar (parent company of Dishnetwork), I will post more on it as soon as I receiver more information.
BEV and Dish ECM in the stream // 2007-12-04
Reports are coming in that BEV sent out the new round of ECM, it is causing problem for illegally flashed receivers and other modified tools, Dish followed their lead later on the day.
Very interesting read // 2007-12-02
This is a copy and paste from an other site.
"With every ECM there is always a fair bit of misinformation about regarding the “new” encryption techniques used, and how it may portend the death of FTA.
With the present difficulties, for instance, the following items of interest have been repeated around the net on various sites:
* This ECM is specifically targeted at FTA
* Multiple MAP call are being used
* A dynamic code is being used
* There is a new timer function
This ECM is specifically targeted at FTA
This is likely true! Card based hacks like plastic, card-sharing, and IKS (Internet Key Sharing, another form of card sharing) access video encryption differently than the emu in FTA firmware. Card solutions simply send encrypted VPID (video packets) to the descrambler chip where the included CW (control word) packets are sent right away to the CAM (conditional access module/card), the answer is sent back and then applied to the video packet. The actual CAM values, apart from definitions and order of the CW gathering commands (i.e., MAP calls) need not be known, as it is all done automatically when requests are sent to the card. FTA firmware on the other hand must know the precise CAM locations and thus order and routine of MAP calls, and this has to be patched into each bin; when this changes a new bin is required where relevant portions of the CAM are emulated.
Multiple MAP calls are being used
This is true, however this is nothing new either. Providers routinely use at least 4 or 5 MAP calls at any given time. MAP calls are intense arithmetic equations that request CWs from the CAM to be sent back to the descrambler. We now have 4e and 4d; there are others in play, but apparently these particular ones are the difficulties (i.e., CAM location unknown).
A dynamic code is being used
“Dynamic” implies changing according to some input. It sounds scary, like a mutating virus, lol. In actuality, “dynamic” is little different that “random” at the level of intense mathematics as the functions and outputs are extremely difficult or impossible to be predicted. By definition, control words are random numbers.
There is a new timer function
Each channel uses different CWs, and this is how now for instance some locals may be viewable and other pay channels remain scrambled. CWs change every few minutes, and this in itself is as secure as practically can be: even an NSA super-cryto computer could not solve an 8-byte algorithm in 2 minutes, lol. CWs have always changed this fast, and all TV providers, even cable, use the same system.
So what is going on?
Nothing radically new, likely. Coders are not crytologists, and even if they were, it would be senseless to attempt decryption on something that changes as quickly as CWs, as mentioned above. And neither can card data be read with any apparent ease (remember all the baloney a year ago about peeling the cards and reading with an electron microscope, hahahahaha, if you believed that one, well, I have some swamp land you may be interested in….). Some CAM locations are known, some are not. ALL of the MAP calls CW answers are currently in the cards and are not changeable, this requires a card swap. What can be changed are the specific MAP calls and their order. These can be read and defined, and even used for card hacking (why IKS is up and running), but FTA is a different story, as mentioned.
Coders must be given specific CAM locations which can be patched into or emulated for FTA binary files. Saying a bin has the “full emu” is ridiculous, as it can’t by sheer size limitations, as it would have to run in non-decompressed format. What is needed is a MAP map, as it were, lol. Or at least someone to give directions, like a navigator.
Most of this information is purchased rather than hacked, at least initially. When a group says they have the “full emu”, what should be understood is that they have access to the information, and it may be purchased as a service over a period of time. This is rather like calling up customer service plan: you call to say your widget isn’t working, and being told to press buttons 1, 2, 3, then A, B, C in that order, you do, it works, but you have no idea why. It seems Viewsat had an arrangement like this after MAP57, they bought a 1 year plan, lol. Others can purchase information on a one-off basis. Or once a bin is released, the bin can be dumped and reverse engineered for patching to different boxes, but this takes a little extra time.
A fix will be forthcoming, the question is: who will cough up the dough first."
Following receivers Spacestar, Sonysat, Dreambox, Dgstation and Dragon are running as of today all open.
Following the Linux based receiver fixes (above systems are all Linux based), SonicView just released the fix for their system, rest of the FTA fixes are out or getting ready to be released.
Dishnet and BELL ECM aftermath // 2007-12-01
Nov 28th ECM which was directed at illegally flashed FTAs (Free To Air receivers)took it toll and knocked down all of the FTA receivers (PPV, Ethnics and Porno channels gone because of new mapcall for the new keys).
Cruising through different forums what I have gathered so far is that the only few working hacks left are Plastics (providers original card with modified codes), Atmega USB (dont know much about it) and Nfusion IKS (Internet Key Share).
I will not be surprised if they turn their attentions to kill the plastic next and then clean it off by going after rest of the field.
I hope I am wrong.
Dishnet key morphing again // 2007-11-28
Dishnet sent out an ECM today, this ECM was geared to knock out FTA receivers with illegal flashes.
Reports are coming in that It is causing Ethnics channels and PPVs to go out.
This is a quote from one of the FTA pirate site, so take it for what it is worth to you.
"Well it's that time of year when the providers like to play. This round has brought on new mapcalls 4e and 4d along with the use of dynamic code to retrieve the control words which allow us video. The catch this time is a new Timer function. This is surly a test to see how much the FTA coders know. It will test to see if they know how long a mapcall takes to process. This Hit was definitely geared towards FTA. Be patient and let the coders do their work. The days when it was as simple as manually entering keys is almost behind us as this new dynamic code looks to be here for good with new bins required each time. It’s in the hands of the coders now and the next few days will be very interesting to see which coders will come through."
Dishnetwork key morphing // 2007-11-21
Reports are coming in that dishnet is morphing the keys that is causing ethnics and PPV to go blank, rest assure this will spread through rest of the channels soon.
Nfusion already got the fix out for the new key morphing, expect rest of the FTA fixes to come out soon.
TiVo use still illegal in Canada // 2007-11-19
From the star.com
Michael Powell, the former chair of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, received his first TiVo, a popular personal video recorder (PVR), as a Christmas gift in 2002. Within days, Powell gushed that the TiVo was "God's machine," predicting that it would have a transformative effect on how consumers watch television by allowing them to easily record programs, pause shows in real time and quickly skip through unwanted commercials.
Years later, TiVo claims that its service is available in Canada, yet few retailers carry the product. In fact, notwithstanding the growing popularity of PVRs and the ubiquity of VCRs – the CRTC estimates that 700,000 Canadian households own a PVR and Statistics Canada reports that more than 10 million households have video cassette recorders (VCR) – the absence of the TiVo is not the only difference between U.S. and Canadian markets.
In the U.S., using TiVos and VCRs is clearly legal. In Canada, it is not.
While it may come as news to many Canadians that they infringe copyright on a daily basis, those involved in the industry are well aware of this state of the law. The law includes a series of copying exceptions that cover research, private study, and criticism, however there is nothing that clearly permits home recording of television programs.
Indeed, the delayed introduction of the TiVo – and the Slingbox, another popular product that allows consumers to transfer their television programs over the Internet to their computer and which only entered the Canadian market last year – may stem in part from fears about the legal climate.
Ottawa has regularly introduced legislation demanded by lobby groups (new laws against camcording in movie theatres and Internet rebroadcasting have been passed over the past five years), yet nothing has been done to address the legality of commonplace, non-commercial activities that affect millions of Canadians. This stands in stark contrast to many of our leading trading partners (see "Falling" below left).
The forthcoming copyright bill provides the ideal opportunity to remedy decades of inaction. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government should introduce a new personal network exception into the Copyright Act that would feature three main components.
First, a "time shifting" provision to grant Canadians the right to record television programming for personal, non-commercial purposes. The exception would legalize what is already a common activity for millions of Canadians and might fuel new products and services from Canada's telecommunications and consumer electronics companies.
Second, a "format shifting" provision that would legalize the transfer of content from one format to another. For example, it would expressly permit transferring music on a store-bought CD to an iPod or the transfer of video from a cable box to a personal computer.
Third, a modernized backup copy provision that would address today's consumer realities. The law already permits the making of a single backup copy of a computer program, rightly recognizing that software programs are intangible products that are susceptible to loss.
Today, digital data includes CDs, DVDs and video games, which all suffer from the same frailties as software programs, namely the ease with which hard drives become corrupted or CDs and DVDs scratched and non-functional. Modernizing the law should include bringing this provision into the 21st century by expanding the right to make a backup copy to all digital consumer products.
Addressing these issues in the forthcoming copyright bill would be more than just good policy. It would also be good politics, since voters will have little patience for special interest legislation that is geared toward placating U.S. lobby groups rather than considering their needs.
With a bill expected before the year is out, Canadians will soon learn whether Industry Minister Jim Prentice and Canadian Heritage Minister Josée Verner plan to provide an early holiday gift to lobby groups or allow them to use their holiday gifts without fear of breaking the law.
Dish ECM // 2007-11-08
Dishnet sent out an ECM today, this ECM was geared to knock out FTA receivers with illegal flashes.
Coolsat and Nfusion were the first few to come out with the fix, rest of the FTA guys should be releasing their fixes soon, I assume.
Key morphing again // 2007-10-31
Reports are coming in that Dishnet started a new key morphing routine on their system which is causing majority of the illegally flashed FTA receivers to not work with their new routine.
This happened after the fixes came in with their Oct 24th key morphing routine.
Dishnet with new key morphing // 2007-10-24
Reports are coming in that Dishnet started a new key morphing routine on their system which is causing majority of the illegally flashed FTA receivers to not work with their new routine.
The following prepared remarks at the Chamber of Commerce Anti-Counterfeiting and Piracy Summit of Acting Deputy Attorney General Craig Morford were released today by the Department of Justice.
Last December we closed the book on a man who had conspired to sell access cards that could decrypt DirecTV satellite television programming, and devices that would allow more of these cards to be manufactured.
Each of these devices was capable of modifying innumerable DirecTV access cards, leading to the potential for enormous losses for the victim company.
This was theft not only of the services of the provider, but also the intellectual property of the original producers of movies, sporting events,
and other programs. And it was theft of income from the many small business owners who distribute and install satellite television equipment. For his part in the conspiracy, the defendant was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $800,000 in restitution to the victim, DirecTV.
Now, I chose these two examples for a reason.
The first case I wanted to mention because it demonstrates the importance not just of going after the kingpin running a large international conspiracy, but the retail-level crook - the person most of us have seen, hawking counterfeit goods in plain sight. This crook is dangerous not so much because of the scale of his crime, but because he threatens to redefine as normal what is and should be seen as illegal and wrong.
Not long ago, I took my family to New York, where we saw people selling copies of DVDs on the street. My kids wanted to buy them. I was trying to tell them we could not and explain why. They weren't getting it, because these people were selling them openly on Broadway in broad daylight.
The street mope is a threat because he creates the demand filled by the bigger fish producers and when the public sees these crimes openly tolerated, they lose respect for the copyright protections upon which billions of dollars in our economy rest. The street mope is more than a
mope, he is a crucial point on a very slippery slope.
The second example I chose emphasizes how seemingly simple thefts have the potential to produce large financial losses to multiple unseen victims.
These are not the biggest cases involving the largest perpetrators of cyber crime, but they are important because they enable us to educate the
public and deter others. Whether it's someone with access to a source code on a valuable program, or just someone who's considering a spam that offers him a way to steal cable, we're using increasing numbers of prosecutions to create a downside, deterrent effect.
Indeed, in 2006 we convicted 57 percent more defendants for criminal copyright and trademark offenses than in 2005. Of those convictions, the
number of defendants receiving prison terms of more than two years increased even more dramatically - up 130 percent.
Increased enforcement and stiffer sentences sends the important message to IP thieves that we take their crimes seriously, and we will punish them for their actions.
Just this past June, the Department charged 29 defendants with conspiracy to smuggle more than $700 million worth of counterfeit handbags,
watches, sneakers and clothing into the United States.
That operation is obviously a much larger scale than one man selling bootleg movies out of his trunk, but the principles remain the same. These crimes are not victimless, and we will prosecute them with the full force of the law.
Dish ECM (not true) // 2007-10-09
As predicted Dishnet started their ECM today following the Canadian counterpart lead, majority of the FTA programmers figured out Canadian ECM few days ago, I suspect this should be easy for them also.
I received report that happened to be not true Sorry.
Nagra Canada ECM // 2007-10-03
Reports are coming in that majority of the FTA receivers lost the PPV and few other channels on Canadian side, apparently the only working receiver at this time is Nfusion.
I am sure Dishnet will do the same on American side soon.
Captive Work guys came up with the fix, you will see the fixes out soon.
Coolsat6100 replaces Coolsat6000 // 2007-10-01
Majority of the FTA manufactures are adding USB flash option in their new models, Coolsat decided to replace their most popular model Coolsat6000 with the Coolsat6100.
The new model incorporate USB flash upgrade along with all the other bells and whistle, looking at the picture quality (Coolsat is known for their legendary picture quality), audio options, blazing speed, fast scan, powerful 32 SD Ram engine and 2 years warranty this model should set the standard for all the mid priced receivers.
Here are the stats for the receiver.
USB 2.0 Host Support(MP3 Player & JPEG Viewer)
MPEG-II Digital & Fully DVB Compliant
Blind Scan
Multi-LNB Controlled by DiSEqC Control Version 1.0, 1.2 and USALS
Multi-Satellite Search
On Screen Display with 65535 Color Full Resolution
Favorite Channel Groups
Powerful Channel Control by Favorites, Lock, Skip, Move and Delete
Channel Sorting by Alphabet, Transponder and CAS
Multi-language Supported (OSD & Menu)
Closed Caption Support
Maximum 10,000 channels Programmable
Multi-picture Display
Parental Lock / Receiver Lock
CVBS Video & Audio Output via RCA
Component Y/Pb/Pr Output via RCA
S-VHS Video Output
Optical & Coaxial Output for Digital Audio
Software & Channel Data Upgrade via USB and/or RS-232
Universal Remote Control
NFL ticket fix released? // 2007-09-30
Rumor on the street is that Nfusion guys have released the fix for NFL ticket on Nagra, if that is the case you will see this being released on all the hacked FTA receivers soon.
Echostar to acquire Sling Media // 2007-09-25
EchoStar Communications said late Monday that it struck a deal to acquire Sling Media for cash and stock options worth $380 million combined.
The agreement gives EchoStar control of a new media firm that has built a business in selling Slingbox set-tops, which allow cable and satellite subscribers to remotely access programming from their homes via high-speed Internet connections.
“With today’s increasingly mobile lifestyle, EchoStar’s acquisition of Sling Media will allow us to offer innovative and convenient ways for our customers to enjoy their programming on more displays and locations, including TVs, computers and mobile phones, both inside and outside of the home,” EchoStar CEO Charlie Ergen said in the announcement. “This combination paves the way for the development of a host of new innovative products and services for our subscribers, new digital media consumers and strategic partners.”
EchoStar was already an investor in Sling Media, joining a $46.6 million round of financing in January 2006 which also included Goldman, Sachs & Co., Liberty Media, Allen & Co., Doll Capital Management, Mobius Venture Capital and The Hearst Corp.
With EchoStar and rivals such as DirecTV, Comcast and Time Warner Cable offering consumers similar programming packages, the Sling Media acquisition could help Dish Network differentiate its product from its competitors.
Sling Media sells Slingbox models at prices ranging from $120 to $250. The Slingbox and SlingPlayer software are available in 5,000 retail stores in 11 countries, according to the company.
EchoStar and Sling Media said they expect the deal to close during the fourth quarter.
Antipiracy Group Suffers Email Leak // 2007-09-24
For several years, MediaDefender has made a name for itself waging war against intellectual-property pirates on behalf of the movie and music industries. Now, hackers have gone after MediaDefender itself, posting what they say are employee emails on the Internet purporting to expose embarrassing secrets about the entertainment industry's efforts to battle piracy.
Santa Monica, Calif.-based MediaDefender, a unit of ArtistDirect Inc., hires itself out to clients such as movie studios and record labels to help impede file-sharing piracy of their content. Among the services it offers are "decoying" and "spoofing" -- flooding the Internet with fake files that mimic real content to make it difficult for pirates to find the real thing. It also offers "leak alerts" that tell the studios and labels which of their products are circulating among Internet pirates.
PMK get extradite from UK // 2007-09-20
DIRECTV pirates extradited from the UK to Florida to stand trail for involvement in DIRECTV piracy between June 1997 and May 2002.
Investigations of other conspirators continue.
On September 11, 2007, Paul MAXWELL-KING was sentenced for violations of Title 18 United States Code, Section 371, conspiring to commit Title 47 United States Code, Section 605(e)(4) import/export/distribute devices intended primarily to be used in the unauthorized decryption of commercial direct to home satellite television services. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Agent in Charge,Tampa, Florida, along with Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSA)Cherie Krigsman and Terry Zitek prosecuted the case in the MiddleDistrict of Florida.
This case involved a criminal organization dating from approximately June 1997 to May 2002, during which defendants conspired to illegally assemble, modify, export, import, sell, and distribute devices that enabled individuals to illegally obtain commercial direct to home satellite television signals.
The conspiracy also involved mail and wire fraud, as well as fraudulently importing merchandise into theUnited States by means of false pretenses. The following three businesses were involved in this fraud: MAXKING INTERFACES, an international and interstate corporation based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England; BLUE SKY TECHNOLOGIES, located in Tampa Florida; and PEDETOWN USA, located in Jacksonville, Florida. As a result of the conspiracy, the satellite television industry lost millions of dollars.
Paul MAXWELL-KING owned and operated MAXKING INTERFACES, and was the inventor and engineer of the MK-13 and Minimax smart card programmers,which with software, provided for the unauthorized decryption of direct to home satellite television signals. He established distributor relationships with BLUE SKY TECHNOLOGIES and PEDETOWN USA, and imported the MK-13 and Minimax devices into the United States. Paul MAXWELL-KING was the leader of the organization, and very popular in the United
States through his website, and the MK-13 and Minimax programmers.
PaulMAXWELL-KING was probably the largest and most popular distributor of the illegal satellite signal intercepting devices in the United States.
His creation of the MK-13 and Minimax programmer technology caused millions in damage to the satellite television industry. Smaller distributors in the United States began using the MK-13 and Minimax as a model to create new and improved devices based on the design and technology of the MK-13 and Minimax.
ICE SAC/Tampa and the AUSA Cherie Krigsman extradited Paul MAXWELL-KING from Doncaster, England to the United States on January 18, 2006, and extradited Steve EDMONDSON, an employee of Paul MAXWELL-KING, December18, 2006.
Estimated damages by the Paul MAXWELL-KING organization was estimated at $4,324,320.
Paul MAXWELL-KING plead guilty and was sentenced to time served, 3 years probation, a $15,000 fee, 350 hours community service,and ordered to pay restitution of $4,324,320. Steven EDMONDSON, and
employee of Paul MAXWELL-KING in Doncaster, England, plead guilty to the same charges, and was sentenced to time served and to share the restitution of $4,324,320.
Robert MCLAREN, owner of BLUE SKY TECHNOLOGIES in Tampa FL, plead guilty to the same charges, and was sentenced to share the restitution of $4,324,320, along with one of his employees who also plead guilty, Susan PARKER-TRUDGIAN. John Dumas,owner of PEDETOWN USA, plead guilty and was sentenced to share the restitution of $4,324,320.
Panrarex Inc. (Pansat) being sued // 2007-09-18
This lawsuit happened on Sept 11 2007 and details are coming in..... First going after Viewsat, Echostar decided to sue Panarex which is parent company of the FTA receiver Pansat.
Here is the information on the case.
Echostar Satellite L.L.C. et al v. Panarex, Inc. et al
Plaintiffs: Echostar Satellite L.L.C., Echostar Technologies Corporation and Nagrastar L.L.C.
Defendants: Panarex, Inc. and Does
Case Number: 2:2007cv05897
Filed: September 11, 2007
Court: California Central District Court
Office: Western Division - Los Angeles Office [ Court Info ]
County: XX US, Outside California
Presiding Judge: George P. Schiavelli
Referring Judge: Paul L. Abrams
Nature of Suit: Other Statutes - Cable/Satellite TV
Cause: 28:1331 Fed. Question
Jurisdiction: Federal Question
Jury Demanded By: Plaintiff
Vernon B.C man getting sued // 2007-09-17
Susan Lazaruk
The Province
Coolsat8100 High Definition Free To Air // 2007-09-15
I had a chance to try Coolsat 8100 few days ago, this receiver is capable of doing High Definition and it has an option to hook up external harddrive via USB port to use as a PVR.
We hooked this bad boy to motorized 36" dish using Invacom quad polar lnb(if you want to watch true free to air channel in North America you do need a minimum 30" antenna and a linear lnb).
There are few high def channels on the free satellite and this receiver had no problem what so ever to pick those channels, picture was amazingly crisp (even sharper than a subscribed high def receiver), Coolsat has a reputation of making the receiver with the best picture quality (the secret is in using one of the well known brand tuner), this receiver has surpassed any of the receiver they have made in the past.
This is one of the first High Def receiver with PVR option included in it (Viewsat just released their's few weeks ago but pending lawsuit on Viewsat might put a dent in their new release).
Here are specifications for the receiver.
* MPEG 2 & MPEG 4 Support High Definition (ATSC Only)
* Digital Terrestrial(ATSC) & Satellite Set-Top-Box(TS combo)
* Multiple Video Outputs HDMI, RGB, Ypbr, S-Video & CVBS
* Seletable output for 1080i, 720P, 576P and 576i format
* Tunes & Decodes all 18 ATSC broadcast formats
Max 500 GB external USB 2.0 Host Hard Disk Drive (Fat32 format)
* Premium Grade VFD displaying 12 character(CH #, * CH name & Local Time), Recording mode(Record & Play mode)
* Status Icons(TV/Radio, Dolby Sound and Left HDD capacity)
* Play back a recorded file at PC
* Dolby Digital(AC3) 5.1 Channel Surround Sound via optical
* Aspect ratio adjustment 4:3 (16/9 crop), 4:3 (16/9 letterbox), 16:9 (4/3 pillar box)
* User friendly OSD and operation.
* Favorite channel selections.
* S/W upgrade through USB 2.0 port and RS-232
* Parental Guide and rating control.
* Picture in Picture support (Aux input/optional)
* Electronic Program Guide
* DiSEqC 1.0 & or DiSEqC 1.2
* Flash memory 4MB
* DDR RAM 128MB (DDR400 16MX16) X 4ea
* Universal Remote Control
Satellite piracy illegal but NOT $100,000 crime // 2007-09-13
The decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said section 605(e)(4) of the act cannot be charged against individuals who have altered or purchased reformatted smart cards to acquire DirecTV for free. That statute, the court ruled, was meant to financially injure companies that produce and sell such pirating technology and was not directed at end users as DirecTV alleged
"Congress intended to treat differently individuals who played different roles in the pirating system," a three-judge appellate court panel wrote in its 2-1 decision.
The decision, if it stands, could have widespread implications, as DirectTV regularly sues hackers.
Jason Schultz, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation that filed a friend of a court brief in the case, applauded the court's decision. "The court said the assembling and manufacturing prohibition is meant for commercial entities or other upstream providers, not for individuals who simply plug a card into a box to get TV," he said.
"You can't have this huge $100,000 hammer for individuals that was meant for businesses, and people making profits," Schultz added. "What DirecTV was arguing was that anybody who tweaks their access card is liable for up to $100,000."
Still, the court said the two convicted hackers in the case are still liable under section 605 (a) of the Federal Communications Act for unlawfully pirating television. Maximum fines per count are $10,000.
DirecTV did not return calls seeking comment and whether it would ask the San Francisco-based appeals court to rehear the case or petition the U.S. Supreme Court to review it.
In dissent, Judge Eugene Siler said the bigger fines should apply. The act, he said, "does not limit its application to manufacturers and sellers."
The case is DirecTV v. Huynh, 05-16361.
Fake key implementation on the dishnet // 2007-09-10
Reports are coming in that dishnetwork followed the Bev lead (as suspected) by implementing the fake key routine but they seem to be one step behind the pirates, Bev key fix was released last week some times so it was easy for them to fix the dishetwork fake key issue right away.
Coolsat came with the fix within an hour, rest of the FTA coders will follow it soon.
CoolNavi700 review // 2007-09-05
I had a chance to try CoolNavi700 on the weekend, let me tell you it is one of the nicest toy you can have if you like driving, it is a navigation device, music player, video player (divx, xvid, mpeg and majority of the other format), photo player, game player, AVI input (you can hook xbox, PS3 or any gaming device while traveling).
It comes with built in antenna, 2GB CF card, remote control, universal card reader, slot for SD and USB devices so you can load up all the movies and music on the go when going for a long trip.
I have used Alpine BlackBird and Garmin360 in the past CoolNavi700 beats both of those hands down with it's state of the art navigation system and all the add ons including 7" flat panel 800*480 WVGA screen, the best part is to get free lifetime software and map upgrade..... if you like traveling and in the market to look for a navigation device make sure to look at the feature rich CoolNavi700
Nfusion claims to come up with a fix // 2007-09-04
I received an email from Nfusion guys and they claim to have solution for the latest ECM by the Nagrastar Canadian division.
If this is true you will see rest of the FTA programmers releasing the fixes.
I can not confirm it because I am not using any of these products, just receiving the reports from different sources and reporting it.
BEV implemented the new fake keys // 2007-08-29
Reports are coming in that BEV started the new fake key roll, dishnetwork should be next to do it.
It all points to a roller coaster ride for the "illegaly" flashed FTA receivers.
New revision in the stream // 2007-08-20
This is sent to me by the people who monitor stream all the time, I have no idea what it means but here it is.
"New Revs are being introduced in to the stream. This particular update is larger than most and expected to be nasty.
Rev 10a to 10b was only 4 packets. However, this new rev is 20 packets which we expect to cause some temporary problems (fta, and other systems down) Looks like they're getting warmed up...
This is going to be a good one, you should see the changes in the data stream."
Dish ECM // 2007-08-16
Rumor has it that dishnet and bev sent a key morphing attack on all of the so called illegaly flashed FTA receivers.
This is the 2nd attack on FTA receivers since the Viewsat lawsuit, it seems like they are attacking on FTA receivers to find out who is master mind behind the scene for "illegal" software on each receiver specially Viewsat, this will give them enough ammunition to convince the judge to stop Viewsat entering North America (which I highly doubt it).
Last week dishnet black listed all the public bins which were being used by majority of the plastic, atmega and similar devices.
After 5 months of denying... // 2007-08-08
HashHU guys have been denying since March that there is no raid/visit by Dish or Bev, here is their side of story.
"The Lawsuit and My Meeting with Dish Network.
Okay, first let me say this. Dish Network and Bell Expressvu have sued a person they believe is me. I am listed as a defendant
under the name Paramount in 2 separate lawsuits for 10 million dollars each. They are trying to say that a person named Lance owns this website, and they are going under the assumption that Lance is paramount and that paramount owns this site.
I did say I owned this site at one point or another, I believe I may also have told a friend once or twice that I own the dallas cowboys and miami dolphins as well. Lance, the person who was served with the 2 lawsuits from Bell Expressvu and Echostar has never admitted to owning HashHU. Infact if you look at the registration information for HashHU.com there isn't a single mention of anyone under the name Lance or anyone living in Ontario which is where the lawsuits were filed.
To make things a whole lot simpler I, paramount, will come right out and say it, I am Lance and I will tell you everything that has transpired over the course of the last 6 months up until today. I am also going to bet $50,000 that this statement ends up in court, because up until this point, almost every post I have made has ended up in a binder and given to the justice to read not to mention several hundred pages of posts from satscams, rom 10x, dss-newbies, sat junky and so on. Joe Blow makes a post stating that he knows that a guy named Lance owns HashHU than it ends up in evidence. What a great country we live in. Dish Network and Bell Expressvu can fabricate their own evidence to how they see fit to show that Lance is Paramount than present it to the judge and say look, this guy said it, it's true.
Anyways, on to what has transpired.
On February 22nd 2007 I was served with a lawsuit from Echostar LLC as well as Nagrastar LLC and Echostar Technologies, this was 1 lawsuit with 3 plaintiffs. I was woken up around noon to what I thought was some construction workers getting ready to do some work on my house. Instead this guy introduces himself as JJ Gee from Nagrastar which is when I thought to myself "shit, the gigs up", I was surprised as hell to see them, although I knew hashhu was probably the biggest thorn in their side when compared to the hundreds of other satellite sites that are identical in nature to HashHU. I was told by supposed head of signal integrity JJ Gee that HashHU was the largest satellite site in North America and that's why they came to me. The 3 guys standing at my door handed me business cards, one said Wayne Gow head of investigations for Bell ExpressVu Field Security or something like that, the other was Jason Dumbdreck, Vice president of King Reid Private Investigators and the other was JJ Gee, head of security and field investigations from Nagrastar. JJ Gee did 98% of the talking that day.
The first thing that was said was that they had no intention of carrying out litigation against me if I was willing to work with them. The second thing JJ Gee said was that if I didn't want to work with them bell would also be suing me for 10 million dollars in a seperate suit and they would take down this site with an injunction within the next few days after february 22nd. JJ Gee told me that he thought we could come to an agreement that would be beneficial to all parties, and asked if I was willing to talk with them about working with them. I agreed to talk to them because I wanted to see what they had to say and what they were going to offer me. We had the meeting at Tim Hortons down the street from my house. The first thing I said was I wanted a non-prejudice meeting agreement signed by JJ Gee and Wayne Gow, in this they agreed to keep the meeting private as did I, they also agreed anything I said in the meeting couldn't be used against me in court.
The point of meeting me with 3 people from their side was to intimidate me into working with them, wayne gow and jason dumbdreck only talked when I talked to them. JJ Gee told me if I told anyone that I was even sued or approached by dish network than they would just sue me and forget about working with me. I asked JJ Gee what he wanted from me and he said he wanted to buy the site from me, he wanted information on SI Leaker, and he wanted me to act as a rat for dish network. I asked how much money he was talking, first thing he said was 20 grand cash for the site, no papers, bill of sale or nothing, they give me the cash and I give them the passwords. I said I've had offers of over 100 grand for the site. He said if they sued me I wouldn't have any offers at all, so the draw to sell to them for 20 grand was just so I wouldn't be sued. I said I was better off to just sell the site tomorrow for my previous offer. He said he would still sue me. I said I would fight them till I had to declare bankruptcy and they wouldn't get a dime. At this point he made up some bullshit story about how if they win a judgement against me it will be considered fraud and it will stay with me for life. I told him I wasn't an idiot and I knew that wasn't true. Than he told me he thought we could work something out close to my figure if I met with the 3 of them at their lawyers office, he said he had the cash the same day ready to give to me.
I asked them what about ratting people out, what was their plan for that. He said I'd get cash under the table for every person I ratted out. They didn't tell me how much, JJ just said it was enough to pay the bills. At this point I told them there was 1 person I wanted to tell I was approached by dish network and show the papers to and that was David Fuss. For those of you who don't know this person, he is the owner of Ariza Technology, probably the largest dealer of satellite equipment in canada over the last decade. I had been buying items from him and got to know him along the way. JJ asked why I wanted to tell David Fuss. I told him that I was going to probably have David's Lawyer look at the lawsuit they served me with and than I would be able to tell them more about working with them and that I'd rather meet with their lawyer after my lawyer has looked at the papers. As soon as I said the words "David's Lawyer" JJ got all uneasy and told me absolutely not. I said than what do you want me to do? Get Joe Blow out of the phone book to look at the papers and tell me what he thinks? That's when JJ handed me 2 business cards. The first was Ian Angus who originally did work for the satellite companies but now apparently defends for people accused by them. The second was Charles Wagman, another person who is defending in other cases like Echostar vs. SkyHigh Electronics. Obviously this looked kind of funny to me. Did JJ think I was stupid enough to use any lawyer the people suing me were recommending rather than a lawyer who has proven his effectiveness against the satellite companies? The only case Davids lawyer has come close to losing regarding satellite was against the governor general of canada in an effort to declare several sections of the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Code unconstitutional, not against any satellite companies and he has been involved in several cases with them. I asked him if it was even legal for him to say we will only settle with you if you use this lawyer.
This is when I started to feel better about everything that was going on, as soon as I saw JJ's reaction to the words "David's Lawyer" I knew they had next to no case against me. I than asked JJ why he didn't want me to use David's lawyer, Milton A Davis. He said he didn't want David to know I had been approached by them and if David found out, they had no interest in working with me and they'd sue me and take down the site, etc. I asked them at that point if David was one of the people they wanted me to rat out, and JJ said he would talk to me about that later. I said he is the last person I would rat out even if I did have any knowledge of illegal activities on Davids part, which I don't. David has treated me 10 times better than anyone else in the satellite business. I asked them about Jung Kwak, owner of Viewsat, if they wanted him too, JJ said yes. On a side note, I'd like to add that I have been treated like shit from Viewtech and Jung Kwak ever since I let Jung know that I had been sued. I was ignored for months and only after Jung has also been sued he started talking to me again, there will be more I have to say about Viewtech and Jung Kwak in a future post. Jung Kwak has contributed to Echostars anti-piracy efforts indirectly despite my best efforts to stop him from doing so.
The meeting ended with me agreeing to come to their lawyers office in downtown Toronto to look at a settlement they were going to offer me. I called JJ about an hour later and told him I would not be coming to their lawyers office without my own lawyer present and I told him I wanted to reschedule the meeting for 3 days from now until I could find a lawyer. I really only wanted to delay them 3 days as this would give me time to talk to David and Davids lawyer. I called David up the next day and got his advice. I decided I was going to fight Dish Network, I called JJ back and told him I found a lawyer and he was looking over the lawsuit and would get back to me on it, and I needed another few days. JJ asked who I was using as a lawyer and I told him my lawyer will contact your lawyer. This is the last time I talked to JJ or anyone else from Dish Network, Echostar, Nagrastar or Bell ExpressVu, February 25th.
My lawyer contacted their lawyer and that's when JJ knew I was not going to work with them as I was using Milton A Davis as my lawyer. Around March 15th I was served with another lawsuit from Bell ExpressVu which was identical except for they changed "Echostar" to "ExpressVu" all over the lawsuit, they used the same lawyer for both cases. Milton filed a statement of defence in both cases and at this point that is pretty much the extent to what has happened, my lawyer has not heard from the other side in months.
As it stands now they are apparently visiting people of interest in US and Canada trying to collect more evidence linking Lance to Paramount because at this point it's 100% heresay.
I said I'd post this at 11pm so here it is, I was not able to get 100% of what I had to say in this post but I will be saying more shortly.
Dish Network and Bell ExpressVu are trying to wage war against the community and this site with propaganda, this is the first round of our own style of propaganda, the truth, and that in the end is what will help us put a stop to the assault Dish Network has been dishing out in the last few months, I do regret staying silent for so long on this issue and I apologize for keeping the community in the dark on this for so long. If I had of spoken sooner their propaganda war wouldn't be so strong as it is right now, in the future I will let everyone know everything right away."
Viewsat problems keep mounting // 2007-07-25
Despite all the talks from Viewsat (Viewtech) lawyers, it looks like their problems getting bigger and bigger.
Reports are coming in that majority of the Viewsat official dealers are getting calls from Nagrastar (Echostar security division), they want to know how long these guys have been their dealers, how many units have been sold by them and what kind of support they have been receiving from Viewsat including the files.
To make the matter even worse Viewtech CEO Jung Kwak along with others was found guilty of importing cable boxes to desclamber cable in the past and was fined by the court, that fine is still outstanding, it may not look good when he goes to court to defend Viewsat in North America.
Viewsat's response to the current situation // 2007-07-21
THE LAW OFFICE OF MANUEL DE LA CERRA
6885 CATAMARAN DRIVE MANNY@DELACERRALAW. COM
CARLSBAD, CA 92011 W WW.DELACERRALAW. COM
July 20, 2007
Dear FTA Community:
ViewTech has recently learned that Echostar and Nagrastar have filed a Complaint in a California Federal District Court against ViewTech and Mr. Jung Kwak.
ViewTech and Mr. Kwak intend to vigorously defend against the baseless claims made by Echostar and Nagrastar. ViewTech and Mr. Kwak have already retained experienced litigation counsel to help them fight these baseless accusations.
It has also been brought to the attention of ViewTech that some of its competitors have been improperly making contact with ViewTech’s distributors, dealers and customers, and maliciously conveying false information to them.
They have falsely stated that ViewTech’s distributors, dealers and customers are on some sort of list of alleged infringers of supposedly copyrighted materials, and that they may be liable or named in a lawsuit filed against ViewTech. They have also demanded that ViewTech’s distributors, dealers and customers place a disclaimer on their respective websites disavowing ViewTech and its products.
Let’s be absolutely clear — only ViewTech and Mr. Kwak have been named as potential defendants.
None of ViewTech’s distributors, dealers or customers are named or even identified in the allegations of the Complaint, or on any other list. The Federal Court has not been asked, nor has it given any interim relief whatsoever to either Echostar or Nagrastar. ViewTech and Mr. Kwak are confident that they will prevail as
the lawsuit proceeds, and they will keep all of you informed of any significant developments in the future.
Your continued business is very important to ViewTech. Indeed, all of ViewTech’s success is because you have worked with ViewTech to make VIEWSAT the number one selling FTA receiver.
There’s a reason why VIEWSAT is number one,the
quality of the products and ViewTech’s customer service.
You have made a choice to purchase and use the VIEWSAT line because the quality and customer service is unmatched in the industry. It is clear that those disparaging ViewTech do so only in a
misguided attempt to promote their own products – products that cannot match the quality of VIEWSAT.
ViewTech intends to continue supplying products that you and your customers demand, products that continue to push the bounds of FTA.
Respectfully,
Manuel de la Cerra, Esq.
Attorney for ViewTech, Inc.
Viewsat in trouble // 2007-07-17
There has been lawsuit filed against Viewtech (the parent company), Jung Kwak (the owner)and Does 1 through 10 by Echostar and the Nagrastar (parent company of Bell and Dishnetwork).
Rumor on the street is that this goes back to August 2006 (Maprom ECM) when Viewsat came up with the fix before any one else, they used Noth American coder to do their fix, sold the fix to others and were on top of the world, by using North American coder they left themselves open.
More recently HashHU bust did not help them either, all this caught up to them and they are in deep trouble now.
There are other individuals who are in big trouble also namely thedssguy and few others who suppose ably left high and dry to fend for themselves.
Reported by SkyREPORT
EchoStar and its conditional access partner Nagravision filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Southern California against a company allegedly distributing free-to-air receivers that allow users to steal DISH Network programming. In the suit, the companies claim Viewtech - which sells free-to-air receivers under the Viewsat brand - unlawfully manufactures, distributes and traffics in technology that helps people pirate EchoStar's subscription and pay-per-view services.
According to court documents, EchoStar claims Viewtech - and its owner Jung Kwak - obtain legal FTA receivers and modify them by loading pirate software onto the unit's circuit chips or firmware that "ensure the device would receive and descramble DISH Network programming without authorization from or payment to EchoStar." Through the use of the internet, the suit claims Viewtech would then sell these modified receivers to "house-hold" consumers.
"The distribution, sale and use of FTA receivers for piracy pose a serious threat to EchoStar and NagraStar," the lawsuit said. Since "FTA receivers are not manufactured or sold by (EchoStar) to receive DISH Network programming, neither EchoStar nor NagraStar can control or regulate the software contained in these devices."
Further, EchoStar said in the suit that as the case unfolds, facts will prove that Viewtech and Kwak "sold thousands of these FTA receivers to consumer pirates for the sole purpose of circumventing (our) security system."
FTA dealers bust in Ontario // 2007-07-16
This is direct result of the dealers selling FTA receivers by loading 3rd party software.
Three males have been charged and equipment seized after an undercover police investigation into the theft of satellite signals in Durham Region.
Project Orbit took place in June and grew from an earlier investigation in Port Perry where a man and woman were charged with providing access to illegal satellite television signals. That investigation identified several other businesses in Durham Region in which satellite systems were sold and encryption codes provided to illegally access television and audio channels.
Undercover officers attended two businesses to purchase satellite equipment and gain access to encryption codes used to obtain satellite signals for free.
Fernando PEDRA, age 45, manager of UNEEK Electronics on Bloor Street East in Oshawa was charged with:
Theft of Telecommunications
Possession Device that can Steal Telecommunications
Sell Device to Steal Telecommunications
Officers seized $60,000 in satellite receivers, dishes, computer equipment; and $2,000 in cash. The estimated revenue loss from victim agencies (DISH and Bell ExpressVu Networks) is $240,000 annually just for the equipment seized. Four bankers boxes of sales receipts are still being reviewed, which may push the lost revenue to the millions of dollars.
William HUTCHEON, age 32, Owner/Manager of Challenge FTA on Westney Road South in Ajax and an employee, John DESOUZA, age 32 of Ajax have both been charged with:
Theft of Telecommunications
Possession Device that can Steal Telecommunications
Sell device to steal telecommunications
Police seized $20,000 in satellite receivers, dishes, computer equipment; and $2,000 in cash. The estimated revenue loss for victim agencies (DISH and Bell ExpressVu Networks) is $50,000 annually, just for the equipment seized.
A court order was obtained to shut down web sites connected with these businesses that provided users with encryption codes. The DRPS believes this may be the first time in Ontario criminal charges have been laid regarding so-called Free to Air systems.
The possession of “Free to Air” satellite equipment is not illegal, but modifying the equipment to access subscription signals is. The Durham Regional Police Service does not have the resources to investigate the potentially hundreds of end users who might be acquiring encryption codes every month to access free satellite signals. However, this is still theft – a criminal offence – no different than stealing goods from a retail store. Police may conduct further investigations if specific information about end users comes to light.
2 more face Directv piracy charges // 2007-07-11
RALEIGH - Two more former sheriff's deputies have been charged with TV piracy crimes, including a deputy who allegedly reprogrammed satellite TV cards to allow other deputies to get free service.
The accused, James Carter and Waldo Pathan “Pat” Stallings Jr., no longer work for the Robeson County Sheriff's Office. The charges against them bring to 18 the total number of deputies charged as part of a 4-year-old probe dubbed Operation Tarnished Badge.
The piracy charges have become the least serious and most common allegation against the deputies.
Court documents say Carter conspired with others to operate illegally programmed satellite TV cards from January 2000 to December 2003. He was charged by a criminal bill of information on June 27, but has not been arrested.
Carter worked as a Robeson County deputy for 23 years before resigning on Feb. 28. He was making $41,196 a year.
Sheriff Kenneth Sealey declined to discuss the charges, but described Carter as a skilled investigator. Carter, a detective lieutenant in the Major Crimes Division, was named the Sheriff Office's Employee of the Year for 2006.
“James was a very good investigator ... he was real thorough on his investigations,” Sealey said.
Stallings, an auxiliary deputy, was indicted June 26 on charges of conspiracy to commit satellite piracy and making false statements to a federal agent. He was arrested Monday and released on $10,000 unsecured bail.
Stallings is accused of illegally reprogramming smart cards that allowed him and others to obtain unauthorized services from DirecTV between 1997 and 2003. Stallings also provided technical assistance to others to reprogram cards, court records say.
The conspiracy includes Stallings and current and former sheriff's deputies, according to court records.
Stallings was charged with making false statements to a federal agent on April 17, 2007, when, according to court records, he told investigators he only reprogrammed the cards for C.T. Strickland, Gary Odum and Rory N. McKeithan. Prosecutors say Stallings reprogrammed the cards for other sheriff's deputies other than those he mentioned.
Strickland pled guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, and Odum has pled guilty satellite piracy charges.
McKeithan has not been charged with any crimes. He continues to work as a detective and arson investigator at the Sheriff's Office.
Bell subscribers got black out but ... // 2007-07-06
Digital Home readers were pleased to learn yesterday that the FIFA U-20 World Cup game between Austria and Canada would be broadcast in high definition on CBC HD.
While Rogers and Shaw subscribers enjoyed the game, ExpressVu HD subscribers were disappointed when all they found on CBC HD was a blank screen.
Angry ExpressVu subscribers who contacted the direct-to-home satellite broadcasters were told by customer service representatives the broadcast was "down at the source" and that nothing could be done because the CBC was experiencing technical difficulties.
ExpressVu subscribers posting to the Digital Forum about the problem quickly learned the CBC HD signal was fully operational and that viewers of CBC HD on cable systems such as Rogers and Shaw were not experiencing any "technical difficulties".
Representatives from the company would not comment on why ExpressVu subscribers were unable to see the game, however, industry insiders familiar with Bell's massive satellite piracy problems have told Digital Home the problem was likely due to a failed attempt to stop satellite pirates from seeing the game.
Digital Home estimates that hundreds of thousands of Canadians currently receive ExpressVu signals using modified Free-to-air (FTA) satellite receivers.
Ironically Canadians pirating the ExpressVu HD signal using modified HD FTA receivers tell Digital Home their CBC HD signal was working the entire time that legitimate subscribers were without their CBC HD signal.
ExpressVu has not responded to requests by Digital Home to discuss the extent of the satellite piracy problem, what steps the company is taking to resolve the problem nor its impact on legitimate subscribers.
Readers tell Digital Home that after about an hour of complaints, the broadcast was restored but not before they had missed a significant portion of the game. Subscribers were especially upset because the company made no attempt to let viewers know the problem was occurring and what steps they were taking to fix the problem.
One angry reader asked "How hard was it for Bell to leave the channel up on the EPG and if you were to tune into it have a splash screen up stating that the problem is with the source?”
If its any consolation to angry ExpressVu subscribers, Canada lost the FIFA U-20 World Cup game with Austria by a score of 1-0.
FTA picture quality comparison // 2007-07-04
A friend of mine bought a new plasma TV few days ago and we decided to hook up different FTA receivers to see which receiver got the best picture on it.
After trying several well known receivers (top end and mid end including Dreambox)we came to the conclusion that Coolsat receiver has the best picture hands down (tried their 7000 model, excellent receiver with USB harddrive PVR option)
Pirates at the gate // 2007-07-01
Two years ago, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, in a report found India among the top ten countries where piracy stands “at unacceptable levels” of over 56%. Other countries in the list included Brazil, China, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Paraguay, Russia, Spain, and Ukraine. But now, all this is set to change. Piracy – not just music but also movies and software piracy – is being tackled in myriad ways with the legitimate industry’s guns blazing. Recently the members of BASCAP (Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy), an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) initiative, spelt out a five-point agenda for action in a petition to the heads of G-8 countries to stem the estimated $ 600 billion annual business loss in counterfeiting and piracy. The petition was signed by the heads of some of the biggest firms including UK-based British American Tobacco, Microsoft, Nestle, Unilever and Astra Zenaca.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) launched an anti-piracy movie trailer or ad-film aimed at making moviegoers aware of the laws protecting copyright and at encouraging the public to reject pirated movies found online or on DVDs. MPAA which is primarily an American body has many solutions already in place like the Content Scramble System (CSS) protection technology used by DVD manufacturers globally. Another solution, the ‘broadcast flag’ is a nickname for a solution that prevents unauthorized redistribution of content over the Internet. It encrypts the content at the point where it is received first. This solution is gaining importance as Asia moves to digital media from analog.
The MPAA’s ad-films also educate consumers about the ills of piracy. These films are being dubbed into regional Indian languages and are being played at hundreds of theatres across India. In July, this year these ads will also run on Star India Television’s network, extendingtheir reach.
There are other consumer and industry bodies that have ad-films running in major multiplexes. These include Percept Pictures, FICCI, and also the Government’s anti piracy arm. FICCI fights piracy and counterfeiting through its NIACP initiative as well as the digital forum. Through the NIACP, it carries out many advocacy functions and creates awareness on issues like intellectual property rights and the importance of sealing the country’s borders to prevent leaks.
Through the digital forum, FICCI spearheads piracy issues at the industry level. “Piracy has a devastating effect on innovation and creativity which underpin today’s knowledge driven economy and society,” says Raaja Kanwar, Chairperson of FICCI’s digital forum and vice chairman of UFO Moviez. His company is spearheading efforts in the movie industry to prevent piracy.
UFO Moviez, too, has an innovative solution that is fast becoming the norm in the cinema industry globally. It entails digital encoding and encryption of a telecined film which is then uplinked to satellites. The satellite beams the film using VSAT technology to servers (called cineblasters) in cinema hall projection rooms. The cineblaster, via secure HDCP cables, relays the film to the projector which then shows the film on the screen. This innovation uses smart cards, 192 bit encryption, biometric access controlled media centres, HDCP and even a unique identification code to prevent camcorder copying.
The unique identification code allows authorities to trace pirated content back to the source cinema hall from where a camcorder copied the film. This method not only curbs enroute content leakage, but also eliminates print cost thus allowing for wider releases. The company is expecting to hit 1,000 cinemas in the next few months and already has about 400 screens in the Middle East and Asia. “Piracy is a technological problem that can be fixed using technology as the primary weapon. This is what we aim to achieve through UFO Digital Cinema’s three pronged approach,” Kanwar says. Leading optical disc maker, Moser Baer too has a solution for combating piracy. This involves proprietary technology enabling the production of film CDs at very low prices, making it too expensive for piracy to remain sustainable.
But Savio D’Souza of the Indian Music Industry believes that these measures are not enough. He believes that fighting piracy on the ground level is most effective. So far the IMI has registered some 10,000 cases in the past five years. “The right holder has to stand up for himself and fight for what is rightfully his,” D’Souza says. As most of the pirated material is available on CDs, one effective solution is the use of copy-protect technology. Here, propriety content on a CD cannot be copied. Another method being debated in the ministries is what is now commonly known as the optical disk law that would enable authorities to trace the origins of a pirated CD right up to the manufacturers.
“But whatever the method used to catch the pirate, when the case finally comes to court, the defense counsel simply asks the prosecution to prove that the CD is pirated which they cannot do as the right holder is just not interested in filing a case and stand up for himself,” D’souza says. The intellectual property right holder must complain to the authorities for anything to get done, he adds.
The world over production houses of books, software and movies release new content into the global market simultaneously to prevent the leakage of the product before it is officially released. This is most important for books – the publishers of some major titles including Harry Potter released fake and incomplete copies into the market as decoys to fool the pirates. For movies, the age of sneaking in a camcorder in to the cinema hall is almost over. Also most film makers are inserting watermarks and other security identification numbers on the film that show up on the pirated copy making the copy useless.
Swiss dealer fined for smart card piracy // 2007-06-24
CA vendor Kudelski is celebrating after a dealer in the Swiss Canton of Aargau was fined SFr3,000 (€1,823) for selling pirate smart cards for German pay-TV operator Premiere. The district court in Brugg made the conviction under Article 150bis of the Swiss Criminal Code, which in addition to the import and export of illegal cards also covers their trade and installation.
“As a supplier of security technologies and solutions, we are pleased about this conviction. It sends a clear message not only to dealers but also to any users that the pirating of television programs is more than a minor offence,” said Christophe Nicolas, chief security officer of Nagravision. “We trust the Swiss justice who considers that pirating of TV programs is an illicit activity which ought to be condemned,” Nicolas added. Several other cases are known to be pending.
In March, two company managers were convicted for the same offence in the Swiss Canton of Zug. In that case fines of SFr20,000 were imposed for offences including the provision of software over the Internet.
The Murdoch Who Could Be King // 2007-06-21
When Rupert Murdoch finally sat down earlier this month with the Bancroft family to discuss his $5 billion bid for Dow Jones & Co. (DJ ), he knew the meeting was going to be more than a little awkward. The Bancrofts, who control Dow Jones, had publicly expressed concerns that he might meddle with their cherished Wall Street Journal.
That the Bancrofts, who had earlier spurned the offer, were now agreeing to meet was a positive sign. But Murdoch still needed to convince them that his intentions were honorable. So he brought along his 34-year-old son, James, who the News Corp. (NWS ) chief hoped would ease the family's concerns. James, who calls his father Pop, sat to his right, soothing and engaging the Bancrofts with tales of growing up Murdoch. "It was clear Rupert wanted his son there," says a person with knowledge of the meeting. "And James carried the ball at key moments."
If the deal goes through—which looks likelier since a potential Microsoft (MSFT )-General Electric (GE ) joint bid foundered in early June—the Bancroft meeting may be remembered as the moment James Murdoch emerged as one of his father's most influential confidants. The two men get each other on some deep genetic level, say News Corp. insiders, and converse at least twice a day. Will the youngest child inherit the father's throne? It's too early to say since the senior Murdoch, a vigorous 76, shows few signs of relinquishing control. But James, through hard work and canny maneuvering, has won over some of Murdoch Sr.'s veteran lieutenants. "He is just as tough as his old man," says British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC (BSY ) board member and longtime Murdoch ally David Evans.
Not long ago, it looked as though Lachlan Murdoch, not brother James, had cornered the old man's respect. But in 2005, Lachlan, now 35, bolted his job as News Corp.'s deputy chief operating officer, the result of one too many clashes with Fox News Network chief Roger Ailes, a Rupert associate who has long had the boss' ear. Murdoch daughter Elisabeth, who is 38, left the company in 2001 after battling another Murdoch aide, former BSkyB chief Sam Chisholm.
While some considered James the brightest of Murdoch's progeny, he seemed to lack seriousness at first. After just a year at Harvard University studying film and history, he dropped out in 1995 to finance a doomed hip-hop label with a musician pal. James spent most of his evenings then chain-smoking Marlboros and hanging out in nightclubs scouting talent. In those days, he swore so much that his mother, Anna, chastised him for dropping too many F-bombs in a GQ interview. Somewhere along the way, James matured; perhaps it was his 2000 marriage to Kathryn, a former model and marketing executive who grew up in Oregon and lives with him in London with their two kids and two dogs.
James was fortunate, perhaps, in that his first big job with the family business involved a stint in News Corp.'s outer rim, Asia, where he got experience away from the 24/7 scrutiny of his father and his aides. Not that the job was a cinch. Sent to Hong Kong in 2000 as CEO of ailing StarTV, he helped turn around the money-losing satellite company by forging deals with cable companies in India and then producing an Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and other hot programs. "Being 12 hours away gave him the freedom to become his own man, make his own decisions," says Abe Peled, CEO of NDS Group (NNDS ), a News Corp.-controlled company that provides anti-piracy software for set-top boxes.
Named CEO of BSkyB in 2003, James pushed the British satellite TV company into broadband and phone service and watched earnings nearly double on a per-share basis. Since then, he has demonstrated Murdochian tactics—blocking rival Virgin Media Inc. (VMED ) from buying British TV producer ITV and then yanking five Sky-owned channels from Virgin's cable systems. Knowing the move would be unpopular, James went to Sky's Scottish call center to listen in on calls from folks who could no longer get Sky on cable.
DIGITAL STRATEGIST
In ways large and small, James is his father's son. He's intense, for starters, though where Roop is rumpled, he is polished, with his dark suits, white shirts, and pointy black shoes. Even as a kid, he exhibited dad's competitive hunger: He would switch places at dinner to be served first. And he shares Rupert's laissez-faire politics. "I'd say he's a libertarian," says an associate. "He'd as soon keep the government out."
Battle-tested as an executive, James is now helping reshape News Corp. for the 21st century. It was he who tutored Rupert on the Web, reviewing a 2005 speech in which Murdoch Sr. exhorted newspaper editors to embrace the Web or "be relegated to the status of also-rans." When News Corp. plunked down $580 million three months later to buy social network site MySpace.com (NWS ), Rupert did so after huddling with James, who had his own MySpace page.
At a moment when corporations are at least preaching the benefits of environmentalism, James is prodding his father to go green. News Corp.'s May 10 announcement that it would be carbon-neutral by 2010 is modeled on James' own initiatives at BSkyB that cut carbon emissions 20%, including software that powers down idle set-top boxes.
As Lachlan knows full well, there are no guarantees that James will one day take over. Neither he nor his father will address the succession issue. "There are other good members of the family," Rupert said earlier this year. But speculation is rife in the corridors of News Corp. Here's one theory: If the Murdochs bag Dow Jones, James will return before long to the U.S. as part of an enlarged management team, perhaps to help develop the company's expanded digital push. He made a strong first impression with the Bancrofts. And he has already done so with the one guy who really counts: Pop.
Dish ECM // 2007-06-13
After months of not doing anything, dishnetwork and their Canadian counterpart unleashed their looping ECM today.
Reports are coming in that majority of the cards are getting killed with this new ECM.
On June 12 Dish a Bell sent down card looping packets to permanently kill cards that didn't pass the check.
Each packet, and there were 4 for each provider had the same message.
Each packet ended with the following bytes, a sorta love message from Kudeleski:
Code:
1st packet- 4652304D (FR0M);
2nd packet--535769545A33524C344E44(SWiTZ3RL4ND);
3rd packet--57695448 (WiTH);
4th packet--4C5556 (LUV)
Fr0M SWiTZ3RL4ND WiTH LUV.....
Technologically innovative rebels // 2007-06-11
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers top off their innovations by hijacking a satellite in orbit over the Indian Ocean, sparking fears of a more advanced phase of rebel warfare.
Washington, DC-based Intelsat Ltd is the world's largest provider of geosynchronous satellite services with 52 satellites in orbit. In March, Sri Lanka raised the issue at the 31st Extraordinary Meeting of International Telecommunications Satellite Organization in Paris with Intelsat Ltd CEO David McGlade. On 10 April, Sri Lanka's ambassador to the US, Bernard Goonetileke, met with Intelsat officials, including Senior Vice President in charge of customer operations and engineering David Synkfield to demand that the company take immediate action to halt the broadcasts by the National Television of Tamil Eelam and Pulikalin Kural ("Voice of Tigers") radio transmissions.
"Intelsat does not tolerate terrorist or others operating illegally on its satellites. Since we first learned of the LTTE's signal piracy, we have been actively pursuing a number of technical alternatives to halt the transmissions. We are clear in our resolve to ending this terrorist organization's unauthorized use of our satellite," Intelsat General Counsel Phillip Spector told the media in a press statement.
Intelsat has five high-performance beams covering Europe, Southern Africa, the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia. The LTTE's NTT network was a free channel in Asia while the TTN was an encrypted paid subscription channel in Europe, where the LTTE used the service provider Globecast, a subsidiary of France Telecom.
Intelsat technicians are still trying to figure out how the LTTE pulled off its technological coup. Intelsat-12 has 30 main transponders, of which eight were dedicated to the Indian subcontinent, and 11 backup transponders. Compounding Intelsat's woes is the fact that if transponders on a bent-pipe satellite are not being fully utilized and contain some "empty" space, the void could be identified by using a spectrum analyzer in conjunction with a satellite-receiving dish at a cost of only a few hundred dollars for hardware and software.
Locating the hijacker is difficult, as the uplink signal is transmitted in a highly directed beam, undetectable at ground level unless you are extremely close to the covert transmitter.
Following the revelations of the LTTE broadcasts the French authorities moved quickly; French police raided the TTN's studio in Paris and Globecast confirmed to the Sri Lankan Embassy in France that on 2 May it had halted TTN broadcasts on its Eutelsat satellite, which had 22,000 subscribers generating €330,000 monthly.
And of late, it seems that just about anyone, rebel or not, can dabble in satellite piracy. In Garden City, Michigan, Extreme Media is advertising its new "Satellite Piracy" video on its website, available for US$15, along with two other "Hacking Digital Satellite Systems" films, proudly proclaiming that its new video "includes a complete discussion of all the latest piracy methods being used for DIRECTV and DISH Network, as well as Canadian and Caribbean systems. Everything you ever wanted to know about satellite television piracy is included in this video."
Watching Sling box illegal? // 2007-05-30
Is watching an out-of-market baseball game illegal? Potentially yes, according to Major League Baseball.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Esq. a lawyer for the league's Advanced Media division said Slingbox's capability to placeshift MLB content--that is, allow owners to watch their subscription channels from a remote location--is illegal, and MLB is mulling a lawsuit.
MLB says using the Slingbox to watch out-of-market baseball games is illegal.
"Of course, what they are doing is not legal," MLB general counsel Michael Mellis told the publication. "We and other leagues have formed a group to study the issue and plan our response. A lot depends on ongoing discussions. Plus, there's no guarantee that Slingbox will be around next year. It's a start-up."
In response, Sling Media told CNET News.com that allowing anyone besides the owner to access a Slingbox is a violation of the device's end-user licensing agreement, and that if anything, the ability to watch one's home team play when out of town or at the office, "creates a much tighter bond" between a fan and his or her baseball team and local broadcasting team.
The Consumer Electronics Association has vigorously come to Sling's defense. "This is a classic instance of copyright owners trying to suppress innovation purely because it empowers consumers," CEA President Gary Shapiro said in a statement. "There is no infringement or piracy here--consumers are simply watching content they lawfully purchase (or receive free over-the-air) in a different physical location."
This is not the first time Sling has taken heat for allegedly flouting broadcasting rules. A year ago MLB's vice president of business accused Sling users of stealing from cable operators that have paid to broadcast local games. And Home Box Office's CTO Bob Zitter commented at the National Association of Broadcasters last year that "content owners don't like it (Sling) because they think it violates their copyrights." Yet none have moved to take Sling to court yet.
This also is not pro baseball's first time demonstrating its tight control over the broadcasting of its content. Right before the start of the 2007 season, the league made waves when it renegotiated the availability of its Extra Innings package with cable and satellite providers. Though the initial deal with DirecTV was on the path to being exclusive, shutting out other satellite customers from purchasing the league's out-of-market subscription package, MLB relented and agreed to continue partnering with other cable and satellite services.
New copyright law proposed // 2007-05-17
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is pressing the U.S. Congress to enact a sweeping intellectual property bill that would increase criminal penalties for copyright infringement, including “attempts” to commit piracy.
“To meet the global challenges of IP crime, our criminal laws must be kept updated,” Gonzales said during a speech before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington on Monday.
The Bush administration is throwing its support behind a proposal called the Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007, which is likely to receive the enthusiastic support of the movie and music industries and would represent the most dramatic rewrite of copyright law since a 2005 measure dealing with pre-release piracy.
Here’s our podcast on the topic.
The IPPA would, for instance:
* Criminalize “attempting” to infringe copyright. Federal law currently punishes not-for-profit copyright infringement with between 1 and 10 years in prison, but there has to be actual infringement that takes place. The IPPA would eliminate that requirement. (The Justice Department’s summary of the legislation says: “It is a general tenet of the criminal law that those who attempt to commit a crime but do not complete it are as morally culpable as those who succeed in doing so.”)
* Create a new crime of life imprisonment for using pirated software. Anyone using counterfeit products who “recklessly causes or attempts to cause death” can be imprisoned for life. During a conference call, Justice Department officials gave the example of a hospital using pirated software instead of paying for it.
* Permit more wiretaps for piracy investigations. Wiretaps would be authorized for investigations of Americans who are “attempting” to infringe copyrights.
* Allow computers to be seized more readily. Specifically, property such as a PC “intended to be used in any manner” to commit a copyright crime would be subject to forfeiture, including civil asset forfeiture. Civil asset forfeiture has become popular among police agencies in drug cases as a way to gain additional revenue, and is problematic and controversial.
* Increase penalties for violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s anti-circumvention regulations. Currently criminal violations are currently punished by jail times of up to 10 years and fines of up to $1 million. The IPPA would add forfeiture penalties too.
* Add penalties for “intended” copyright crimes. Currently certain copyright crimes require someone to commit the “distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of at least 10 copies” valued at over $2,500. The IPPA would insert a new prohibition: actions that were “intended to consist of” distribution.
* Require Homeland Security to alert the Recording Industry Association of America. That would happen when compact discs with “unauthorized fixations of the sounds or sounds and images of a live musical performance” are attempted to be imported. Neither the Motion Picture Association of America nor the Business Software Alliance (nor any other copyright holder such as photographers, playwrights, or news organizations, for that matter) would qualify for this kind of special treatment.
A representative of the Motion Picture Association of America told us: “We appreciate the department’s commitment to intellectual property protection and look forward to working with both the department and Congress as the process moves ahead.”
What’s still unclear is the kind of reception this legislation might encounter on Capitol Hill. Gonzales may not be terribly popular, but Democrats do tend to be more closely aligned with Hollywood and the recording industry than the GOP. (A few years ago, Republicans even savaged fellow conservatives for allying themselves too closely with copyright holders.)
A spokeswoman for Rep. Howard Berman, the California Democrat who heads the House Judiciary subcommittee that focuses on intellectual property, said the congressman is reviewing proposals from the attorney general and from others. The aide said the Hollywood politician plans to introduce his own intellectual property enforcement bill later this year but said his office is not prepared to discuss any details yet.
One key Republican was less guarded. “We are reviewing (the attorney general’s) proposal. Any plan to stop IP theft will benefit the economy and the American worker,” said Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, who’s the top Republican on the House Judiciary committee. “I applaud the attorney general for recognizing the need to protect intellectual property.”
Still, it’s too early to tell what might happen. A similar copyright bill that Smith, the RIAA, and the Software and Information Industry Association announced with fanfare last April never went anywhere.
Officer can go forward with the lawsuit // 2007-05-14
A decision by the New Mexico Court of Appeals filed Thursday clears the way for a former Clovis police officer to proceed with a lawsuit against the city, according to court records.
Former police officer Jerry Wimberly sued the city of Clovis in June 2003 for lost employment opportunities, the records read. He was forced to hire an attorney to defend him after the police department provided a private investigator findings from an internal investigation into illegal satellite TV use, according to an opinion filed in the Court of Appeals.
Wimberly’s lawsuit cited policies preventing the disclosure of confidential investigation results, the opinion said.
Wimberly’s attorney, Eric Dixon, said in a news release his client will pursue the lawsuit. No trial date has been set.
Judicial District Judge Teed Hartley granted a summary judgment in favor of the city in September 2005. Hartley’s decision said the policies and procedures the officer relied on were too vague in nature, the opinion said.
Wimberly complied with the internal investigation in the spring of 2001 and voluntarily resigned his position in September 2001 for unrelated reasons, records show. He said he was told by a prospective employer he would not be hired because of the satellite TV investigation, records show.
The appeals court said the case was appropriate for trial and found Wimberly had a reasonable expectation the city would follow procedures. Those procedures included allowing him an attorney, the opportunity to request his supervisor’s presence, and having all interviews recorded when he was questioned in addition to keeping the investigation confidential, according to the appeals court.
Clovis City Manager Joe Thomas said Monday he had not been made aware of any developments in the case and therefore could not comment.
More busts in Canada // 2007-05-04
MONTREAL (CP) - Three men have been arrested for allegedly stealing and illegally selling satellite television signals, which the RCMP estimates has deprived the broadcast system of about $1.2 million in legitimate subscriptions annually.
RCMP spokesman Luc Bessette said today the men allegedly had about 2,000 clients and charged them roughly $250 per receiver.
Bessette said some clients could also be charged.
The RCMP says the suspects modified and sold decoders to illegally access television channels and clients placed their orders through a Web site.
Those arrested could face several charges, including modifying and selling equipment contrary to the Radiocommunication Act.
They could also be charged under the Criminal Code with theft of satellite signals and possession of a device to obtain telecommunication service.
If found guilty, the maximum sentence is two years in prison.
In my opinion It looks like that satellite companies changed their method from ECM to going after dealers.
Ontario man fined $1000 for selling pirated system // 2007-04-26
A 68-year-old Johnstown man has been fined $1,000 for selling illegal satellite TV systems.
James Richard Nolan, of 30 Elizabeth Street, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of possessing and selling devices that allowed purchasers to pirate signals from U.S. satellite provider Dish Network.
Nolan came to the attention of authorities in March, 2005 when RCMP Constable John Rennick called the accused about a flyer that promised 450 channels, including 45 movie channels.
Nolan told the officer the system cost $500 and that there was nothing illegal about it.
Rennick then notified the anti-piracy office of the Canadian Motion Pictures Distributors Association, which advised the "free to air" system was illegal and could unlock both DishNet and Bell Expressvu.
Later that month, the association sent a representative to Nolan's home where he saw several satellite dishes in the backyard and a lot of electronic equipment inside.
The representative paid $500 cash for a system Nolan said would allow access to DishNet programming, including all the sports and porn channels.
Nolan, who admitted he'd been in the business for 20 years, also said the system could be programmed to unlock both Bell Expressvu and Star Choice. However, he said he wouldn't set it up because it would be illegal to pirate signals from Canadian satellite providers.
In early April after Nolan got a shipment of receivers, the RCMP raided his home and arrested him. Along with business records, they seized eight receivers that had been programmed to pick up the Dish Net signals.
While the charges were laid two years ago, the matter didn't come to court as a result of challenges to the legislation.
Prosecutor Brian Evely acknowledged there once was a grey area about the validity of the federal legislation.
"A lot of people thought if you weren't pirating from a Canadian source, you could do that legally," he said. "But the constitutionality of the law has been upheld by the Supreme Court."
Evely argued for a $2,000 fine, noting Nolan had been in the business for a long time and had operated "a fairly substantial enterprise."
Lawyer Deborah Souder suggested a more moderate fine, noting her client had lost his livelihood and is now dependent on government pensions.
Ontario Court Justice Charles Anderson agreed a lesser fine was appropriate given that Nolan had no criminal record and was no longer in business.
"The legislation was under legitimate attack but the court has now decided that is in fact valid," he said.
One more chat forum owner in hot water // 2007-04-19
"Police in Quebec's Eastern Townships are accusing a man of running a website out of his home to sell equipment that can illegally intercept satellite signals.
RCMP raided the home in the Township of Hatley, near Sherbrooke, earlier this week and seized documents, a vehicle and cash.
They also allegedly discovered the suspect had set up an internet chat room where users shared tips on satellite signal piracy.
The man, whose age and name have not been released, could be charged with importing, modifying and selling equipment contrary to the Radiocommunication Act, said police.
He could also be charged with theft of satellite signals under the Criminal Code of Canada, which carries a maximum two-year sentence. As of Thursday, no charges had been laid.
The arrest follows an investigation by police, with help from Industry Canada, the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association's (CMPDA) Anti-Piracy Operations, Bell Express Vu and Canada Post.
Continue Article
The investigation began in 2004, following a complaint by Bell Express Vu.
Police found satellite receivers, along with cards that could be used to unscramble signals, claimed Gary Osmond of the CMPDA.
The association's anti-piracy branch claimed it was a "sophisticated website operation" that sold and distributed components throughout North America.
The theft of satellite signals cost various industries in Canada an estimated $300 million Cdn last year, according to police.
A comprehensive study aimed at producing a more accurate picture of the impact that piracy has on the film industry including, for the first time, losses due to internet piracy, recently calculated that CMPDA-related studios lost $6.1 billion US to worldwide piracy in 2005.
The CMPDA serves as the voice and advocate of the major studios of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) whose distribution divisions market feature films, pay TV, prime time entertainment programming for television and pre-recorded videos and DVDs in Canada."
Directv still on the hunt // 2007-04-15
A federal jury has ruled a Harrison man was guilty of illegally accessing satellite television programming without paying for it.
DirecTV sued Bruce Figler, 58, a Highlands School Board member, in federal civil court, alleging Figler used unauthorized devices to intercept the company's satellite signals for more than a year.
The jury reached a verdict late Wednesday afternoon and found Figler guilty on all four charges, including receiving unauthorized encrypted satellite transmissions and assembling a device known to intercept those transmissions.
The charges are a range of violations of the Federal Communications Act, federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act and state law, according to court documents.
U.S. District Judge Gary Lancaster will decide the amount of monetary damages Figler owes DirecTV. A date for that decision wasn't set.
According to court documents, Figler could face a maximum penalty of more than $300,000. The minimum amount would be about $40,000.
"The damages are pretty heavy here," said DirecTV attorney Peter V. Marcoline Jr. of Pittsburgh.
Figler is not facing criminal charges or prison time.
Marcoline said DirecTV also is entitled to recoup its legal fees from Figler. In addition to Marcoline, DirecTV hired a legal specialist from Texas.
Figler's attorney, John W. Gibson of Pittsburgh, said it's unclear if Figler will appeal.
Phone numbers for Figler included in court documents were disconnected and a message left with a fellow Highlands School Board member for Figler was not returned.
"This will be devastating to Mr. Figler no matter which way you look at it," Gibson said.
He said Figler, who is unemployed, may need to file for bankruptcy.
Gibson said Figler and his wife own a house. If Figler files for bankruptcy, he would seek to have the house excluded from a settlement, Gibson said.
However, DirecTV is likely to oppose that action, Gibson said.
DirecTV's case centered around a device called an unlooper that Figler purchased for about $200 from a Web site in 2000. An unlooper allows a disabled DirecTV access card to be used.
In court documents, Figler claimed he instead received a $75 reader/writer, another device used to program DirecTV access cards. Figler said he already owned a reader/writer but was unsuccessful in returning the second device to the Internet company, WhiteViper.com.
Figler said he tried to purchase the unlooper for an invention he was building for a college course.
According to court documents, Figler possessed one unlooper and two reader/writers, all of which DirecTV believes he or family members used to receive free television programming at a Harrison Avenue house Figler then owned.
Although a DirecTV investigator in 2006 found the equipment at the house after it was sold by Figler, the company has no record of a legitimate account for that address, according to court papers.
DirecTV has filed thousands of theft lawsuits in the past six years after California companies selling piracy technology were raided. DirecTV used billing information from those companies to track people suspected of stealing satellite signals.
Map call back in the stream // 2007-04-11
Looks like American and Canadian sides have added the new map call to the stream again.
Majority of the FTA receivers had already released a fix earlier, even though the map called had been removed from the stream, only to have it return.
New Map call in the stream // 2007-04-08
Canadian Nagra added a map call in key packets. Expect Dishnet to follow. This is step 1 of a plan to exhaust resources of some older FTA units. Once they start running multiple calls, it will get interesting.
It is their way of saying Happy Easter.
Note: Map call has been removed from the stream for unknown reasons.
Cablecom digital codes broken by hackers // 2007-03-24
ZURICH (AFX) - Hackers have cracked encryption codes used by Swiss cable operator Cablecom and digital television technology group Kudelski SA, and released them on the internet, Sunday newspaper Sonntagszeitung reported.
'Pirates' can transfer the codes to a digital TV decoder, a so-called Dreambox DN 500c, giving them free access to a wide range of subscriber content.
Dreamboxes are legally for sale in stores.
Kudelski chief executive Andre Kudelski told the paper that the group's 'nagravision' encryption system, which has been around for six years, has also come under attack: 'We are dealing with an attack on the first generation of digital systems (using this encryption)'.
Kudelski and Cablecom intend to sue individuals breaking the law in this manner; currently four cases of criminal proceedings are pending in Switzerland.
Update on HashHU situation // 2007-03-23
After weeks of denying this is what Varcity aka thedssguy posted.
"There is a very large FTA dealer in Canada that has stepped up to provide legal assistance. The civil suit is as far as it will get, and even that is a weak case, that could be drawn out in court. There will be no injunction due to a key piece of missing evidence, PROOF OF OWNERSHIP! It's one thing to file a civil suit where the respondent must disprove their claims, it's quite another to get a judge to sign an injunction without POSITIVE PROOF of ownership. After seeing the lack of evidence, the highly acclaimed civil litigation specialist IS VERY confident..."
His post looks good but lacks the knowledge of the legal system (he might be good at what he does but I hope he does not start to give legal advices), if it is a civil case (that is what the young man is facing) then he has to prove that he is NOT guilty of any the accusations he is facing (true or false accusations), it is not a criminal case where they have to prove that you are guilty.
I remember them calling me names at HasHU and sending nasty emails after my news post now it is time to do the "damage control".
Bottom line is be careful where you hang around and what you say/do, they were NOT the only site who were being investigated.....
Intellectual Property Protection Web Conference // 2007-03-15
In a Xtalks Web Conference on Tuesday, March 13, 2007, 1:00 - 3:00pm EST, JJ Gee, Director of Field Security & Investigations, Nagrastar LLC and Steven Rogers, President, Digital Evidence International Inc. will examine intellectual property protection through automated data mining. http://xtalks.com/ipprotection.ashx
If you have an online presence then you have a corporate identity, brand, product or trademark that needs protection. Advertising revenues are lost to cyber-squatters and sales revenues are lost to brand abuse and other unlawful online activities. The sheer volume of data contained on the Internet, makes it a very arduous task to stay ahead of those who seek to earn significant profits from your intellectual property initiatives.
Manually monitoring online auction houses such as eBay, Craigslist, Kijiji and Yahoo for counterfeit and gray market sales can be very time consuming and less effective than automated data mining and reporting facilities. Brand and trademark abuse does not end with online monitoring of auction houses. Communication by would be offenders are an everyday occurrence and monitoring those communications is a requirement to identify and if necessary bring legal action against them. Automated data mining of millions of records a day enables you to "keyword search" a wide spectrum of Internet content and automated daily email updates keep you informed of abusers activities.
Stay ahead of the game using DEI's Integrated Case Management™ solution. It provides you with an effective medium for managing your evidence and collaborating with your partners to protect your customers' confidence in your products and services.
Register for free: http://xtalks.com/ipprotection.ashx
The web conference is sponsored by: Digital Evidence International Inc.
Digital Evidence International Inc. is one of North America's largest computer forensics service providers. Our dedicated team of expert's are ready to go anywhere at a moments notice and offer you court qualified expert witnesses, industry leading analytical skill sets, unparalleled expertise across a wide variety of platforms and most importantly, honesty and integrity.
Complimentary to its computer forensics offerings DEI provides Electronic Discovery services at a cost that cannot be beaten. With our proprietary web accessible e-discovery database our clients benefit from our extensive knowledge of managing large-scale assignments and our expertise with a wide range of applications and file types.
DEI also boasts the only service provider in Canada to offer full scale internet-based Intellectual Property Protection Investigations. With our proprietary methodology, Internet utilities and web accessible database we offer our clients the best opportunity for zero day identification of infringements to their trademarks, patents, brands and advertising squatters.
Correction on my last news // 2007-03-11
I was told that I did not write the news accurately yesterday, HashHU guy is not "busted" the correct word is he is "visited" and given some choices.
I also received 2 messages today, one guy asked me to remove the news and other guy "told" me to remove the news..... I will not take it personally knowing that 2nd person is fairly young and he needs to know that when you want some one to do something it is better to "ask" not "demand".
In any event you believe me or do not believe me it does not matter much to me, just be cautious what you do on the chat forums regardless.
Busted sites // 2007-03-09
People be aware there are few sites that have been busted last week, HashHU is one of the busted sites and rest I can not confirm at this time.
Easy way to deal with it is to be VERY cautious and do not let your guard down.
FTA updates // 2007-03-05
Viewsat and Coolsat were the first few to release the fix (one of the Magnum user claims that they get fix ahead of viewsat which I can not confirm myself), rest of them followed shortly after.
Key morphing on Canadian Nagra again // 2007-03-04
I was told that Canadian Nagra started the key morphing last night just before the UFC fight.
DISH should be following it soon.
On an other note I received an email from slimbob few days ago saying that Ace53 has passed away.... may God bless his soul.
Echostar, DirecTV settle lawsuits // 2007-02-26
NEW YORK — Satellite TV providers EchoStar Satellite LLC, part of EchoStar Communications Corp., and DirecTV Group Inc. said Monday they've settled lawsuits in federal district courts in California and New York.
The lawsuits focused on the use of each other's trademarks as keywords to trigger sponsored links on search engines. Neither company will use the trademark of the other as keywords, the companies said, until the U.S. Supreme Court of Congress establishes that the practice is not a violation.
In a joint statement, the companies said neither company would have any further comment on the settlement. No financial details were disclosed.
Bust in Montreal // 2007-02-22
RCMP bust illegal satellite TV operation
Montreal Gazette
Thursday, February 22, 2007
The RCMP have broken an illegal satellite television signal business operating out of Montreal.
That’s bad news for the business owner, but also for his 300-500 customers, as they, too, will be charged in the case and could face fines of up to $5,000, Corporal Luc Bessette said today.
Most of the customers signed on to obtain Spanish-language programming not available legally in Canada, Bessette said.
Police were brought in after the Canada Border Service Agency intercepted a parcel with plastic cards – keys of sorts that customers insert into decoding machines.
MONTREAL,Thursday, February 22, 2007 – The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Federal Investigation Section, as a result of information obtained from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), put an end to the activities of a Montreal man who will be charged with illegally offering satellite signal distribution services to at least 300 clients without the knowledge of an American distributor not authorized in Canada. This fraud represents losses of some 2.5 M$ for legitimate Canadian companies.
On February 20, RCMP officers searched the 42-year-old alleged offender’s satellite antenna installation business located at 8672, Drolet Street in Montréal. They seized equipment and devices used to illegally intercept and decrypt satellite signals, records related to this fraud including a list of at least 300 clients, as well as papers and computer media containing information on a post office box in the United States where invoices from a distributor not authorized in Canada were received.
The business owner could face charges under the Radiocommunication Act, including for offering for sale, leasing, distributing and installing equipment and devices used to decode an encrypted subscription programming signal without authorization from a lawful distributor in Canada. Clients will also be charged with possession of devices not authorized Canada.
A post office box in the US
The subject used a post office box in the United States to illegally offer to its clients the services of an American satellite signal distribution company, without the knowledge of this company which is not considered a legitimate distributor in Canada.
On December 15, the Canada Border Services Agency seized 18 decoding cards from this American satellite signal distributor under the Customs Act. The CBSA Investigations Division launched an investigation into allegations of fraud and searched the suspect’s residence on February 15. The items found during this search included envelopes from the American distributor addressed to a post office box in the United States, antennas used to pick up satellite signals and a number of credit card statements.
The case was then referred to the RCMP and the Federal Investigation Section conducted an investigation and searched the Montreal-based business on Tuesday.
Distribution, theft or piracy of satellite signals remain serious crimes in Canada, punishable under the Radiocommunication Act.
Interesting article // 2007-02-20
Canada & the European Union Should Get Involved in the Antigua Case...By Hartley Henderson
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have issued arrest warrants for senior management of DirecTV and DISH Network. In 1995, the Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) granted exclusive rights to Bell ExpressVu and Star Choice for direct to home satellite service in Canada. All American dishes and satellite service were declared illegal in the country, yet many Canadians had the satellite dishes they purchased prior to the CRTC's ruling and continued to receive satellite service from DirecTV and DISH network throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s to watch the "illegal" signals. Eventually both DirecTV and DISH were able to scramble the signals so that Canadians couldn't access the service from the U.S. based companies, but in the eyes of Canadian authorities the satellite companies were negligent for not stopping the signals to Canadians in the first place, even prior to the CRTC officially declaring the dishes illegal. The fact that the whole U.S. based satellite industry was a grey area in Canadian law that had not been tested and the fact that DirecTV and DISH network were operating in the United States in accordance with American law was not relevant. The RCMP believe that Canada's laws are all that is relevant on the world stage, and hence if any management from the aforementioned companies steps foot on Canadian soil they will be arrested immediately. Furthermore, Canada is in talks with the U.S. department of justice to extradite DISH and DirecTV management to Canada for prosecution.
The above story is only partially true. In 1995 the CRTC did grant exclusive rights to Bell and Star Choice for satellite service and Canadians were using the "illegal satellites" with service provided by the U.S. satellite carriers. However that's where the truth of the previous paragraph ends. Canada has no intention of arresting any Americans in regards to this. Furthermore, even if Canada asked for extradition or tried to arrest the Americans for doing something which was perfectly legal in the United States and was a grey area in Canadian law, the American government would likely demand the charges be dropped and also expect an apology for the wrongful prosecution. Yet, what was described above is precisely what the U.S. department of justice is currently doing with regards to online gambling. Let's rewind to 1997.
The internet was in its infancy, online gambling had just started to evolve and there were absolutely no laws in place regarding internet wagering in the United States. Of his own initiative, Jon Kyl tried to equate the internet with the telephone and introduced his Internet Gambling Prohibition Bill. The main argument was that the internet and the telephone were one in the same and any betting laws pertaining to the telephone (i.e. the wire act) also pertained to the internet. Courts ruled that they weren't the same and further ruled that the wire act was for sports betting only so it could not apply to other forms of wagering such as poker and casinos.
One thing beyond dispute is that the offshore companies were legal in the jurisdictions they were operating from. Antigua, the United Kingdom, Costa Rica, Gibraltar, The Isle of Man, Australia etc. all issued gambling licenses which allowed the companies set up there and to take bets worldwide, including from American citizens. There was no grey in the countries which authorized the sportsbooks, casinos and eventually poker sites to set up there, the grey area was and still is with the United States. Despite the court's ruling, the United States Department of Justice decided the courts were wrong and it was correct in its interpretation of the wire act and issued arrest warrants for individuals located offshore. Included in those warrants was one for World Sports Exchange founder Jay Cohen. Jay, to his credit, tried to prove the department of justice wrong and voluntarily returned to the United States to face the courts and exonerate himself and others who he believed were operating legally offshore. In 2000 Jay was found guilty in a U.S. court for violating the Wire Act, but all who saw the trial were in agreement that the proceedings were a farce and that justice was never really served. The presiding judge ordered the jury to find Jay guilty, although many jurors were convinced he would have been found innocent if not for the judge's order. In fact, Jay himself stated that jurors came to him after the case and said they wanted to find him innocent but the judge's command to the jury made that impossible. Still, as unjust as that was, Jay and several others who the government ordered arrest warrants for were American citizens operating offshore. Clearly U.S. law was not meant to apply to non American citizens operating legally from the country where they are located.
The first American law actually passed involving internet gambling was the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 passed in October. Let me repeat that: of 2006!! The act made it illegal for U.S. financial institutions to process transactions for online gaming companies. As a consequence of that law being enacted, all public companies offering internet wagering closed off their operations to American bettors and many other private companies exited also because they that it would be difficult to deal with U.S. banks. Yet despite thae fact that the UIGEA wasn't passed until October, the U.S. department of justice arrested David Carruthers and Peter Dicks upon touching down in the United States prior to the law being enacted. And furthermore, they were arrested for something unrelated to the UIGEA, which is still the only law in the United States which applies to internet wagering. The UIGEA only relates to funding internet wagering. Furthermore, these were NON American managers of public companies that were operating legally according to the British law where their operations were set up and incorporated. Similarly, the arrests of Stephen Lawrence and John Lefebvre, Canadian citizens and former managers of NETeller, were in relation to funding offshore accounts, but the warrants related to activities that happened years prior to the UIGEA being passed into law. When the UIGEA did actually get passed, both men were long gone from the company. Think of the ramifications of that! Can you imagine the outcry from the public and media if a law abiding U.S. citizen was arrested for doing something which just became illegal, but was not illegal at the time he or she did it? It's unconscionable. Imagine how much worse it would be if that arrest was for a citizen of another country. Yet that is precisely what has happened. So as one can see, what the American government is currently doing is almost as sinister and ridiculous as the spoof written above of the Canadian authorities trying to arrest the DISH and DirecTV managers.
That brings us to the headline of this article. While the United States has been on this crusade against internet gambling operations worldwide, no other countries have stepped in to fight for their citizens or their economic rights except for Antigua. The small country of Antigua and Barbuda, realizing that its laws and economy aren't ruled by the U.S.A., went to the WTO and fought for the right to sell its services in accordance with WTO rules and Antiguan law. The WTO sided with Antigua and demanded the U.S.A. open its markets to Antiguan internet gambling companies, but the United States has steadfastly refused to abide by the WTO ruling. To that point, the European Union (EU), Canada, Mexico and Chinese Taipei all stated they were interested in the case as third party participants but have done nothing to date. For the good of their own economic interests, and to prove that the WTO is not a paper tiger, those countries and particularly the European Union and Canada should step in and side with Antigua. Almost all WTO meetings of late have proven pointless and one sided.
In areas of cotton, agriculture, lumber and global warming, among other issues, the United States has seemed unwilling to budge and have demanded the WTO accept their views in all those areas. In fact, delegates from many third world countries walked out of a WTO meeting at Cancun in 2003 because the United States and EU refused to accept WTO resolutions which would have given the developing countries more rights. In all fairness, the demands of the third world countries at that meeting may have been unrealistic (expecting the developed countries to stop offering subsidies to farmers as one example), but it still doesn't change the fact that the U.S. was absolutely unwilling to discuss any alternatives. After all, isn't negotiation about give and take? The EU even confirmed America's unwillingness to negotiate at the WTO last year when Peter Mandelson, the European Trade Commissioner, blamed the United States for the failure of the WTO meeting in Doha stating that "Washington was unwilling to accept or... acknowledge flexibility being shown by others".
And as far as softwood lumber goes, many WTO rulings in favour of Canada and against the U.S.A. were ignored by Uncle Sam and eventually Canada settled for a lesser settlement than what the WTO ordered, figuring that the U.S.A. would delay and dither forever and that something now was better than nothing later. But it has also been widely accepted that WTO decisions usually side with the United States, and since the WTO's inception in 1995, the U.S.A. has been the biggest beneficiary as a result of WTO rulings. Is this what the WTO was designed for, to be a yes man for America? Hardly, the WTO was set up so that larger countries couldn't pick on smaller ones as a result of size and power which is precisely what is happening. Canada and the European Union have every reason to be involved in this case to ensure a dangerous precedent isn't set,`34 whereby the United States is the only country that matters in WTO rulings. Consequently, they should stand side by side with Antigua to demand that the United States stop acting as rulers of the world and start accepting WTO decisions that go against them.
The European Union, and especially Britain, should be ashamed that they have allowed the American justice department to arrest European citizens for providing a service that is legal in Europe. If Carruthers or Dicks had set up a physical bookmaking operation in the United States then America would have every right to arrest them just as they arrest illegal bookmakers on American soil now. But what Dicks and Carruthers did was not illegal where they operated. Is Britain basically stating that their own laws are impotent on the world stage? If so, why would anyone ever set up an international corporation located in Britain if the country isn't willing to fight for their own laws? As well, what does it say for the AIM (British stock market)? BetonSports and NETeller were allowed to incorporate and sell shares in Britain and the breadth of their operations were well laid out in their prospectuses. If Britain doesn't have enough guts to defend their stock market regulators for allowing these companies to operate in the first place, then why should anyone ever invest in British stocks again? After all, a precedent would be set essentially stating that at the first sign of trouble for British public companies, the government of the U.K. will run and hide.
As for Canada, politicians have scored major points by standing up to the United States. To many individuals in Canada, the United States is seen as a bully who does what it wants and essentially gives the finger to anyone who tries to stand up to them. This happened with softwood lumber, it happened with the mad cow scare when America closed its border to Canadian beef and refused to open it when the beef was proven safe, and it happened after 9-11 when America accused Canada of letting the World Trade Center bombers into the United States and then refused to apologize to the country when that was proven to be false, and in fact continued to perpetuate this lie. Furthermore, Canada allows the small town of Kahnawake to offer sports betting services to the United States, but the United States has never even addressed anyone from the Mohawk Nation when issuing arrest warrants. It appears the U.S. doesn't want to upset the Indian reserve since they have their own native problems, and the last thing they want is a civil war with the first nations. After all, the UIGEA gave an exemption to the natives to offer internet wagering, but the U.S. government has no problem arresting British citizens upon entering the U.S. Talk about a double standard.
Thus we are at a point where other nations either have to stand up to the United States or declare George Bush president of the world and let the United States determine morals and economic policy for every other nation on earth. True, Antigua has a small population and internet gambling may not be of paramount importance to all these other countries, but this is the first time a smaller country has been willing to take the type of stand they have against the United States for what they believe are their rights under the WTO. And the WTO and appellate body have made it clear that the U.S. is in the wrong. This is David vs. Goliath and as was the case in the bible, David is on the side of right here. The United States is arguing that remote gambling is immoral, but they offer remote gambling everywhere in their own country. Since when is protectionism about morality? If the European community, Canada and all nations in the WTO for that matter, truly believe in the principles and purpose of the World Trade Organization then they should come to the defense of Antigua. Doing so will send the message that the WTO is not a one way street in favor of the world superpowers, it will also send a more important message that when you deal in a global economy disputes have to be settled by international courts. And if the decisions don't go a country's way, sometimes they just have to admit that maybe they were wrong.
For the sake of economic fairness, for the sake of their own citizens who were wrongly prosecuted and persecuted by the United States and for the sake of avoiding a precedent setting case declaring the United States as having the sole power to dictate ethics and morality to the rest of the world, the European Union should get off the fence and take the side of Antigua in the WTO case involving internet gambling.
Reg passed away // 2007-02-10
I just heard Reg aka TTRK (Vcipher) passed away Feb 3rd 2007, my condolences to the family, Reg's wife passed away last year leaving him and their daughters (one fairly young) and now Reg passed away, my prayers and thoughts with the girls and rest of the family.
FTA updates // 2007-02-05
Viewsat and SonicView were fast to release the fix but they overlooked the codes, viewsat released the fix for their fix again lol.
Coolsat was good this round, they released it faster than before and it was proper software, rest of the gang followed shortly.
A friend of mine is using Nfusion and he claims that both of his receivers were not affected with the last key routines, he told me that he is not using IKS option.
Viewsat and Sonicview fix out // 2007-02-02
It is a cat and mouse game and these guys are cats again, rest of the FTA guys will be releasing their fixes soon (I think).
Attack of cloned FTA receivers // 2007-02-01
It has been brought to my attention that there is a huge problem with cloned FTA receivers lately.
The known affected companies are Viewsat, Coolsat and Pansat, I came across a site which deals with this issue and it looks interesting.... here is the site to check out http://www.sat-clones.com/ Apparently Coolsat and Viewsat are offering a reward on information leading to dealers or importers selling the cloned units, all information is on the above site.
On the satellite front Canadian Nagra introduce a new hash in their stream to confuse FTA receivers, Dishnet should be following it soon.
HBO files lawsuit against Echostar // 2007-01-31
EchoStar Communications owes $90 million in licensing fees to premium cable network HBO, according to a lawsuit.
HBO claims in a lawsuit filed this month in New York federal court that EchoStar failed to pay $50 million in license fees and interest dating to 2001, and another $40 million from the underpayment and miscalculation of fees.
The complaint comes as the network that's home to The Sopranos and Curb Your Enthusiasm and EchoStar's Dish Network haven't been able to agree on a new contract since the end of last year.
HBO, which is available for an additional monthly fee, continues to air on Dish Network, unlike Court TV. That channel disappeared from Dish on New Year's Eve after neither side could agree on programming fees for a new contract.
Both HBO and Court TV are part of Time Warner, which also owns EchoStar rival Time Warner Cable.
EchoStar said HBO sued in retaliation for a complaint it filed last year with federal regulators, accusing HBO of demanding higher prices from EchoStar than from cable operators.
EchoStar is the nation's second-largest satellite-TV provider, with 13 million subscribers.
"We want a fair and reasonable long-term deal with HBO and are working hard to negotiate a fair contract," Douglas County-based EchoStar said. "At the same time, we must protect our customers from unreasonable rates."
HBO spokesman Jeff Cusson said the two actions have "nothing to do with each other" and the network is "confident that we will be found to be fair and nondiscriminatory." He declined to comment on the rest of the lawsuit.
Last year, Lifetime disappeared from Dish for a month until both sides reached a new contract in February.
NDS Videoguard hack rumor // 2007-01-23
This is the email I received this morning and I can not confirm it 100% but this guy has been around for long time.
"Just wanted to let u know that NDS Videoguard Sky mexico is open via IKS on Neosat Ipro2000. Along with Globcast Nagra and Globcast Irideto. Units are only in mods/dealers hands as of now. They are due to ship out tuesday the 30th for all preorder and for genral sale as of 30th of jan"
Ottawa man suing RCMP // 2007-01-15
OTTAWA - A man who sold satellite systems along with decoder cards that allowed Canadians to tune in to U.S. satellites is suing the RCMP for raiding his home office.
Lawyers for Andre Lehaie alleged in court Monday that the equipment he was selling in 1998 was not illegal because the law hadn't kept up with new technology.
Lehaie says two raids on his satellite systems import company in 1998 were so devastating that he was driven out of business.
Lehaie's company, Digital Supercity, imported U.S. satellite systems and modified satellite decoder cards to allow his Canadian customers to receive signals from American satellite providers without their knowledge, which the RCMP says is illegal under Canada's Radiocommunications Act.
After first obtaining a search warrant, the RCMP raided Lehaie's Ottawa home, where he had his offices, on Nov. 8, 1998.
It confiscated satellite systems units, business records and software used to hack into decoder cards to allow them to unscramble U.S. signals.
Some time later, it raided his offices again when it observed him importing more units, after which he declared personal bankruptcy.
Lawyers for Lehaie argued that at the time of the raid it was unclear whether the Radiocommunications Act applied to signals from the U.S.
Lawyers representing the RCMP, however, pointed to a 2002 Supreme Court ruling that said the law also applies to satellite signals from U.S. providers, even though the ruling came four years after the raid.
''This is not a question of fact, this is a question of law,'' defence lawyer Elizabeth Richards insisted. ''The Supreme Court speaks retroactively. It did not become an offence in 2002, it always was an offence.''
The case continues today.
Key morphing on Dishnet // 2007-01-04
I got reports on BEV side yesterday as I commented Dishnet started the key morphing also, most of the devices are not working with auto rolling option at this time.
Both of the providers quit morphing keys after 3-4 hours of morphing on Dishnet side.
Jan 6th Morphing starts again.
Key morphing on Canadian Nagra // 2007-01-03
Reports are coming in that Bell is morphing keys and that is causing no roll on some of the FTAs and other devices, I suspect Dish will follow this action soon.
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