If you think software piracy is bad, well there is another way of getting a fine. Get a sattelite dish, some hardware and crack the protection of sattelite broadcasts.
It seems to become more and more dangerous, as DirecTV is raiding the sattelite pirates and their web sites.
The raids are part of a growing campaign by technology companies to quash the illegal distribution and delivery of their products and programming. |
DirecTV's move comes after a pre-Super Bowl technology sting in which the company updated its software and sent out a signal that rendered counterfeit access cards and systems useless earlier this year, according to Forrester principal analyst Josh Bernoff.
"They are getting more aggressive," Bernoff told NewsFactor Network. "They're selling 3 million subscriptions a year. In an environment like that, you can't let someone have it for free."
In addition to capturing equipment used to reprogram access cards, the raid also resulted in the shutdown of several Web sites through restraining orders or preliminary injunctions, according to DirecTV.
Web sites of such firms as Texas-based Axxess Plus and Florida-based HuCardpro were among those targeted. Phone numbers to both Axxess Plus and HuCardpro were disconnected, but the Axxess Plus Web site had a message for would-be counterfeit card shoppers:
"It seems as though DTV is cracking down very hard on companies small and large who sell products which can be used to steal their satellite signal," says the message, which adds Axxess is no longer in business.
"There are severe civil and criminal penalties which could result from being caught stealing satellite signals or dealing in devices used for such purposes, which some people are finding out the hard way."
Source: Newsfactor.com
