, SecurityFocus 2003-09-03
Lawyers for three men whose online equipment purchases made them targets of DirecTV's anti-piracy campaign are hoping to turn the tables on the satellite company by suing under the mob-busting Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) federal organized crime statute.
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What you fail to realize, this coming from a guy who plays with smartcards for a legit purpose, is that the standard ISO (smartcard) programmers bought are built to read and write the ISO smartcard but are very limited. These "satalite hacking" programmers have a programmable ATMEL chip on them. This makes them far more flexable then the standard 'off the line' ISO Programmers.
The point to keep in mind isn't a matter of if these items are also being used for illegal purposes, but rather that DirecTV is sending letters with threats of lawsuits unless monies are paid, to everyone on the list of customers without any proof that they are doing anything illegal.
If I sold a chip for hackers that allowed thier PC to process data faster, for the purpose of scanning IP Addresses more reliably, breaking encryption, etc.. wouldn't this chip also have legal uses? Wouldn't it be great for Genome @ home type projects or graphic manipulation? Now if you bought this chip for a legal purpose, how would you feel if some company sent you a letter accusing you of hacking!? Demanding that you send $3500 or you would be sued! It's illegal, they are using the fear of lawsuits on people who may or may not be doing something illegal to force them to send money and they have NO PROOF that the person is breaking the law. They merely assume!
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Link to this comment: http://www.securityfocus.com/comments/articles/6865/21968#21968