Gugi47
04-28-2009, 08:46 AM
DirecTV brags about their Security
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 [ur]www.businesswire.com[/url].
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.
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 [ur]www.businesswire.com[/url].
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.