TV Pirate Tells All

May 31, 2008 6:33 PM

Christopher Tarnovsky, smartcard programmer,gives a fascinating insider account of his years in the cloak-and-dagger world of satellite TV piracy. Tarnovsky began as a satellite pirate himself before being hired by a DirecTV contractor to develop anti-piracy electronic countermeasures; he was allegedly responsible for the "Black Sunday" attack on DirecTV pirates.

The included video, though not directly relevant to his story, features an impressive display of hardware-hacking skills and is well worth watching.

Previously: the end of DirecTV piracy, Black Sunday attack.

posted by whir (13 comments total)

Interesting stories.

Also interesting that this whole thing has been pretty much rendered moot by BitTorrent and broadband - no reason to even bother hacking set-top boxes.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 6:40 PM on May 31, 2008

A lot of people call bittorrent and other "sharing" schemes piracy but I'm kind of on the fence on that.

HOWEVER. If a company literally beams information into my house, I fail to see how decoding it, if I can, can be illegal.
posted by DU at 6:46 PM on May 31, 2008 [1 favorite]

HOWEVER. If a company literally beams information into my house, I fail to see how decoding it, if I can, can be illegal.

Your neighbor's WiFi is beamed into your house, and accessing it is also illegal (the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act). Many kinds of information may be physically on your property but you do not have the right to read it.
posted by Monochrome at 8:08 PM on May 31, 2008

Great reporting.
posted by GuyZero at 8:53 PM on May 31, 2008

I had a friend who got free satalite for years with one of those test cards in the 90s.
posted by delmoi at 10:31 PM on May 31, 2008

Your neighbor's WiFi is beamed into your house, and accessing it is also illegal (the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act). Many kinds of information may be physically on your property but you do not have the right to read it.

That's totally different. With a WiFi connection you're not just decoding it, you're also sending data back, and using up finite resources (network bandwidth) if you download stuff.

There's a huge difference between 'passive' analysis, and interacting with something. Nevertheless, Test cards are actually illegal either way.
posted by delmoi at 10:34 PM on May 31, 2008 [2 favorites]

If a company literally beams information into my house, I fail to see how decoding it, if I can, can be illegal.

I don't fail to see how it could be illegal, that would be entirely myopic in a way that only DU seems to be able to muster, but I do understand the philosophic implications of what he is stating.

It's illegal because satellite providers need a legislative helping hand (backed by the force of law) to peddle an inferior product which is not only laced with, but driven by, advertising to people who don't bat an eye at the absurdity of *paying* for commercial television...
posted by wfrgms at 11:05 PM on May 31, 2008

Also interesting that this whole thing has been pretty much rendered moot by BitTorrent and broadband - no reason to even bother hacking set-top boxes.

When BitTorrent and broadband can deliver sporting events live then it'll be rendered moot. Until then, sales of hackable set-top boxes continues to thrive.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 3:00 AM on June 1, 2008

When BitTorrent and broadband can deliver sporting events live then it'll be rendered moot.

Give it a few years, but good point, I never think of live television.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 6:41 AM on June 1, 2008

That's totally different. With a WiFi connection you're not just decoding it, you're also sending data back, and using up finite resources (network bandwidth) if you download stuff.

Yep.

Basically, the government is telling you you're not allowed to fiddle with certain parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, because... well, "because we said so." There are probably provisions for education or research, but consumers are only allowed to suck from this corporate teet and not that one. Oh, and fuck the public good.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 7:44 AM on June 1, 2008

When BitTorrent and broadband can deliver sporting events live then it'll be rendered moot.

CBS streamed the entire NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament this year. Its a start.

Also, what major sporting events are there that can't be picked up well with a set of rabbit ears? Early rounds of the NBA playoffs on TNT, some golf, and hockey are all I can think of.

I would say the appeal of HD and movie programming has more to do with piracy thriving than does the demand for live sporting events. Watching a movie on a laptop in bed sucks compared to filling your favorite ass groove on the couch, and watching it on the tube.
posted by clearly at 5:14 PM on June 1, 2008

Watching a movie on a laptop in bed sucks

YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.

The laptop hooks up to the TV, silly.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 5:19 PM on June 1, 2008

HOWEVER. If a company literally beams information into my house, I fail to see how decoding it, if I can, can be illegal.

The great majority of DirecTV hackers use the DirecTV satellite and the DirecTV set top box to get the signal, so it's not like they are just plucking something from the air that would already be there. And DirecTV pays programming costs to the content providers, licensing fees to the sports leagues for NBA, NHL, NFL (several hundred million per year for this one alone), and MLB packages, equipment costs for the giant satellites they put in orbit, costs for the development, maintenance, and installation of the satellite and set top boxes each consumer uses, etc. There are real and substantial costs to the content provider. A recreational television watcher who uses a purposefully hacked card to get access to the content without paying is wrong. It's pretty open-and-shut.

If nobody paid for the service, it wouldn't be there for pirates to freeload. If you want free television, hook up an antenna to your tv and watch what's out there.
posted by AgentRocket at 11:19 AM on June 2, 2008