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DirecTV Dragnet Snares Innocent Techies
from the sounds-like-extortion dept
A great article over at Security Focus looking at DirecTV's attempts to go after satellite cable pirates that is getting innocent techies in trouble. DirecTV has been very aggressive in shutting down various companies that sold equipment needed to build pirate DirecTV smart cards - and in doing so, took possession of their customer lists. They've sent threatening letters to many of those customers, even if they had no proof that the customer ever used the technology to steal DirecTV. There are legitimate uses for smartcard programmers, but DirecTV doesn't care. They say that these sites were clearly designed to be used by those who wanted to pirate signals, and thus, you must be guilty if you ordered from them. Even in cases where people seem to have legitimate reasons for using the devices, DirecTV tells them to pay a $3,500 "settlement" fee - which they point out will be cheaper than going to court. In one case where some of the accused people are fighting back, the judge sided with DirecTV and awarded attorney's fees to the decision - meaning that these folks who claim they bought the devices (under $100) for legitimate purposes (like building a secure PC), have to (a) pay $3,500 to DirecTV and (b) a portion of the legal fees for the lawsuit. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?
Reader Comments
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No Subject Given
Unfortunately, innocent until proven guilty doesn't apply to civil suits.
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EVERYONE IS GUILTY
YOU ARE ALL GUILTY ! YOU STEAL TV,DOWNLOAD MUSIC AND IF YOU BUY ANYTHING SOON LIKE A DVD BURNER YOU WILL ALL GOTO JAIL!DO NOT PASS GO!
URGE CONGRESS TO ELIMINATE THE DCMA!
IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT IT IS LOOK IT UP
GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT?
DO YOU WANT THAT????????????YOU GOT IT
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
EVERYONE IS GUILTY
YOU ARE ALL GUILTY -YOU STEAL TV,DOWNLOAD MUSIC AND IF YOU BUY ANYTHING SOON LIKE A DVD BURNER YOU WILL ALL GOTO JAIL!DO NOT PASS GO!
URGE CONGRESS TO ELIMINATE THE DCMA!
IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT IT IS LOOK IT UP
GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT?
DO YOU WANT THAT????????????YOU GOT IT
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Shhhh!
Stop shouting dear. People will be angered by your typing in all caps and just move on to the next poster and your posting will not receive the attention it deserves.
Now, put down the keyboard, step away from the computer and give Mama some sugar. There, there... now that's a good boy!
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Fight back
Why dont we at techdirt do more then talk?
Mike, how about you put something in place where we can make a formal letter to sign and send out to various gov bodies to protest actions such as this.
Until geeks voices are gathered, we will never be heard.
I can help with the technology aspect, feel free to give me an email.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Fight back
Dmitry, here's two websites dedicated to fight back:
http://www.stop-corporate-extortion.com
http://forums.wumarkus.com/
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
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