It's beginning to sound like it wasn't so much the EFF's persuasive words that convinced DirecTV to stop suing people just for owning smartcard equipment. Just one day after that announcement was made, a judge has told the satellite TV company that they can no longer sue just for possession if they have no proof that the person actually did anything wrong with the equipment. It certainly took the courts long enough to come to that conclusion, causing problems for plenty of people who were wrongfully sued. In the meantime, this ruling makes you think that DirecTV already knew it was coming when they made their little "promise" to the EFF yesterday.