DirecTV Hacker Is First Person Convicted Under DMCA – Faces 30 Years

from the steep dept

With all the talk about the DMCA, apparently no one has ever been convicted under the DMCA for circumventing security measures. That just changed. Someone has been found guilty of violating the DMCA for selling modified DirecTV cards that let people access the service without paying DirecTV. DirecTV, of course, has been coming down hard (perhaps too hard) on anyone they think is helping people receive their signals for free. However, this guy is now facing 30 years in jail and a fine of $2.75 million. Doesn’t that seem a bit extreme compared to the sorts of penalties handed out to violent criminals these days?


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Comments on “DirecTV Hacker Is First Person Convicted Under DMCA – Faces 30 Years”

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8 Comments
Anonymous Coward says:

Such OTT bullsh1t

30 years and $2.75m? So another example of some poor schmuck who is being made into an example.

Jees, I mean it’s not as if there’s anything worth watching on TV anyway.

Mind you I guess as a pirate he’s “taking jobs from makeup artists” etc. who work in the movie industry (as I was told when I went to the cinema this weekend).

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: .

> no doubt they could pass laws allowing for
> their attackers to get the chair.

About 50 years ago, rapists DID get the chair in a lot of states (mainly the South). But liberals deemed it “backward” and the SCOTUS (temporarially) overturned the death penalty and now it is hard to get it done for mass murderers (Charles Manson is still alive as a result of this temp overturn in the death penalty. Also don’t forget all the mass murderers the dem govorner of ill. just let go on a mass pardon)

So don’t blame EVERYTHING on monopolies (okay, maybe your comparison was just not a good comparison)

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