17 Dish Pirates Indicted
By Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 2/12/2003 9:47:00 AM
In what is described as the largest satellite-signal-theft case in U.S. history, 17 men have been indicted for writing software and hardware to defeat the "smart-card" technology utilized by DirecTV Inc. and EchoStar Communications Corp.
The U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California announced the result of a yearlong investigation Tuesday, the day five of the men were taken into custody.
U.S. attorney Debra W. Yang said the men who have been charged worked together in an "underground, online community" to develop hacking technology. They were caught by an investigation dubbed "Operation Decrypt."
Warrants were served on the men in seven states last October. Evidence in those raids was taken to a grand jury, which issued the indictments.
As an example of the damage caused by the pirates, investigators said one man -- Randyl Walter of West Los Angeles, Calif. -- has already pleaded guilty to manufacturing decryption devices and admitted that his activities caused nearly $15 million in damages to DirecTV and EchoStar.
"In terms of our own long-standing and vigorous campaign against signal thieves, we believe this case will help to mitigate the spread of piracy now and weaken efforts to hack our conditional-access system in the future," DirecTV executives said in a prepared statement.
No related content found.
Featured Company
-
Bigband Networks
BigBand Networks, Inc. NASDAQ: BBND provides broadband service providers with innovative network solutions designed to make it easier to move, manage and monetize video. These solutions are based on BigBand's video-networking platforms that are built to enable efficient and relia..more
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
