Satellite Piracy in Canada and U.S. in 2010

Yes I admit they are not smart but it is getting very popular, and Bell and Dish are again slowly getting back to the same position they were in before the swap. I wonder what they will do next? Another swap or just try to nail these servers?

Kind of funny how it's always Bell and Dish that get hit so hard with the piracy.
 
Actually sites can block ads from particular URL's which is what I do if an ad is bogging down the site or is deemed offensive. As far as Bell goes, they have complete control over the sites they advertise on.
 
There will always be some who will try to get something for nothing or who simply want to stick it to the "big Boys". Others believe the airwaves should be free. That will never change.

As much as I am against piracy and have always "paid my way", I certainly believe the actions of the carriers have contributed to this problem. Their channel packaging is a constant source of irritation to many. Customer service complaints abound, and there is also the feeling of being at their mercy, and that they simply don't listen to their customers. This drives some customers to look for "alternatives", even if they are illegal. The "I'm not hurting anyone" phrase get used a lot in those cases.

Maybe I'm living in a dreamworld but I truly believe that if customers could simply pick and pay for the channels they want then piracy would decrease dramatically. Then again..maybe not.
 
Perhaps the ads are part of Google's customized ad program which places ads relative to the address of the computer. Bell may have little control over what sites contain the ads geared for Canadians. One of the purposes of ads is name recognition and may have no relationship to questionable web sites.
 
Not really. The pirates are simply attacking the weakest security in the satellite network.
 
+1 Francois.

For many years (about 97 to 2003), all the pirating was done with Directv because it was comprised. Directv fixed the problem and, to my knowledge, has pretty much rid itself of the piracy problem.

Pirates only turned to Dish and Bell when Directv got serious. Why Echostar can't fix the problem remains a mystery!
 
Actually this IKS system is not considered to be a hack so the system is still secure. It is a workaround...a sophisticated means of cardsharing over the internet. No cards are hacked and only paid for programming can be shared.

This system is only new in North America as it has been implemented heavily in Europe for a long time but in a much smarter manner. In Europe you have private servers and folks who must share their own subs into the pool to have access to the subs of others.

This system works well in Europe because of all the different systems and channels available. For example a person in England might be interested in French programing so he seeks out a group who wants his english programming and vice-versa.

So in fact Echostar does not have a piracy problem at all...it is a cardsharing issue. At this point Dish and Bev are more interested in lawsuits than ever before. They have been able to track quite a few of these providers and sue the owners.

It has been said that they are gathering evidence to go after the end users...as more and more of these busts happen and the piracy does not stop the only logical step is to use the information they have gathered in the bust of dealers/importers/manufacturers to go after the users connected to these systems.
 
By that logic Echostar never had a piracy problem, it had a faulty card problem. How you steal signals you haven't paid for is irrelevant. It's theft.
 
Interesting discussion... I wonder why they aren't teaming up with ISPs to actually black hole known card sharing servers. Most big Canadian ISPs also have TV services of some sort so IMO it wouldn't take much to convince them.
 
Nagra has an even bigger problem on their hands. In order to divert pirates from their system to, say, Directv, building a more secure system than their competitor simply isn't enough anymore.

For a pirate to crack Directv, they'd have to pretty much start from scratch. But for a pirate to crack a new form of Nagra protection, unless the new security system is completely replaced, the pirates only have to start working from the last Nagra crack they've developed.

Not only must Nagra develop a new security system that's better than Directv, they have to develop one whose complexity is greater than Directv's entire security system, but which starts from their current vulnerabilities!

So for argument's sake, if Directv's security is equivalent to a factor of 1.0, and Nagra's security is equivalent to a factor of 0.8, the factor of any new security system Nagra develops must surpass a factor of 1.8 to even begin to divert pirates to cracking the Directv system.

As a result, Nagra has a security system which, in my opinion, is permanently broken. There's no way they can increase the security by a factor equivalent to Directv's entire security system.
 
I was just distinguishing the facts of the current workaround compared to the previous card hack.

This system they have now is akin to sub sharing...but on a large scale.

The ONLY reason Direct tv is not being abused in this same manner is because they use a proprietary DSS system where as Dish/Bell use the DVB standard that is universally used for FTA.

Hence the reason FTA's are being used for cardsharing is because the systems are compatible and not because they are easier to hack or are hacked etc...

Most people think DTV and DISH are both satellite companies so they are the same...not so.

This latest Piracy does not involve any hacking of the cards so if there were a device that could be marketed to share the control words of DTV over the Internet it would be easy to accomplish the same thing.

The reason its not out there is because all the hackers had these FTA boxes lying around...and for an extra 100 they could get a dongle and keep watching. That eventually turned into buying new boxes with built in ethernet....but they are still only DVB compatible.

Anyone caught selling a device that would work with DTV would soon have their nuts in a vice. The way FTA workaround the legalities is to offer things such as "Weather forecasters" that connect the legal box to an illegal server. It has a presumed legal purpose. Nothing can make a device that connects to DTV boxes legal to sell.

One other reason is because these boxes appeal to the plug in and watch folks who don't really want to know how it all works...they just want to pay the money plug the thing in and watch. Something for other systems would require alot more knowhow and patience....something the typical "FTA" pirate is not known for.

My point is....nagravision has a secure card... Echostar uses a platform that is compatible with the workaround...so they have a piracy problem. They plugged up the one leak but another sprung up...to no surprise because the IKS systems were already in use before they secured the cards.
 
As I understand it, the access card version just prior to N3 being released has recently been hacked (Rom 206). If Nagrastar did not change much from the Rom 206 to the current Rom 24X, they may be experiencing deja vu all over again.
 
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