Re: And the shakedown begins...

[mike808@users.sourceforge.net]

Aaron writes: so, simply *owning* a smartcard reader/programmer is illegal?!?

According to DirecTV, simply *owning* a smartcard reader/programmer
(all smartcard readers are programmers, btw) means you *intend* to use it
to *steal* their service. And to them, that's good enough to get you a Federal 
lawsuit. Ignore it and the "settlement offer" of $3500 lands you the default 
judgement (meaning you can't sell your house - that also includes refinancing)
to the tune of $10K.

So, how did they target you for such a letter, you ask? Well, they trolled 
the internet and brib^Wsuggest^Wcontributed to the re-election campaigns of
some local sherrifs to go bust the "Descrambler - All Channels" guys selling
smartcard "programmers" (aka a reader). Then they get the Sherrif to turn
 over the seized customer lists and send a letter to every one of them.
The theory is that not a single customer of those guys could have possibly 
bought a smartcard "programmer" for *any* reason other than to steal DirecTV.

This is pre-emptive, guilt-by-association, sue-them-all-and-let-those-that-
can-afford-a-defense-go, and the poor, well, they're used to suffering.

Welcome to AmeriCorp.

Mike808/

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http://www.valuenet.net



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