Geoff@CSL.SRI.COM.UUCP (07/24/86)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Investigators using a complicated process
of elimination have unmasked ''Captain Midnight,'' who admitted in
court he overrode HBO's satellite delivery system to transmit a
message.
John R. MacDougall, owner of a home satellite dish business in Ocala
that officials said was hurt by cable companies' decisions to
scramble their signals, agreed to plead guilty to illegal
transmission of a satellite signal in exchange for a $5,000 fine and
one year probation.
He could have faced a maximum $10,000 fine and a year imprisonment.
MacDougall, who was released on a $5,000 bond, and his attorney,
John M. Green Jr., refused to comment as they left the federal court
building Tuesday after entering the plea before a U.S. magistrate.
Sentencing is set for Aug. 26 and MacDougall can retract his plea if
the judge will not accept the arrangement.
Early on April 27, MacDougall was the only one working at a
satellite transmission center called Central Florida Teleport with
the kind of equipment needed to disrupt the HBO signal, officials
said.
Although the video sneak attack was only a minor annoyance to HBO
and its viewers, the Federal Communications Commission launched a
massive investigation because of the potential problems a less
selective video hacker might cause.
''The potential for damage to critical satellite frequencies cannot
be underestimated,'' said Richard M. Smith, chief of the FCC's field
operations bureau. He noted that critical telephone calls, air
traffic control, military data and medical information are sent by
satellite and that even an accidental interruption of one of these
messages could cause dire consequences.
On April 27, HBO viewers saw a message replace the movie ''The
Falcon and the Snowman.'' The message said:
''Goodevening HBO
''From Captain Midnight
''$12.95 month
''No way!
''(Showtime Movie Channel beware.)''
The wording was an apparent reference to HBO's decision to scramble
its satellite-delivered signal so it could not be watched by those
not paying for HBO, officials said.
''His company was sustaining substantial losses because of the
scrambing of HBO and threats of other scrambling,'' said Assistant
U.S. Attorney Lawrence Gentile III.
MacDougall also interrupted HBO video signals on April 20, when he
transmitted a color bar pattern, officials said.
On Jan. 15, HBO became the first cable TV network to scramble its
signal full time. Showtime and The Movie Channel scrambled their
programming full time on May 27.
The scrambling makes pictures unwatchable without a descrambler and
slowed sales of satellite dishes.
Of 580 satellite facilities with a transmitting dish large enough to
overpower HBO's signal, less than a dozen had sufficient power and
the right kind of electronic typewriter to write the protest message
Captain Midnight transmitted, investigators said.
The investigation focused on Ocala after a tipster vacationing in
Florida reported to the FCC an overheard telephone call about Captain
Midnight. The tipster provided the caller's description and license
plate number.
The caller who was overheard was not the suspect, but the FCC said
the information provided proved extremely beneficial.