pous@janus.Berkeley.EDU (Rafael Pous) (12/30/90)
I have a couple of questions about the cable TV descramblers advertised in the back of electronics magazines. 1. Are they ilegal, or they use some loophole in the law such as freedom to receive electromagnetic waves? 2. Do they work? I am not familiar with how the cable companies scramble their signal, or wether all companies do it the same way. In other words, I am trying to find out wether it is worth buying one or not. Please, e-mail or post your answer. Thank you, Rafael.
mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington) (12/30/90)
They are illegal, unless you have the cable company's permission to use them. Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, it is illegal to descramble any kind of scrambled transmission without the permission of the sender. And anyhow, cable TV isn't electromagnetic radiation -- it's an alternating current carried to you by cable.
murray@sun13.scri.fsu.edu (John Murray) (12/31/90)
In article <1990Dec30.053845.2527@athena.cs.uga.edu> mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington) writes: >They are illegal, unless you have the cable company's permission to >use them. The devices themselves are not illegal. Otherwise you couldn't buy them from ads in the back of PopTronics and ModTronics. (Check your local laws beforehand, though) It is illegal to use them to recieve cable services you're not paying for. >Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, it is illegal to >descramble any kind of scrambled transmission without the permission >of the sender. >And anyhow, cable TV isn't electromagnetic radiation -- it's an >alternating current carried to you by cable. No argument here. Don't forget that the cable feed is provided to you by the cable company. If you are recieving services you haven't paid for, and they find out about it, don't expect any mercy. (It's one thing if you have a cable company line in your house that you never asked to have turned on - happens here all the time - but it's another thing if you did request a feed, but aren't paying for premium channels, because you have a *contract* with them, that (probably) includes an agreement to only recieve those services you are paying for. If neither case applies wrt cable, (i.e. you climbed a pole and took your own tap) well, you're just stupid. If you are talking sattelite feeds, the note about the ECPA above (if true as worded, I don't know for sure) covers that. When ESPN and such weren't scrambling their downlinks, I rememeber a couple of bars got busted anyway, for charging people to see sattelite feeds the bars weren't paying for, that they had pulled out of 'free' electromagnetic spectrum. I don't remember details, or I would expand on the implications. If you're really thinking of buying one, remember that Overpriced Cable Company, Box 531, Bronx, NY probably doesn't know nuthin' about your local company's particular methods. -- Disclaimer: Yeah, right, like you really believe I run this place. John R. Murray | "Never code anything murray@vsjrm.scri.fsu.edu | bigger than your head.." Supercomputer Research Inst.| - Me
wilker@gauss.math.purdue.edu (Clarence Wilkerson) (12/31/90)
Most of these ads state that the stuff is for "experimental purposes" or "educational" service only, and have you sign a waiver to that effect. I suppose there is a fine point here about it's the possession or the use of the gadget to descramble a signal which might be illegal. I have seen newspaper stories from time to time about shops selling such devices being raided. I personally would not care to be on the customer list in that case. The leadin box to the May 1990 Radio-Electronics article on the Universal Descrambler should give you a good idea of the legal status. The arguments of the proponents of cable descramblers seem to be at best " I paid for a signal to come to my house. What I do with the signal is my business" . While this may be of moral comfort to some, I doubt that it has been supported in court. Clarence .
sorgatz@ttidca.TTI.COM ( Avatar) (01/01/91)
In article <40170@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> pous@janus.Berkeley.EDU (Rafael Pous) writes:
+I have a couple of questions about the cable TV descramblers advertised in
+the back of electronics magazines.
+
Yeah, you and every other 5th person to come by this froop! ;-)
+1. Are they ilegal, or they use some loophole in the law such as
+ freedom to receive electromagnetic waves?
They are ILLEGAL! If you are caught using such a device to circumvent
the nominal charges for video entertainment it could cost you some $$,
like $500 for a first offense in most states. It's a low probability, but
why bother?
+
+2. Do they work? I am not familiar with how the cable companies scramble
+ their signal, or wether all companies do it the same way.
+
Most of these units re-sync the picture framing, by adding a whole set of
horiz sync pulses. The audio is normally demodulated from a seperate
sub-carrier adjacent to the video signal, but not in the usual TV audio
trap region. Some units are more exotic, some utilize keys, cyphers, and
an algorithm that descrambles the signal using DSP technology - not a
weekend project for beginners!
+In other words, I am trying to find out wether it is worth buying one or not.
+Please, e-mail or post your answer. Thank you,
+ Rafael.
Unless you're out to begin a path of technical understanding about the
subject, I'd suggest you just forget it. Buy the damn service and avoid
the hassles altogether. Additionally some of these ripoff companies will
send you a bunch of junk parts, sketchy documentation and little or no
recourse should you fail to produce a working device. Those that sell
complete units will do so without warrantee and under the banner of
"surplus electronics"...this means if the unit is detected and you are
busted - only YOU pay a fine/go to jail!
If you are (or anyone is) serious about studying electronics at home,
these are NOT the kinds of projects to start with!
-Avatar-> (aka: Erik K. Sorgatz) KB6LUY +-------------------------+
Citicorp(+)TTI *----------> panic trap; type = N+1 *
3100 Ocean Park Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90405 +-------------------------+
{csun,philabs,psivax,pyramid,quad1,rdlvax,retix}!ttidca!sorgatz **
(OPINIONS EXPRESSED DO NOT REFLECT THE VIEWS OF CITICORP OR ITS MANAGEMENT!)amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Allen J Michielsen) (01/01/91)
In article <3123@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> wilker@gauss.math.purdue.edu.UUCP >The arguments of the proponents of cable descramblers seem to >be at best " I paid for a signal to come to my house. What I do >with the signal is my business" . While this may be of moral >comfort to some, I doubt that it has been supported in court. >Clarence >. I pay for the electric that comes into my house but the courts have deceided that it's illegal for me to run power to my door knobs to ward off door to door salesmen & hari chrisna's. People that paid to stay in the hotel next to the new statium for the maple leafs, but were threatened (and/or) arrested for undressing or whatever with the window shades open. If it were your house, they would have been peeping toms, but guess that doesn't work in a hotel. Life isn't fair all over, but stealing cable services should be simple... al -- Al. Michielsen, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Syracuse University InterNet: amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu amichiel@sunrise.acs.syr.edu Bitnet: AMICHIEL@SUNRISE
duncan@zygot.ati.com (James R. Duncan) (01/02/91)
In article <22274@ttidca.TTI.COM> sorgatz@ttidca.TTI.COM ( Avatar) writes: >In article <40170@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> pous@janus.Berkeley.EDU (Rafael Pous) writes: >+I have a couple of questions about the cable TV descramblers advertised in >+the back of electronics magazines. > (deletions) > Unless you're out to begin a path of technical understanding about the >subject, I'd suggest you just forget it. Buy the damn service and avoid >the hassles altogether. Additionally some of these ripoff companies will After having read a number of articles disscussing TV descramblers, I really must point out that I've had direct experience with those so called "ripoff companies" and have been totally satisfied. My favorite is MD Electronics, Omaha, NE (see the back of Radio-Electronics). While they sell all manner of descramblers, I've bought several ordinary cable converters with remote control for my bedrooms and den. They seem very service oriented, and heck, they even take VISA and Mastercharge (which is what I did to avoid delays and COD) as do many of the other "ripoff companies". One converter I bought was $30 less than the equivalent Radio Shack product; just call an 800- number, and it comes to your door a few days later. No hassles here. Also, the Radio-Electronics "Universal Descrambler" has been kicked around in these articles. Since I love to tinker with video (I fix my own VCR's, etc.), I built one when it first came out. The concepts involved are very cute, but the device is somewhat half-baked. It doesn't provide DC restored video, and the sync recreation seems very corrupt. It descrambles just about everything except certain techniques used on some satellite downlinks, but the result is mediocre. This is a fun little toy for the serious video experimenter. One of these weekends, I'm going to change the design so it will at least provide DC restored video; this is fundamental. NOTE: I certainly would never promote illegal use of descramblers; there are indeed stiff penalties. -- w ["] |___|_____..duncan@zygot.ati.com H \_____I_____/ 37 3 10N/121 59 10W ---------------
ken@hertz.njit.edu (ken ng cccc) (01/05/91)
In article <1990Dec30.053845.2527@athena.cs.uga.edu> mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington) writes:
:Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, it is illegal to
:descramble any kind of scrambled transmission without the permission
:of the sender.
But officer, I'm not descrambling the transmission, I'm demodulating it :-)