Viewsat CEO Indicted

[silly87]

hxxp://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/07/three-indicted-in-san-diego-in-attempted-theft-of-satellite-tv-programs.html


C&P from the website of LA Times - just stumbled upon it now.

================================================== ========

Three indicted in San Diego in attempted theft of satellite TV programs
5:08 PM | July 13, 2009

Three men have been indicted in San Diego for an alleged scheme to break the encryption code that providers of satellite television use to keep people from watching programs without paying.

Indicted by a federal grand jury were Jung Kwak, 33, of Oceanside, and Phillip Allison, 35, and Robert Ward, 54, both of Seminole, Fla.

The three allegedly conspired to hire computer hackers to break the code used by EchoStar's DISH network. According to prosecutors, Kwak planned to use free service as an inducement to encourage people to buy a satellite receiver box from his company, Viewtech, Inc.

Kwak allegedly offered a reward of $250,000 if someone could bring him one of the "smart cards" sold by Echostar. The three have been charged under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

[silly87]

hxxp://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/story/Oceanside-Man-In-Trouble-Over-DISH-TV-Hack/S7ZGn4WyykyPXN2VatmolA.cspx


SAN DIEGO - A North County resident and two Florida men were indicted for allegedly trying to hack new encryption codes used by the DISH Network satellite television service, it was announced Monday.

Jung Kwak of Oceanside, along with Phillip Allison, 35, and Robert Ward, 54 -- both of Seminole, Fla. -- are charged with conspiracy to violate the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitch Demblin.

The 33-year-old Kwak is the owner of Viewtech Inc. of Oceanside, which imports free-to-air satellite receiver boxes and sells them to the public through retailers.

Though free satellite programming is limited, the boxes marketed under the "Viewsat" name are popular because owners can download code to mimic DISH Network smart cards, allowing free viewing of the service's channels, Demblin said.

However, in late 2007 and 2008, DISH Network sent subscribers smart cards with a new encryption code, which meant owners of Viewsat boxes would no longer receive free programming, Demblin said.

The prosecutor alleged that in March 2008, the defendants decided to hire computer hackers to determine the new encryption code in order to save the market for their boxes.

Kwak bought a special microscope to analyze the smart cards and paid $20,000 cash for photographs of a purported new smart card, Demblin alleged.

Kwak also allegedly offered $250,000 to obtain the memory of such a card, he said.

The prosecutor did not divulge whether the defendants made any progress.

Demblin has filed a motion to hold Kwak without bail. A hearing is scheduled Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge William McCurine Jr

[Chameleon]

Cheap Satellite Box Execs Arrested





SAN DIEGO (CN) - Two men were arrested on federal charges of selling cheap "free to air" satellite receiver boxes that they had rigged to swipe signals from major satellite companies. Jung Kwak, 33, and Robert Ward, 54, run Viewtech out of Oceanside, Calif.

Free-to-air (FTA) boxes receive limited free programming, federal prosecutors said, most of it from ethnic or religious stations. Prosecutors say Kwak and Ward paid engineers to reverse-engineer Echostar's copyrighted Dish Network technology, and put it into their "Viewsat" boxes.

"Millions of Viewsat FTA have been sold to the public," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Charged with Kwak, of Oceanside, and Ward, of Seminole, Fla., is Phillip Allison, 35, also of Seminole. If convicted, they face up to 5 years in prison and $250,000 in fines for conspiring to violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

[Chameleon]

Jung Kwak is the owner of Viewtech. I would speculate this will probably be the end of Viewsat as we know it.

[danny11]

Pinellas County Sheriff's Office
Subject Charge Report
The data on this site provides arrest and booking information and should not be relied upon to determine an individual's actual criminal record. This data may not reflect charging decisions made by the State Attorney's Office or the outcome of criminal trials. An acquittal or dismissal of a criminal charge does not necessarily negate the validity of an arrest. To obtain the final disposition of any criminal charges, contact the Clerk of the Court's Office.
Name: WARD, ROBERT
DOB: 10/22/1954
Docket #: 1362578
Arrest Date: 7/13/2009 6:28:14 PM
Race: WHITE
Sex: MALE

Name Docket No. Booking Date Arresting Agency
WARD, ROBERT 1362578 7/13/2009 6:28:14 PM N/A
Address City State Zip Code
11726 84TH AVE NO SEMINOLE FL 33772
Race Sex DOB Place of Birth Arrest Age
WHITE MALE 10/22/1954 IA 54
Eyes Hair Complexion Height Weight
GRN BRO MED 602 260

Scars, Marks & Tattoos
scar on nose


Cell Location/Status SPIN Booking Type
RELEASED - 7/14/2009 11:32 AM
RELEASED/US MARSHALL 2704963 FEDERAL MARSHALL

Aliases
WARD, ROBERT LEE
WARD, ROBERT LEE

Charges
Charge Number: 1
Agency Report Number:
Offense Description: HOLD US MARSHAL #51067018 COURTESY
Statute: 999999-03
Court Case Number: CRCAB82957CFANO
Bond Assessed:
Bond Amount Due:
OBTS:

2009 Pinellas County Sheriff's Office

http://www.pcsoweb.com/InmateBooking/SubjectResults.aspx?id=1362578

[snakefistgungfu]

Jung Kwak is the owner of Viewtech. I would speculate this will probably be the end of Viewsat as we know it.



Kwak will have good Lawyers and this should be tied up in court for years. As long as Viewsat LLC is in Korea the US has no jurisdiction there. Why was Jung Kwak in the US anyway?

[snakefistgungfu]

Is this old news? Or did they file another lawsute agest Kwak? Well maybe they think they can get the Allison to take the stand or something this time so they dont get another 100M lawsute right back at them.

[catanddog123]

no this new new read the date it say jul13,2008

[snakefistgungfu]

no this new new read the date it say jul13,2008

The date dose not mean anything. It sounds like they are being charged the same thing as last time. Allison has already been in court about the hack so whats new? They just when after Kwak cause Allison ratted him out. I guess IF this is new we will see the dockets soon.

[jccp49]

other charge was civil this is criminal

[silly87]

PDF of indictment for Kwak, Ward and Allison attached

[Fallen Angel]

Kwak was arrested 3 days ago...He is being held without Bond until a hearing tomorrow...
If you think this is old, try going to Viewsat's release site...It's been down since he was arrested...
It's been said that Allison rolled on him...They have been after TDG for awhile now...He's been bragging and showing off his subpoena's...Saying he just ignores them...Not good...Now see where Robert Ward is? (TDG) In jail...
Now, we have to hope the coders are still working on it and we have to hope they are 3rd party coders...

The prosecutors need to prove he actually did make an offer to buy the dump or whatever he was looking for...That may be hard to do...Also, according to the DMCA, it is legal to crack someones security in the event your going to tell the company where their weakness was ...As long as your "testing" to see any weak points in security, it's perfectly legal...This is how they find faults in their work...But using it to your advantage is illegal...

We'll have to see how this one plays out...


FA

[SatChef]

June 2008, this has been in the works for over a year.... conpiracy! Best cost effective move to stall a fix...hmmm quite prudent! Will B interesting as it progresses..... witness is in trouble/not creditable I hear..

[Amphoteric]

Looking at the indictment from the grand jury, it looks like they tapped his phone and logged his online conversations. The "third party" isn't named, so that's something positive. Either way, they have a bus load of evidence to use against him, which completely sucks ass. If he gets bond, he'd better haul ass to So. Korea or somewhere where they won't extradite.

I wonder why he didn't conduct the cracking overseas away from the long arm of Johnny Law? Everyone jumps through hoops to keep the servers and forums overseas, keep the BINS on overseas ISP's, so why do the dirty work stateside? You're just asking for an indictment.

The WORST thing Bill Clinton EVER DID was passing DMCA. Because of DMCA you can't legally circumvent DVD region codes or make back-up copies of legally purchased DVD's that have copy protection. How many people here have kids that scratch DVDs? I have to break federal law just to make a back-up of the friggin Lion King DVD which my kids have destroyed four times; I'm supposed to buy a copy every time my rug monkeys scratch a DVD? I don't think so...

Clinton should have been punched in the groin for DMCA.

[SatChef]

Amphoteric, the DMCA portion is way funny and right on the money...hehehe

[snakefistgungfu]

Kwak was arrested 3 days ago...He is being held without Bond until a hearing tomorrow...
If you think this is old, try going to Viewsat's release site...It's been down since he was arrested...
It's been said that Allison rolled on him...They have been after TDG for awhile now...He's been bragging and showing off his subpoena's...Saying he just ignores them...Not good...Now see where Robert Ward is? (TDG) In jail...
Now, we have to hope the coders are still working on it and we have to hope they are 3rd party coders...

The prosecutors need to prove he actually did make an offer to buy the dump or whatever he was looking for...That may be hard to do...Also, according to the DMCA, it is legal to crack someones security in the event your going to tell the company where their weakness was ...As long as your "testing" to see any weak points in security, it's perfectly legal...This is how they find faults in their work...But using it to your advantage is illegal...

We'll have to see how this one plays out...


FA



This is not good at all..... Even if they dont have a case they are gonna take all there work to this date. If he by some odd chance gets out of this one he really should sue them again for harassment.

[silly87]

http://sandiego.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/sd071309a.htm
Three Charged with Conspiring to Violate the Digital Millenium Copyright Act

United States Attorney Karen P. Hewitt announced that Jung Kwak, 33, also known as “Mr. Viewsat,” of Oceanside, California, Phillip Allison, 35, also known as “thebroken,” and Robert Ward, 54, also known as “TDG” and as “thedssguy,” both of Seminole, Florida, have been charged in a previously sealed indictment handed up by a federal grand jury on July 9, 2009, with one count of Conspiracy to Violate the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. Mr. Kwak was arrested by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday, July 10, in San Diego. The indictment was unsealed upon his initial appearance today before United States Magistrate Judge William McCurine, Jr., in United States District Court in San Diego. Messrs. Allison and Ward were arrested in Seminole, Florida and will appear before a United States Magistrate Judge in Florida.

According to the indictment, Mr. Kwak owns and operates Viewtech, Inc., in Oceanside, California. Viewtech imports “free-to-air” or “FTA” satellite receiver boxes and sells them to the public through a network of retailers under the brand name “Viewsat.” There exists a limited amount of free programming available by satellite to owners of FTA receiver boxes, much of it consisting of ethnic and religious programming in numerous languages. Yet, millions of Viewsat FTA boxes have been sold to the public. The popularity of FTA boxes is due to the fact that they are designed to make it a simple process for a purchaser to obtain subscription-based satellite television, such as that offered by Echostar’s DISH Network, for free. DISH Network licenses copyrighted works from the copyright holders, encrypts the signal, and sells the right to view to DISH subscribers. Subscribers to DISH Network programming obtain from DISH a “smart card,” which is inserted into a DISH satellite receiver box. The smart card decrypts the programming that the subscriber is authorized to view. Over the years, DISH has changed its encryption algorithms and employed other countermeasures to attempt to defeat theft of its signal.

FTA boxes, including the Viewsat line, are manufactured with technology far in excess of what is necessary to receive FTA programming. However, to illegally decrypt the DISH signal, the FTA boxes must appear to have DISH smart cards. That is done by reverse-engineering DISH smart cards and creating computer code which, when downloaded to an appropriate FTA box, will emulate the existence of a smart card and trick the system. In the past, as DISH encryption and countermeasures were defeated, the code has been posted on the Internet and made available for download to anyone.

The indictment charges that beginning in or about March 2008, Mr. Kwak, in concert with Messrs. Allison and Ward, determined to hire computer hackers to break the latest DISH encryption scheme, known as Nagra 3. In the late fall of 2007, DISH announced that it had created a new encryption scheme and would start shipping new smart cards to its customers. As the new encryption scheme was deployed, owners of FTA boxes would no longer be able to view DISH programming without a subscription, and sellers of FTA boxes would lose their market. According to the indictment, Mr. Kwak authorized Messrs. Allison and Ward to locate persons to work on cracking Nagra 3. Mr. Kwak agreed to provide funding and a substantial reward for success. Among other things, as charged in the indictment, Mr. Kwak funded the purchase of a specialized microscope used in dissecting and analyzing smart cards and paid $20,000 in cash for photographs of a dissected smart card purported to be a Nagra 3 card. Mr. Kwak offered a reward of $250,000 if the EPROM (eraseable programmable read-only memory) for the Nagra 3 card could be obtained.

At Mr. Kwak’s initial appearance in United States District Court today, the government moved that Mr. Kwak be detained without bail. A hearing on that motion will be held Wednesday, July 15, 2009, at 2:30 p.m., before United States Magistrate Judge William McCurine, Jr.

This case was investigated by Special Agents of the Cybersquad of Federal Bureau of Investigation in San Diego.

DEFENDANTS Case Number: 09cr2646 -JLS
Jung Kwak Oceanside, California Age: 33
Phillip Allison Seminole, Florida Age: 35
Robert Ward Seminole, Florida Age: 54

SUMMARY OF CHARGE One Count - Title 18, United States Code, Section 371: Conspiracy to Violate the Digital Millenium Copyright Act Maximum Penalty: 5 years’ imprisonment and $250,000 fine

AGENCY Federal Bureau of Investigation An indictment itself is not evidence that the defendant committed the crimes charged. The defendant is presumed innocent until the Government meets its burden in court of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

An indictment itself is not evidence that the defendant committed the crimes charged. The defendant is presumed innocent until the Government meets its burden in court of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

[snakefistgungfu]

Dose anyone beleave that maybe Allison didnt rat out people? Reading the Doc you could almost tell that it came from Emails and wire taps. Just another point of view....

[Raptors]

hxxp://www.viewsatusa.com/contactus.html

read :p





Announcement
Viewtech regrets having to report that its founder, Jung Kwak, was arrested by the FBI last Friday evening and has been charged with being an alleged co-conspirator with others to violate satellite privacy laws. Jung denies the allegations and has pled not guilty. Viewtech expects that he will vigorously defend against the charges and will ultimately be vindicated.
Neither Viewtech, nor any of its employees, authorized distributors and dealers are involved in this criminal case. Viewtech has always been and remains against satellite piracy, which is illegal. Viewtech will continue to sell all of its FTA receivers and products, and will maintain its warranty, repair and servicing requirements to its thousands of loyal customers. Although we sympathize and support Jung in his efforts to fight these charges, Viewtech recognizes its ongoing and future business obligations as the FTA industry leader. We thank all of our distributors and their dealer network, and our customers, for their continued patronage. IMPORTANT: We do not provide or condone the use of third party software. Using third party software may be illegal and void product warranty. Do not email or call asking about DN, DTV, etc. Our satellite receivers are designed and intended for 100% legal use only. We will refuse sale to anyone whom we believe intends to use our product illegally or sell our products for illegal use.

[infinitedish]

Well we can't expect anything from viewsat any time soon, if these guys were smart they wouldn't have made it so obvious, i guess when you just say in the email that this file to decrypt g3 hack thats not smart man, the least they could have done is do the file in parts, or put it right away on a server outside the US.

[Aaronc68]

If he is in oceanside and his partners were in Florida did he snitch them out??

[Chameleon]

Feds: Would-be Satellite TV Pirate Offered $250,000 Reward to Smartcard Cracker


A would-be satellite TV pirate was arrested after offering a $250,000 reward for secret code from a satellite TV smartcard, according to a federal grand jury indictment unsealed Monday in California.

Jung Kwak, who owns a company that imports receiver boxes that pick up satellite TV signals, allegedly conspired with two others to hire someone to break the latest encryption scheme used by Echostar’s Dish Network, authorities say.

The encryption scheme, known as Nagra 3, is the current Holy Grail for digital content pirates and was implemented by the network in 2007 to thwart pirates who had already cracked previous versions of its encryption to steal its programs. The encryption scheme requires subscribers to use special smartcards, made for Dish by a company named Nagrastar, in their receiver boxes to unscramble the network’s paid proprietary content.

Digital content providers and pirates have played a cat-and-mouse game (http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2008/05/tarnovsky) for years with crackers deciphering encryption schemes to produce cloned smartcards or selling coding for receiver boxes that would fool the networks into thinking the user had a legitimate card in their box.
According to the indictment (http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2009/07/indictment_jung-kwak.pdf) (.pdf), this is exactly what Kwak was doing. His company, Viewtech, imports and sells Viewsat receiver boxes, which are supposed to capture only free satellite TV programs.

But even though the types of digital programming available for free are very limited and consist mostly of niche ethnic and religious programs, sales of Viewsat boxes were brisk — in the millions, authorities say. Their popularity was allegedly due to the fact that the devices were being used to intercept encrypted subscription satellite programming as well. After pirates unscrambled Dish Network’s previous encryption scheme, Kwak’s receiver boxes were updated with code that fooled the network into thinking a legitimate Dish card was in their box.

But sale of Kwak’s receiver boxes “dramatically reduced” after Dish introduced its new scheme, according to the indictment. So Kwak had two co-conspirators secure the services of a cracker and allegedly reimbursed the unidentified person about $8,500 to buy a specialized and expensive microscope used for reverse engineering smart cards.

He also allegedly offered the cracker more than $250,000 if he successfully secured a Nagra card’s EPROM (eraseable programmable read-only memory), the guts of the chip that is needed to reverse-engineer Dish Network’s encryption (see video below of my interview with Christopher Tarnovsky last year, showing how the reverse-engineering is done).

On April 5 this year, Kwak met with the cracker in person in California and allegedly paid him $20,000 for photographs said to depict a dis-assembled Nagra 3 card.

Kwak and his two co-conspirators, Phillip Allison (aka “the broken”) and Robert Ward (aka “thedssguy”), have been charged with one count of conspiring to violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

A lawyer for Kwak said he had no response to the allegations at this time.

[Chameleon]

FBI charges satellite descramblers under DMCA

The people behind the Viewsat satellite receiver have been arrested and charged with conspiring to violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act thanks to their not-so-undercover efforts to crack DISH Network's latest encryption scheme.



http://static.arstechnica.com/satellite_handcuffs_ars.jpg


The FBI has set its sights on satellite descramblers, charging three individuals behind the Viewsat satellite receiver with conspiracy to violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The indictment was unsealed this week after Viewtech owner Jung Kwak was arrested in San Diego, where he is currently being held without bail. Several associates were also arrested. The group faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine each.

Some of our readers may be familiar with the Viewsat—it's a free-to-air (FTA) satellite receiver box that claims to provide users with access to free satellite programming, such as religious and cultural content. However, as most Viewsat customers also know, the device is engineered in such a way that makes it simple for users to grab what is otherwise designated as for-pay satellite programming. All that's required is for the FTA boxes to spoof DISH's smartcards so that the DISH Network can see that the boxes are authorized.

The satellite companies know that this practice isn't particularly rare, so they occasionally re-encrypt their signals and send out new smartcards to legitimate customers. In this case, DISH Network started rolling out new encryption known as either "Nagra 3" or "rom 240," this update "dramatically" reducing the sales of Viewsat receivers, according to the indictment document.

By March of 2008, Kwak began working with the other two defendants, Phillip Allison and Robert Ward, to circumvent this new encryption. Kwak allegedly agreed to reimburse their expenses and finance research on how to crack Nagra 3, while the other two worked together and recruited more hackers for the project.

Among other things, the group spent $8,500 on a microscope for use in analyzing the new DISH smartcard and paid $20,000 for detailed photographs of the card. In a particularly damning comment, Kwak apparently said on a March 2009 conference call that he wanted to reimburse expenses in person because, "I don't want no traces or records." Oops.

As a result, the FBI charged the trio with conspiracy to violate the DMCA, which bars circumvention of encryption technologies like the ones DISH uses. It's going to be hard for the defendants to argue their way out of this one, if the facts are true—not only did the group seek to profit from stolen satellite signals, it was also obviously aware that what it was doing wasn't legal and then (unsuccessfully) attempted to operate with no paper trail.


If you have PACER access, search for case number 3:09-cr-02646-JLS-1 in the Southern District of California

[infinitedish]

it's a free-to-air (FTA) satellite receiver box that claims to provide users with access to free satellite programming, such as religious and cultural content. However, as most Viewsat customers also know, the device is engineered in such a way that makes it simple for users to grab what is otherwise designated as for-pay satellite programming.


But this is based on speculation, and since the viewsat units are not programmed by the viewsat, any claim of guilt against viewsat is unsubstantiated and cannot be proven. The only way that this argument is valid is if viewsat pre-load the piracy software before selling the units which they don't do. Even if there is a g3 hack viewsat can't be implicated as they have never programmed any units and sold them to customers. Its like pirated software, the computer company can't be charged if their customers loads their computers with pirated software, or if the customer uses his computer to hack into other computers and is convicted of that, this is the same senario. This is actually the law and any infringiment or construdment of the law can be deemed as statuatory infirngiment. If there argument is valid then computer manufacturers can be sued or dvd companies can be sued for being able to record shows, it just doesn't make sense.

[Fallen Angel]

If you "hire" someone to kill someone else, even though you didn't pull the trigger, and maybe the other person never got to pull the trigger, your both guilty of conspiring to kill...You will get the worst of it because you were the one who was looking to "hire" someone to do it for you...
Are you getting it yet?...The 3 conspired to break the DMCA...It doesn't matter if they did or not,...... conspiracy connects all 3 of them, and since Kwak wanted to "pay", he'll get the worst of it...This was for profit...Like the sites that "sell" the bin files...If they get caught, they will get a worse punishment rather than the ones who give the files freely..


FA

[Fallen Angel]

If he is in oceanside and his partners were in Florida did he snitch them out??

Allison (aka The Broken) was arrested way before the other 2...Also, Ward (aka The DSS Guy)(TDG) has been getting subpoena's from DN and ignoring them...All they needed was one of them to roll on the other 2 for a lesser sentence...
This might be the case here ...Allison was arrested about a month or 2 ago...All of a sudden, the other 2 + Allison were arrested...Hmmmm...Now what do you think?


FA

[Chameleon]

If you "hire" someone to kill someone else, even though you didn't pull the trigger, and maybe the other person never got to pull the trigger, your both guilty of conspiring to kill...You will get the worst of it because you were the one who was looking to "hire" someone to do it for you...
Are you getting it yet?...The 3 conspired to break the DMCA...It doesn't matter if they did or not,...... conspiracy connects all 3 of them, and since Kwak wanted to "pay", he'll get the worst of it...This was for profit...Like the sites that "sell" the bin files...If they get caught, they will get a worse punishment rather than the ones who give the files freely..

FA



This is exactly why STBs like the Dreambox, Triple Dragon, etc, have always been this community's best bet. They only manufacturer the FTA unit itself - the firmware is open source and any pirate software is developed and maintained by the community itself. That way, there is no liablility on the manufactuer's part.

It's greed that drove companies like Viewsat into the mess they are in now. Provide the hack to users and hook them in for maximum profits, instead of just providing a quality legal FTA unit and letting users do what they want as far as firmware modification.

[snakefistgungfu]

If you "hire" someone to kill someone else, even though you didn't pull the trigger, and maybe the other person never got to pull the trigger, your both guilty of conspiring to kill...You will get the worst of it because you were the one who was looking to "hire" someone to do it for you...
Are you getting it yet?...The 3 conspired to break the DMCA...It doesn't matter if they did or not,...... conspiracy connects all 3 of them, and since Kwak wanted to "pay", he'll get the worst of it...This was for profit...Like the sites that "sell" the bin files...If they get caught, they will get a worse punishment rather than the ones who give the files freely..


FA


Really you dont even have to have your hands on anything or even hire someone. Talk can get you a conspiracy charge. This is how the Gov wiped out most of the mobs. The top guys only had to talk of things then they were in jail. Its kinda bull shit if you ask me cause really you didnt commit the crime they charged you with. It would be like me telling you how to shoot a gun then you go and rob a bank an me getting into trouble for it. With that said the Feds will make it stick even though what I read is on very few facts and more hear say. Thats the great thing about Conspiracy you dont really have any thing but a a guy or two that points the finger at one. If you have 5 guys saying you did it,then you did even if you didnt.

[hummer]

July 17, 2009

Viewtech is very pleased to report that its founder, Jung Kwak, has been released on bond. The government had initially sought to detain Jung without bail, but Jung and his legal team were able to convince the Federal Court to release him pending trial, in part, because the indictment was erroneous and overstated in several important aspects.
Jung is obviously grateful to be a free man again, and is looking forward to continuing to work with his legal team to establish his innocence of these false accusations. Viewtech stands solidly behind Jung, and has reason to believe that this criminal case was instigated by Echostar/DISH, as part of their unlawful campaign to destroy the legitimate FTA industry under the ruse of combating a small minority who allegedly commit satellite piracy.
Viewtech remains ready, willing and able to support and protect the legitimate FTA industry and all of you who lawfully use Viewtech’s products. Thank you for your continued support and patronage..:drunk:

[fernvick]

whats the latest of this??

[Chameleon]

Satellite receiver maker Viewtech owner charged under DMCA by FBI


http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/viewsat_fta.jpg

The FBI has charged Jung Kwak, owner of Viewtech, and two others with Conspiracy to violate the DMCA. If convicted, they face five years in prison and $250K each in fines.
Their company manufactures a satellite receiver called the Viewsat FTA (free-to-air). The device is capable of decoding satellite signals that offer free programming, such as religious and cultural shows. However, many users have discovered that a slight alternation of their receiver through simple mods bypass the limitations imposed by the DMCA, allowing the satellite system to decode DISH Network signals, for example.

The reason the owner and executives of Viewtech are charged is because they were not only aware of this, but were taking active steps to avoid legal detection of their activities by hiding their paper trail.

The other two being charged, Phillip Allison and Robert Ward, were involved with decoding DISH Network’s newest smartcards, as the company had recently sent out two new updates to their smartcard system, one designed in part to expressly defeat illegal satellite reception by companies like Viewtech.

The two were involved in buying an $8,500 microscope for viewing the cards in detail, and spending $20K for detailed photographs of the new DISH smartcards. Kwak reportedly wanted to meet in person to pay for them in cash saying in March 2009, “I don’t want no traces or records”.

The case against the three is reportedly quite strong,

[Chameleon]

whats the latest of this??

Well, the latest is that Mr. Kwak is out on bail and awaiting trial. The evidence is proported to be pretty damning, but it will probably be pretty quiet until legal proceedings get underway.

[fernvick]

Thanks Chameleon!!

[snakefistgungfu]

Well, the latest is that Mr. Kwak is out on bail and awaiting trial. The evidence is proported to be pretty damning, but it will probably be pretty quiet until legal proceedings get underway.



Yea all they have to do is prove you were trying to circumvent there encryption and they got you. This case is basically air tight.

[wybss]

Motion Hearing

[dirtbag]

Well so much for my vs ultra seeing a fix anytime soon....
and I'm the village idiot? who's the idiot now...:cool:

[Zoombie]

Well so much for my vs ultra seeing a fix anytime soon....
and I'm the village idiot? who's the idiot now...:cool:

Oh, I don't think you'll be that disappointed... soon....

[snakefistgungfu]

Oh, I don't think you'll be that disappointed... soon....



Soon is the key word. Soon we will see people live on the plant mars, This economic cries will end SOON....



Just saying......