Three Plead Guilty in Satellite TV Hacking Case<Moved>FA

[robby3333]

Three men indicted on a single count of violating the federal copyright law pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Anthony Battaglia Oct. 23.

According to federal prosecutors, the defendants, Jung Kwak of Oceanside, and Phillip Allison and Robert Ward, both of Seminole, Fla., admitted that beginning in March 2008 they hired computer hackers to break the latest Dish Network encryption design so that the line of satellite receiver boxes sold by Kwak would continue to have a market.

Kwak is the owner of Viewtech, an importer of the satellite boxes that allow users to obtain a limited amount of free programming, most of it consisting of ethnic and religious programs. But by reverse engineering smart cards provided by Dish, the boxes could obtain more signals illegally, prosecutors said.

By late 2007, Dish created a new encryption scheme that would prevent the boxes from gaining access to the signal without purchasing a subscription, prosecutors said.

In his pleading, Kwak admitted meeting and paying $20,000 in cash to another person to dissect the Dish smart card. Kwak also admitted he offered a $250,000 reward to hackers to obtain the latest Dish smart card, according to federal prosecutors.

The three defendants face maximum prison time of five years and $250,000 in fines at their scheduled sentencing on Jan. 22.

— Mike Allen

[brutus36]

Just an additional Read that i seen....

C/P

For Immediate Release
October 23, 2009 United States Attorney's Office
Southern District of California
Contact: Phone number removed
Three Plead Guilty to Violating Digital Millennium 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 tendered pleas of guilty to conspiring to violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The three defendants were charged in a one-count indictment handed up by a federal grand jury sitting in San Diego on July 9, 2009.

In connection with their guilty pleas, the defendants admitted that beginning in or about March 2008, they determined to hire computer ****ers to break the latest DISH ******* encryption scheme, known as Nagra 3, so that the line of satellite receiver boxes sold by defendant Kwak would continue to have a market. According to the indictment, and in connection with their guilty pleas, the defendants admitted that 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 ******* of retailers under the brand name “Viewsat.” According to the indictment, there is 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 ****star’s DISH *******, for free. DISH ******* licenses copyrighted works from the copyright holders, encrypts the signal, and sells the right to view to DISH subscribers. Subscribers to DISH ******* programming obtain from DISH a “***** card,” which is inserted into a DISH satellite receiver box. The ***** 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. To illegally decrypt the DISH signal, the FTA boxes must appear to have DISH ***** cards. That is done by reverse-engineering DISH ***** cards and creating computer code which, when downloaded to an appropriate FTA box, will emulate the existence of a ***** 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.

In the late fall of 2007, DISH announced that it had created a new encryption scheme and would start shipping new ***** 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.

The defendants admitted in their plea that 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. Messrs. Allison and Ward admitted that they solicited a third party to join the scheme. Mr. Allison admitted purchasing a specialized microscope to be used in dissecting and analyzing ***** cards for the third party and was reimbursed by Mr. Kwak. Mr. Kwak admitted meeting with and paying $20,000 in cash to the third party for photographs of a dissected ***** card purported to be a Nagra 3 card. Mr. Kwak also admitted that he offered a reward of $250,000 if the EPROM (eraseable programmable read-only memory) for the Nagra 3 card could be obtained.

The defendants tendered their guilty pleas before United States Magistrate Judge Anthony J. Battaglia, subject to final acceptance of the pleas by United States District Judge Janis L. Sammartino on January 22, 2010, at 9:00 a.m.

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

[danny11]

end of viewsat

[Chameleon]

The owner of ViewTech, a satellite TV equipment importing company, and two other men have pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to hack into Dish Network Corp.’s TV signals and will be sentenced early next year.

The case in U.S. District Court in San Diego involves ViewTech, one of the largest companies distributing “free-to-air” satellite TV equipment designed to let U.S. viewers watch free religious and ethnic satellite TV transmissions. “Free-to-air” equipment became a common way to pirate programming from Douglas County-based Dish Network.

Dish Network is the nation’s second-largest satellite TV broadcaster with 13.6 million paying customers.

Jung Kwak, owner of Oceanside, Calif.-based ViewTech Inc., pleaded guilty Oct. 23 to one felony count of conspiring to violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Florida residents Phillip Allison and Robert Ward also pleaded guilty to the federal charge.

The U.S. Department of Justice indicted Kwak on July 10 on allegations that he offered $250,000 to obtain a memory chip from a new Dish Network signal encryption system, and, with the help of Allison and Ward, sought to recruit hackers to crack it.

The indictment suggested Kwak’s involvement in helping distribute software downloaded from the Internet that enables legal “free-to-air” satellite gear to illegally pirate programming from Dish Network.

Dish Network has been battling since 2006 to stop widespread pirating using free-to-air equipment and illegal software downloaded from the Internet.

As many as 2 million households in the U.S. were thought to be stealing Dish Network signals before the company replaced the set-top box security card earlier this year. It was the new security card that Kwak is accused of offering a bounty to crack.

Dish Network and its partner companies have filed civil lawsuits against ViewTech, South San Francisco-based FreeTech Inc., Sun Valley, Calif.-based distributor Panarex Inc., South Korean manufacturer Global Technologies Inc., and SonicView Inc. of Carlsbad, Calif. accusing them of facilitating pirated access of Dish Network programming.

[Chameleon]

http://i35.tinypic.com/wkpzdw.jpg

[-mrbud-]

hmm...is that a ship sinking?
or...
a sub coming up for supplies??:)

bud

[tyson01]

hmm...is that a ship sinking?
or...
a sub coming up for supplies??:)

bud

Yes, that would be a sub coming up, I like the new model, all those windows make it much brighter inside, although a little damp...........................:rolleyes:

[Ezz1r]

LOL had to laugh you guys are terrible. Well I still say in is not illegal till you get caught ! more power to Kwak great American ingenuity was certainly at work....

Thanks for the read guys.....

E

[black widow]

Can't say I'm surprised... And ppll called me a hater for saying they were done unless a 4th party coder took up the cause or they released their source code...

[Du1]

what we need (in no order) open source, new coding teams, Plastic input or a resolution, new brand...just my thoughts

[swerve]

what we need (in no order) open source, new coding teams, Plastic input or a resolution, new brand...just my thoughts

well hopefully this will put a end to all the viewsat files coming soon rumors....long live nfusion,,lol:beer:

[Tragik]

well hopefully this will put a end to all the viewsat files coming soon rumors....long live nfusion,,lol:beer:

amen swerve lol imo I like the open source idea, less mess so to say lol

[-mrbud-]

what we need (in no order) open source, new coding teams, Plastic input or a resolution, new brand...just my thoughts

i'd settle for a decent package at a decent price for the original product instead...legal of course.



just a thought...:)


bud

[Du1]

a decent pkg for around 40 bux ....would get the free tv-ers out of this and take alot of the heat of the coders....I so agree with u MrBud...

[-mrbud-]

a decent pkg for around 40 bux ....would get the free tv-ers out of this and take alot of the heat of the coders....I so agree with u MrBud...

agreed...and keep some folks outta hiding and outta jail...

i'd take 25 good channels...NO music channels.....wth is that for anyway?...lol

i feel for these pleading guilty but they asked for it.

bud

[SatChef]

When the opponent has to ask the court's permission to excede the max allowable limit of documentetion in support of their claim.... guility 2 one charge may B a decent escape in itself. Wish em all the best !

[tyson01]

amen swerve lol imo I like the open source idea, less mess so to say lol

Open source brings with it its own problems.

FTA"bin files" are the whole operating system for that model, this is why they are model specific.

A nice working FTA bin with an embebdded timer, works fine for 24-48hours, enough time for others to think its ok to use, then locks up processor with a loop message "death to pirates", lol.

Alot of sick minds out there in the coding world, lol, thats were worms and virus's come from.

Dreambox and other EMU or for Plasitic files are only for getting DN/BEV, so hard to put something bad inside, FTA bins, easy if its open source.

Open source is fine if you code for yourself.

[hummer]

I would say that Mr. Kwak is not the only person(s) working on a N3 fix. I would say the Korean Manufactures, out of US regulatory reach, have much more money and initiative. Kwak was probably only one of many of their contacts.:drunk::drunk:

[tyson01]

I would say that Mr. Kwak is not the only person(s) working on a N3 fix. I would say the Korean Manufactures, out of US regulatory reach, have much more money and initiative. Kwak was probably only one of many of their contacts.:drunk::drunk:

Kwak wasn't working on an N3 fix he was trying to buy one.
No one in Korea or China is working on anything that has to do with Nagra cards, they are not used over there, so they could care less.
Most FTAs are made in China in any case, and in China or Korea they wouldn't help with illegal activities like Provider hacking at all, all their products would be banned in their best markets if they were caught doing that, they will clone receivers but thats about it.

Lots of card hackers here and in europe are trying to open the N3 card.
FTA makers and FTA coders never had anything to do with "hacking" N1 or N2, they got all their info from public "plastic" sites, nothing wrong with that, 99% of all coders and freeTVers get their info there, lol.
There is no info for now so they are stuck, just like all the "plasic" coders/users, lol.

[molhunter]

Another sad day indeed in history of piracy with all three of those who are going under because of someone's greed. For everyone that goes down, another springs up. Here's hoping someone does soon!

[hummer]

Kwak wasn't working on an N3 fix he was trying to buy one.
No one in Korea or China is working on anything that has to do with Nagra cards, they are not used over there, so they could care less.
Most FTAs are made in China in any case, and in China or Korea they wouldn't help with illegal activities like Provider hacking at all, all their products would be banned in their best markets if they were caught doing that, they will clone receivers but thats about it.

Lots of card hackers here and in europe are trying to open the N3 card.
FTA makers and FTA coders never had anything to do with "hacking" N1 or N2, they got all their info from public "plastic" sites, nothing wrong with that, 99% of all coders and freeTVers get their info there, lol.
There is no info for now so they are stuck, just like all the "plasic" coders/users, lol.

Hey tyson01 i know what u r sayin but what i was tryin to said bro is that kwak wasnt the only person that was tryin to buy the fix or anythin like that..yes true what u r sayin on all the china and korea but if there money on the middle they will take it or sometin like that hope you understand what im trying to said.... i know we can go back to back on this topic.. its all go bro..... im jus gethin in to this fta stuff im been readin alot information when the n1 and n2 how they r working and what format they r usin at the moment... thats all im goin to said at the moment....:drunk::drunk::drunk::p:p:p

[Boss302]

Just spotted the SS Viewtech sinking, about,fell off the couch giggling:D Guess all VS owners will have to use the "superfix"