In recent months the satellite TV giant has filed nearly 9,000 federal lawsuits against people who've purchased signal piracy devices. But some of those devices have legitimate uses, and innocent computer geeks are getting caught in the crackdown.
In 2000, Texas-based physician Rod Sosa says he had the entrepreneurial notion that medical offices might pay a premium for a secure workstation -- one better suited for housing sensitive patient information than an off-the-shelf PC. A long time computer geek and tinkerer -- as well as a medical doctor and internist -- Sosa began working on a prototype. "I wanted to do this as a means of making extra money outside of my own practice," he says.
Sosa quickly became enamored of the idea of using smart cards to provide access control at the keyboard; the PC would have an attached reader, and physicians, medical assistants and office staff would all carry their own cards that would unlock the system. So the doctor ordered an inexpensive smart card programmer from the Web, and began experimenting. "It turned out to be much more difficult than I anticipated," Sosa recalls. He lost interest in the plan, and the $79 programmer was relegated to Sosa's electronics junk box with the old RS-232 cables and 5 1/4 inch floppy drives.
It sat there forgotten for nearly two years, until October, 2002, when Sosa received a letter from satellite TV giant DirecTV. The company accused him of purchasing piracy equipment, and, by extension, stealing DirecTV's signal. When he called the company to clear things up, he found they weren't interested in his explanations: they wanted $3,500 and the smart card programmer, or they would literally make a federal case out of it and sue him under anti-piracy laws. "I didn't know what to do, I was completely flabbergasted. So I sent the money in," says Sosa. "I have a livelihood, and I have a family, and there are a lot of things that I`d rather be than right."
Story continued here.
Phaedrus
In 2000, Texas-based physician Rod Sosa says he had the entrepreneurial notion that medical offices might pay a premium for a secure workstation -- one better suited for housing sensitive patient information than an off-the-shelf PC. A long time computer geek and tinkerer -- as well as a medical doctor and internist -- Sosa began working on a prototype. "I wanted to do this as a means of making extra money outside of my own practice," he says.
Sosa quickly became enamored of the idea of using smart cards to provide access control at the keyboard; the PC would have an attached reader, and physicians, medical assistants and office staff would all carry their own cards that would unlock the system. So the doctor ordered an inexpensive smart card programmer from the Web, and began experimenting. "It turned out to be much more difficult than I anticipated," Sosa recalls. He lost interest in the plan, and the $79 programmer was relegated to Sosa's electronics junk box with the old RS-232 cables and 5 1/4 inch floppy drives.
It sat there forgotten for nearly two years, until October, 2002, when Sosa received a letter from satellite TV giant DirecTV. The company accused him of purchasing piracy equipment, and, by extension, stealing DirecTV's signal. When he called the company to clear things up, he found they weren't interested in his explanations: they wanted $3,500 and the smart card programmer, or they would literally make a federal case out of it and sue him under anti-piracy laws. "I didn't know what to do, I was completely flabbergasted. So I sent the money in," says Sosa. "I have a livelihood, and I have a family, and there are a lot of things that I`d rather be than right."
Story continued here.
Phaedrus
