mdeven
01-23-2004, 11:56 PM
From the News and Courier 1-22-04
5 S.C. men face jury trial in DirecTV theft case
Defendants allegedly used 'smart cards' to steal satellite signal
BY TERRY JOYCE
Of The Post and Courier Staff
Five South Carolina men are among the first in the nation to face jury trials for allegedly using "smart cards" to steal DirecTV's satellite signal.
Each defendant could be forced to pay more than $10,000 for every time he illegally used one of the cards to watch a movie on DirecTV. The nation's largest satellite television provider has sued more than 18,000 people nationwide, including about 300 in South Carolina, and the first trials are getting under way this week in federal courts in Charleston and in California.
"Smart cards" can be inserted into the DirecTV electronic equipment that subscribers must hook to their television sets to unscramble TV signals beaming down from satellites. The cards make it possible to watch any programming carried by DirecTV, including pay-per-view movies and premium services.
A number of manufacturers and vendors of the illegal card devices already have been prosecuted or sued in other parts of the country. The local and California cases, however, are the first civil jury trials targeting people who allegedly purchased and used the cards, defense attorney Elizabeth Stuckey Murphy said.
DirecTV "identified the people who bought the devices in the business records we acquired in civil raids on the vendors," the firm's public relations director, Robert Mercer, said in a phone interview earlier this week from El Segundo, Calif.
"We've targeted the code writers, the supply side," Mercer said. "Now we're attacking the demand side."
The use of illegal devices or cards to acquire TV signals without paying for them is a federal offense, but no criminal charges were filed in the local case. Mercer said DirecTV has won judgments in judge-only trials in Virginia and elsewhere and has settled out of court with companies that allegedly manufactured the cards.
Two companies, White Viper Technologies of California and Vector Technologies of Kentucky, paid DirecTV more than $1.1 million in settlements, he said.
On Wednesday, all five defendants testified in federal court in Charleston that they are innocent.
Lewis P. Frye of Barnwell and three others said they purchased the devices for someone else, and in three cases, the individuals who allegedly received the devices have since died.
"My uncle asked me to order two pieces of equipment, and I gave them to him with the box unopened," Frye said. "My uncle didn't have a computer, which is why he asked me to buy the devices."
The uncle died in 2002.
Another defendant, Eddie Dixon of Ridgeville, said he ordered devices for a friend who later died. He said he never asked the friend what he would do with the cards.
Joseph C. Brunson Jr. of Walterboro said he didn't know what he ordered when he purchased a device on a Web site for a friend. The friend died in a mo-ped accident, Brunson said.
Leroy Cromedy Jr. of Huger testified he doesn't know how to use the Internet, much less order something over it. But he said his son subscribed to DirecTV and later canceled the subscription.
Brandon Moore of Greenwood said he ordered a device for a man he rode motorcycles with and knew only as Mark.
"I didn't have any idea what it was for," he said. Moore also said he had purchased a DirecTV satellite dish and equipment but never used it.
An expert witness, John B. Loggins of Seneca, testified he had seen a satellite dish at Moore's home that was DirecTV equipment. He said he could not verify if Moore was a DirecTV customer.
The trial resumes today.
More to come....
Mark
5 S.C. men face jury trial in DirecTV theft case
Defendants allegedly used 'smart cards' to steal satellite signal
BY TERRY JOYCE
Of The Post and Courier Staff
Five South Carolina men are among the first in the nation to face jury trials for allegedly using "smart cards" to steal DirecTV's satellite signal.
Each defendant could be forced to pay more than $10,000 for every time he illegally used one of the cards to watch a movie on DirecTV. The nation's largest satellite television provider has sued more than 18,000 people nationwide, including about 300 in South Carolina, and the first trials are getting under way this week in federal courts in Charleston and in California.
"Smart cards" can be inserted into the DirecTV electronic equipment that subscribers must hook to their television sets to unscramble TV signals beaming down from satellites. The cards make it possible to watch any programming carried by DirecTV, including pay-per-view movies and premium services.
A number of manufacturers and vendors of the illegal card devices already have been prosecuted or sued in other parts of the country. The local and California cases, however, are the first civil jury trials targeting people who allegedly purchased and used the cards, defense attorney Elizabeth Stuckey Murphy said.
DirecTV "identified the people who bought the devices in the business records we acquired in civil raids on the vendors," the firm's public relations director, Robert Mercer, said in a phone interview earlier this week from El Segundo, Calif.
"We've targeted the code writers, the supply side," Mercer said. "Now we're attacking the demand side."
The use of illegal devices or cards to acquire TV signals without paying for them is a federal offense, but no criminal charges were filed in the local case. Mercer said DirecTV has won judgments in judge-only trials in Virginia and elsewhere and has settled out of court with companies that allegedly manufactured the cards.
Two companies, White Viper Technologies of California and Vector Technologies of Kentucky, paid DirecTV more than $1.1 million in settlements, he said.
On Wednesday, all five defendants testified in federal court in Charleston that they are innocent.
Lewis P. Frye of Barnwell and three others said they purchased the devices for someone else, and in three cases, the individuals who allegedly received the devices have since died.
"My uncle asked me to order two pieces of equipment, and I gave them to him with the box unopened," Frye said. "My uncle didn't have a computer, which is why he asked me to buy the devices."
The uncle died in 2002.
Another defendant, Eddie Dixon of Ridgeville, said he ordered devices for a friend who later died. He said he never asked the friend what he would do with the cards.
Joseph C. Brunson Jr. of Walterboro said he didn't know what he ordered when he purchased a device on a Web site for a friend. The friend died in a mo-ped accident, Brunson said.
Leroy Cromedy Jr. of Huger testified he doesn't know how to use the Internet, much less order something over it. But he said his son subscribed to DirecTV and later canceled the subscription.
Brandon Moore of Greenwood said he ordered a device for a man he rode motorcycles with and knew only as Mark.
"I didn't have any idea what it was for," he said. Moore also said he had purchased a DirecTV satellite dish and equipment but never used it.
An expert witness, John B. Loggins of Seneca, testified he had seen a satellite dish at Moore's home that was DirecTV equipment. He said he could not verify if Moore was a DirecTV customer.
The trial resumes today.
More to come....
Mark