that horrible letter

[JT]

There is now a legal issues forum. Look for this thread to be moved there in the near future. There is also the answer to your question there; many times over. NEVER admit to anything or cooperate on any level. Never contact them directly, if you absolutely must communicate, use an attorney. Never send them your equipment. What they are doing is by law, extortion.

[4x4]

Moved :

Tell him to get a lawyer !
DO NOT TALK TO DTV AT ALL !

[just4funnc]

Don't know but my cousin got that letter from dtv about a year ago and throwed it in thrash and never hear anything else. Not sure if he should try that or not

[lefty]

get a PACER acct

a what?

:cool:

[sub56]

You cant be sued, if you cant be served....Remember that =)

[egod6969]

Ok and what is a pacer acct? because I just got the letter.

[FooloishMagoo]

DirecTV to Narrow Anti-Piracy Campaign
Satellite TV Giant Will No Longer Prosecute Users for Mere Possession

San Francisco and Palo Alto, CA – After discussions with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Center for Internet and Society (CIS) Cyberlaw Clinic, satellite television giant DirecTV has agreed to modify its nationwide campaign against signal piracy in order to reduce threats and lawsuits against innocent users of smart card technology. Chief among these changes is a promise to no longer sue or threaten to sue people merely for possessing smart card devices.

“American innovators and hobbyists shouldn’t have to fear legal action merely for possessing new technologies that have many legitimate uses,” said EFF Staff Attorney Jason Schultz. “We’re also pleased that DirecTV has agreed to stop targeting general purpose devices in its campaign and will investigate all substantive claims of innocence.”

Over the past few years, DirecTV has orchestrated a nationwide legal campaign against hundreds of thousands of individuals, claiming that they were illegally intercepting its satellite TV signal. The company began its crusade by raiding smart card device distributors to obtain their customer lists, then sent over 170,000 demand letters to customers and eventually filed more than 24,000 federal lawsuits against them. Because DirecTV made little effort to distinguish legal uses of smart card technology from illegal ones, EFF and the CIS Cyberlaw Clinic received hundreds of calls and emails from panicked device purchasers.

In August 2003, EFF and CIS created the DirecTV Defense website to provide innocent users and their lawyers with the information necessary to defend themselves. The organizations also began a series of discussions with DirecTV about ways to reform its anti-piracy tactics and protect innocent consumers.

As a result, DirecTV has agreed to make several changes to its campaign. The company will no longer pursue people solely for purchasing smart card readers, writers, general-purpose programmers, and general-purpose emulators. It will maintain this policy into the forseeable future and file lawsuits only against people it suspects of actually pirating its satellite signal. DirecTV will, however, continue to investigate purchasers of devices that are often primarily designed for satellite signal interception, nicknamed “bootloaders” and “unloopers.”

DirecTV also agreed to change its pre-lawsuit demand letters to explain in detail how innocent recipients can get DirecTV to drop their cases. The company also promised that it will investigate every substantive claim of innocence it receives. If purchasers provide sufficient evidence demonstrating that they did not use their devices for signal theft, DirecTV will dismiss their cases. EFF and CIS will monitor reports of this process to confirm that innocent device purchasers are having their cases dismissed.

“While EFF still disagrees with DirecTV over other aspects of its campaign, we’re pleased that we could find mutual ground on these issues,” said CIS Executive Director Jennifer Granick, who represented EFF in the negotiations. "We hope to continue working with DirecTV to resolve the remaining disputes so that everyone can enjoy the benefits of smart card technology."

Smart card readers and their various derivatives have many legitimate uses, including computer security and scientific research.


Contact:

Jennifer Granick
Clinical Director
Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society
jennifer@granick.com
+1 650 724-0014

Jason Schultz
Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
jason@eff.org
+1 415 436-9333 x112

[xprezz]

As a result, DirecTV has agreed to make several changes to its campaign. The company will no longer pursue people solely for purchasing smart card readers, writers, general-purpose programmers, and general-purpose emulators. It will maintain this policy into the forseeable future and file lawsuits only against people it suspects of actually pirating its satellite signal. DirecTV will, however, continue to investigate purchasers of devices that are often primarily designed for satellite signal interception, nicknamed “bootloaders” and “unloopers.”

Don't think just because these guy's are adding a couple lines to there letters sayng if you are not guilty prove it will stop the letters from going out. .
You can contact them but NEVER NEVER give them a thing info or parts ( YOU NEVER ORDERED ANYTHING ) .You can lie to them ,they will lie to you to get what ever they can out of you . They are not a court of law or a judge .They just want more info to get against you.

"You cant be sued, if you cant be served....Remember that =)"

Also YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE SERVED TO BE SUED!! all they would have to do is post a notice in a news paper in your area after they have shown the judge that they have made every attempt to serve.Then they would get a default judgement and you lose!
THIS IS AMERICA ,ANYONE CAN SUE ANYONE FOR ANYTHING.This does not mean they will win ,but they can try and that will cost you money.

[BirdieMod]

DirectTV, They are so sue happy I hope they lose all their customers to competiters.
Heck, Now DTV is even sueing Dishnet. Must suck concentrating all your efforts on sueing everything that moves VS. improving and upgrading systems like Echostar has done.