[JARJOZ]

EchoStar, DirecTV sue Murdoch firm NDS
By Bob Sullivan
MSNBC

Oct. 2 - Allegations of corporate-sponsored hacking and espionage by Rupert Murdoch’s pay-TV software maker NDS have now crossed the Atlantic. In the past two weeks, both U.S. satellite TV firms EchoStar Communications Corp. and DirecTV Inc. have initiated legal action against the News Corp. subsidiary, adding to the legal troubles of NDS which earlier this year was the target of a $1 billion lawsuit by French pay-TV concern Canal Plus.


IN ITS FILING, EchoStar argued that NDS employees hacked into access cards made by Nagrastar, a joint venture between EchoStar and Swiss digital broadcast technology company Kudelski.

It alleged that NDA was trying to make “pirate technology ... intended to facilitate the reception and decryption of EchoStar’s encrypted satellite-delivered television programming service by persons not authorized to receive such programming,” according to legal papers filed Friday in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

In September, DirecTV filed a suit of its own against NDS, alleging misappropriation of trade secrets, fraud and other violations relating to access services to DirecTV. The suit was filed under seal in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.


The lawsuits all center around the issue of access, or smart cards. Smart cards are the key that unlocks the multi-billion dollar pay-TV industry. The size of a credit card, smart cards contain the information necessary for viewing programs on satellite TV networks like DirecTV and EchoStar’s Dish Network. Pay-TV firms pay millions to develop uncrackable smart card technology because the cards are the only protection they have for their only corporate asset — customers who will pay for TV subscriptions.

Until recently, NDS made the cards which protected DirecTV, the largest U.S. pay-TV firm. NDS’ main competitor, Kudelski Group, makes the cards that defend EchoStar’s Dish Network under the label NagraStar. Canal Plus, meanwhile, makes its own cards.

At the center of the controversy surrounding NDS is the fact that pirates have managed to crack the encryption on every one of those systems, and one by one, word is emerging that the pirated companies are claiming NDS did the cracking to gain competitive advantages in the marketplace.

The Canal Plus lawsuit, filed in March, came complete with whistleblower testimony that described what sounded like a made-for-television movie of the week. Essentially, the French firm accused Murdoch’s company of hacking its pay-TV smart cards at a secretive lab in Israel. NDS then gave away the hacking instructions on the Internet to encourage widespread piracy of their competitor’s service, undermining Canal Plus’ entire business, the lawsuit claims.

Essentially, the French firm accused Murdoch’s company of hacking its pay-TV smart cards at a secretive lab in Israel.

This is old news and it's really not that secretive. (Matam Technology Centre
Haifa 31905, Isreal).Oliver Kommerling was the head guy and ran the team that helped to open Pandora's Box