Satellite TV Hackers Found Guilty

Three men were indicted on a single count of violating the federal copyright law pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Anthony Battaglia a few days ago.  Their violation–hacking a DISH Network smart card.

Jung Kwak (Oceanside, CA) and Phillip Allison and Robert Ward (both from Seminole, FL), admitted that beginning in March 2008 they hired hackers to crack the then-latest DISH Network encryption so receiver boxes sold by Kwak could continue to work.   Kwak was the owner of Viewtech, a company that imported satellite boxes allowing users to watch a certain amount of free programming.  The box mostly received ethnic and religious programs but could also be used for more things.  Kwak discovered by hacking the DISH smart cards and installing it into his “black boxes”, they could obtain more signals.