The advent of the cable descrambler and the so-called black boxes, combined with a more recent trend of splitting cable
off of cable modem high-speed internet lines, has made cable piracy a serious legal issue over the past decade. According to a 1999 study
by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA), the cable industry loses nearly $6.6 billion in “unrealized basic and
premium revenue annually,” and this figure does not include the illegal reception of pay-per-view programs. There are 32 states with laws
prohibiting the possession of cable descramblers, and the NCTA's Office of Cable Signal Theft (OCST) is working in coordination with
the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and with state and local prosecutors to investigate and prosecute theft. Moreover,
disgusted cable subscribers, upset with the poorer television pictures or higher rates that cable thieves directly cause, now can even
anonymously report cable theft online. However, as changes in technology continue to provide more creative means of cable theft, the law will be forced to play catch up.
Congress has enacted the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in order to curb the proliferation of cable piracy. This statute provides, in part, that
| No person shall manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or otherwise traffic in any technology, product,
service, device, component, or part thereof, that is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing a technological measure that
effectively controls access to a work protected under this title. |
In addition, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (EPCA) also provides penalties for one who “intentionally intercepts, endeavors to intercept,
or procures any other person to intercept or endeavor to intercept, any wire, oral, or electronic communication.”
Several cases have also addressed the issue of cable piracy. The Sixth Circuit, for example, discussing whether the EPCA applies to the interception
of satellite television channels, held that “the [ECPA's] plain language 'encompasses satellite television signals. . .[as] it is undisputed that
satellite television transmissions contain sounds and images and are carried via radio waves. . .therefore. . .constitut[ing] electronic
communications.'” The plethora of laws and cases relating to cable piracy indicate that cable theft is, and will
continue to be, addressed often in the legislative and legal arenas.
Cable piracy implicates a variety of legal fields, from patent to copyright law. As ardent seekers or free cable continue to
circumvent current law and as new devices to procure illegal cable continue to be invented, cable piracy law must continue to grow and
adapt in order to effectively deter this more modern, quite pervasive kind of theft.
For Additional Reading:
www.ncta.com
www.cabletheft.com
