DirecTV's War With Hackers

                        After reading about the security (or lack thereof) of DirecTV’s programming signal from the online article DirecTV’s War on Hackers, what I found the most interesting was actually the reader’s comments on the article. The first couple presented the idea that decrypting air signals is not actually stealing TV. I was surprised by this, because while I was reading the article, it never even occurred to me that the people receiving this free TV weren’t doing anything wrong! It seemed obvious to me that if you weren’t paying for the programs, but you received the signal through direct action on your part, then that was stealing. However, the first few comments proposed the idea that “When you steal something, the person that you stole it from no longer possesses it. An example of stealing TV would be smashing a shop window, grabbing a television set under your arm, and running. This is by no means the same thing. DirecTV are broadcasting their signal over satellite. Whether you pay for their service or not, it gets beamed into your property. If you have a dish, you will pick up the signal. If you happen to have the means of decoding this signal, you can watch their TV shows. How is this stealing?” I do not think this changes my mind about the fact that what was going on here is wrong, but it is definitely and interesting point that made me stop and think.