Recent developments in technology are blurring the lines that separate television and the internet. Sure, we’ve had YouTube and other popular video sites for a while now, and more recently we have seen major television networks offerings some of their most popular programming for viewers to watch online via the internet.

DISH Network is taking TV via internet to a new level with Sling technology, which allows DISH Network subscribers to watch programming in real time from their DVR systems anywhere they can access the internet. Using Sling technology gives users an experience that is the next best thing to watching from your favorite chair in the comfort of your own home without being there.

Although the inner workings of the internet remain a mystery for the majority of users, it’s well known that the internet offers criminals a gold mine of data that they use to fuel their criminal activities. News stories of company websites being hacked and customer data being stolen are not uncommon these days. What may be lesser known to internet users is that data can actually be siphoned from the internet in real time by someone who has the knowhow and access to tap into an access point.

With DISH Network relying on the internet to broadcast Sling content, the need to secure the data was pretty obvious. To that end, EchoStar, DISH Network’s sister company, has employed Widevine, a company that is described as a “content protection and video optimization specialist.”

Widevine’s DRM (digital rights management) technology will protect DISH Network’s programming content as it is streamed onto the internet for use by subscribers with Sling-equipped DVRs and receivers.

According to Mark Jackson, president of EchoStar Technologies: "Our innovative consumer devices embedded with Widevine’s widely adopted security bring peace of mind to content owners and service providers seeking to maintain their revenue model while providing consumers unparalleled flexibility to watch their content on the go.”

No, not the kind of pirates that have been making news off the coast of Africa in recent years by hijacking gigantic cargo vessels. The alleged pirates in question are of the digital variety – the new breed that is busy displacing news of other, more “traditional” pirates in the headlines.

Satellite broadcasters like DISH Network take measures to ensure that the programming they broadcast is available only to legitimate subscribers. The signals are encrypted, which makes it difficult for unauthorized users to watch programming that is being broadcast by DISH. Nothing, however, is perfect.

Just as we hear stories almost daily about hackers and other digital criminals breaking into various corporate networks and systems to steal information, satellite pirates figure out how to manufacture or procure equipment capable of decoding encrypted satellite signals, and sell that equipment to those who are willing to get their television programming illegally.

In this particular case, two men from Henderson, Nevada have been accused of satellite piracy, and are the target of a lawsuit filed by DISH Network. DISH alleges that Michael Cho and Jason Cho and their company Mamertine Inc. “are satellite pirates who distribute devices that enable consumers to illegally intercept and decrypt DISH Network’s pay-television programming without authorization and without payment of a subscription fee.”

This particular case is said to involve a technique known as “internet key sharing” or IKS. The procedure involves connecting a certain type of satellite receiver to the internet so that it can obtain the codes required to decrypt satellite broadcasts that are intended only for subscribers.

It’s not clear when or if the case will actually be tried in court. For more, see the Las Vegas Sun.

It’s risky enough to be receiving illegal satellite or cable TV broadcasts on your own, but for some people that’s not quite enough, and they think of ways to make money for themselves by setting illegal equipment to others. Those that venture into that type of “business” model should prepare themselves for serious consequences if they are caught.

That’s the case with Won Tak Kim, “president” of an outfit called Panarex. The organization was in the business of selling “free-to-air” or FTA satellite systems, which can be perfectly legal when used to receive signals that are intended to be free for public consumption. Panarex, however, was also providing customers with some extra “features,” specifically DISH Network signals that are intended only for DISH Network subscribers.

Although satellite signals that are broadcast by pay-TV providers like DISH Network are encrypted in order to make it more difficult for individuals who attempt to “pirate” the broadcasts without paying for a subscription, there are some individuals who have the technical expertise to manufacture the equipment required to receive the encrypted signals.

When DISH Network learned that Panarex was selling satellite systems that were imported from South Korea and were able to receive encrypted DISH Network broadcasts after downloading decryption codes from the internet, they took legal action.

A federal district court in California ordered Panarex to surrender their inventory and stop selling the illegal receivers. The company was also ordered to pay a $121 million penalty to DISH Network.

No word on how Panarex customers will fare after this settlement, but I would not want to be someone with one of those illegal receivers in my home. Some customers probably believed that they were buying satellite systems that were legal, but there is no doubt that many of them knew exactly what they were getting and may be at risk of prosecution.

A Florida Federal Court walloped a DISH Network pirate with a $51 million judgment after he was found to be posting software on the internet that allowed people with Free-to-air (FTA) satellite systems to receive programming from DISH Network without paying for it.

Satellite companies like DISH go to great lengths to protect their signals with various types of encryption, but when someone figures out how to crack the code and receive programming for free, they sometimes share it with others who also end up risking prosecution if they are caught pirating a subscription channel.

The court held that the posting of pirating software code is a violation of the Federal Communications Act, and that statutory damages should be arrived at based on how many persons downloaded the pirating software. Considering the $51 million number, one heck of a lot of people must have downloaded that code!

These matters are taken very seriously and as one pirate who was foolish enough to advertise his illegal wares found out, $51 million is a pretty big number. Can’t imagine how the average Joe could pay that, but I sure wouldn’t want to have to figure out how!

Psssst! Hey buddy, want to buy a free satellite TV descrambler? A shady looking character on a street corner selling illegal satellite receivers out of the back of a van is the image that comes to mind when I think about satellite pirates. This kind of stuff has been going on for years, even before the age of satellite TV when people would hijack cable TV programming by hooking up their homes illegally or buying descrambler boxes which allowed them to watch programming that was not part of the package they were paying for.

In this recent case of satellite piracy, forget about the shady dude with the van – these bozos actually set up a company that was selling a device called “Coolsat,” which allowed purchasers to receive DISH Network programming without paying for it. These geniuses, and their company, called “Freetech” (I wonder how they came up with that name?) recently but the dust in a big way after DISH Network prevailed in a lawsuit that netted a $97 million judgment against the company, hand over all its liquid assets to DISH Network and shut down its business which was reportedly engaged in “business” in other parts of the world beyond the U.S.

Talk about a smack down. Perhaps this will serve as a warning for anyone else foolish enough to actually set up a company and start selling equipment to receive television programming illegally.

I guess “Coolsat” didn’t turn out to be so cool after all.

Glenn White had an interesting business model. He was running a cable television service in Wagram, North Carolina and distributing programming content from DISH Network’s satellite service to his customers. The problem was that White had not bothered to talk to DISH Network before doing that.

White was using illegally modified equipment to receive the DISH Network programming he was providing for his cable TV subscribers. This is often referred to as piracy, and involves using equipment that has been built or modified to bypass the security measures that satellite broadcasters use to prevent non-subscribers from receiving their broadcasts.

Well, apparently word got out about White’s business tactics, and an FBI investigation resulted. Companies like DISH Network don’t like it when people use illegal equipment to receive programming from their satellites without paying for it, and they really don’t like it when someone is providing stolen programming content to someone else and getting paid for it!

I’m sure White was a but surprised when the FBI visited his business with search-and-seizure orders, and started walking out the door with his equipment. I also suspect his subscribers were not too happy when their cable TV service went out without warning.

Glenn White is now looking at 14 months in a federal prison. I suppose it could have been a lot worse, but I sure would not want to spend any amount of time in a federal prison. I does not sound like much fun.

Some people show up on my site looking for the kinds of information that can be used to get DISH Network without paying for it. They will do a search on Google or Yahoo! that is related to DISH Network and some of them end up here.

Pirating satellite TV is not worth the risk. All it takes is one person to say something to the wrong person, and you can be caught. Seeing as you can get DISH Network packages for as little as about $20 a month, is it really worth getting into legal trouble for the sake of free satellite TV?

Your can read more about Glenn White’s case here.