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| January 21, 2002 According to sat2000 A new Viaccess card has been released for SexView |
| The XXX channel Sexview have changed to their new secure Viaccess 2 card. All pirate cards were effectively switched off on the change over. Other xxx channels will also do the same shortly. They include SCT the Italian 24 hr porn channel and Ultra blue. The change over had been forced on the providers by Canal France the owners of the Viaccess system. |
| January 20, 2002 sat2000 reports that Xcard released new 3-in-1 software |
| A new real 3in1 card solution has been released by the X-CARD TEAM . The new software is designed for use with an ATMEL 8535 +256K eeprom. The software works as the normal 3in1 type in Irdeto cams but also works in individual cams ie Seca cam/Via cam . When inserted in the correct cam the card can auto-update if the correct management keys are present . Basically the XCARD will do everything a PC emulator can do but all in the smartcard. |
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January 18, 2002 according to the Italian site satnews Viaccess II has compatibility problems... |
| The new Viaccess2 card recently introduced is encountering more problems than previously thought. numerous tests carried out during the past week have brought to light amazing incompatibilities between the new card and some models of receivers. The Humax Fox, F1VA, VACI5200/VACI5300 set-top boxes refuse to work with the new card like the Xcom and the Samsung9000. The Humax, however, will be receive an upgrade to its firmware soon which should resolve the problem. We advise all those who are in possession of a Viaccess2 card to contact your supplier if you see a message stating "check card" after inserting it into the receiver. Remember that soon SCT, UltraBLue and Sex-View will exclusively use the new system of encryption, and anyone who is not careful and replaces the card may discover that it is impossible to decrypt a picture with the new cards, even with a legitimate subscription. |
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January 8, 2002 according to sat-2000 Sex-view may be changing its Viaccess cards soon. |
| SEXVIEW the Hotbird hardcore XXX channel have started sending a new Viaccess ID over the air.The new ID is most likely for their new cards which are supposed to go active on Jan 19th . |
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January 7, 2002 satlandia reports that almost all Viaccess platforms in Europe are on the verge of changing over |
| New Viaccess cards with the new "P2.4" software are being distributed -first in France, and then throughout the continent. This means all European operators are in the process of - or will be- exchanging their cards (TPS, NTV+, SRRG, SEX VIEW, Ultrablue and also our SCT) Apparently this new Viaccess card will have enhanced security features making it more difficult to modify. One sign of hope comes from viewers of the Greek operator "Alpha" who report that hackers from Eastern Europe have successfully hacked the PC2.4, and the source-code is to hit the Internet imminently. The French provider TPS has a particular headache since they hae to change out over one million cards. To prevent this, it appears that only subscribers who rent their set-top boxes (the Sagem and the Thompson set-top boxes) will be receiving the new generation card. |
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December 30, 2001 According to satlandia Eastern European Hackers have made progress in hacking NDS. |
| Reports from Eastern Europe indicate that new instruments will be introduced soon to the European market which will shed new light upon a system which until recently remained obscured. From a European Perspective this can only mean NDS. There are 3 ways in which to 'shed light' on Europe and italy. What we can report is that they will need very powerful computers to log, and lots of paper on which to place all the data. Some have claimed that these reports are originating from Spain, where hackers have already successfully activated a card (afterwhich the card was de-activated by the provider within a few hours). According to the experts, it is only a matter of time because the algorithms in the US used for the DSS system is similar to the NDS system and piracy there is already rampant for quite some time. |
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December 3, 2001 according to SAT2000: Crackdown by German pay tv operator |
| According to reports on a satellite news group:
"A huge crackdown on Premiere World piratecard dealers and users took place this weekend. The whole thing was coordinated in cooperation with the authorities by the newly created anti-piracy task force "E-Security" from the Kirchgruppe Company, owner of german pay-TV provider Premiere World. 50 homes and shops in Germany were searched during the operation and some 8000 smartcards, stolen decoders and smartcard devices were seized. The article also says that this task force is working closely with other european pay-TV providers." |
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Tuesday, 27th
November 2001 | |
| Industry sources in Italy have revealed drastic measures to hit-out at Seca/Mediaguard pay-TV piracy. Italy's pay-TV operators Stream and Telepiu Digitale are reported to be planning a new software type to be downloaded to all rented and purchased Goldbox set-top boxes in Italy, which will only allow viewers access to the two operators encrypted platforms and general free-to-air services. This will eliminate users from accessing other Seca/Mediaguard encrypted services with an official or unofficial card, marking the second phase of anti-piracy moves by Telepiu Digitale, which earlier saw the operator implementing controls on the number of service providers on each smartcard. |
November, 2001
According to
Sathelp four cable pirate dealers in the U.K. were
found guilty of Cable Fraud
A court has heard how four businessmen carried out what is
thought to have been the biggest cable television
company fraud
in the UK. Bar owner Faisal Iqbal earned at least
�7,000 a week selling illegal decoder boxes giving viewers access to cable
programmes. He sold thousands of the devices, known as Baby Js, through the
Internet at �50 each. Iqbal used electronics expert, Douglas Dilley, to
manufacturer and programme the boxes. Also involved in the fraud was 37-year-old
Bournemouth-based Ellis Williams who advertised the units on the Internet.
Prosecuting, Brian O'Neill estimated that major cable companies may have lost up
to �20 million as a result of the scam. "Mr Williams, like many others, was a
salesman playing no part in the manufacture but buying cubes in bulk from Iqbal
and others." Judge Timothy Pontius told Williams: "You used Internet facilities
to make easy sales. I'm prepared to accept that your personal gain was limited
to only a few thousand pounds." Iqbal of Battersea was jailed for five years for
conspiring to defraud cable television companies. Dilley, 62, of Stevenage,
Herts, had pleaded guilty to causing an unauthorised modification to the
contents of a computer contrary to the computer misuse act. Williams was fined
�3,000 for his part. Dilley was sentenced to 180 hours community service and
ordered to pay �500 court costs. Speaking after the case, DI Michael Ryan of the
National Crime Squad said: "It's difficult to quantify but it appears Iqbal was
behind one fifth of all illegal cable cube sales in the UK." Nick Martin,
investigations manager for Telewest Broadband, one of the major losers in the
fraud, said: "This is the biggest cable TV fraud that has come to light,
possibly it will be the last of its kind."
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November 22, 2001 According to the Sat Zone ITV Digital may issue new STB's! |
| Rumours have resurfaced that ITV Digital could soon issue new STB�s that are �married� to a smartcard in the same way Sky Digital receivers are, presumably to prevent an official minimum subscription being replaced by a �15 pirate card. Meanwhile ITV Digital�s public voice has reacted to criticism that letters warning of pirate cards have been sent out to perfectly legitimate customers including the elderly. ITV Digital�s Andrew Marre responded to those who feel like criminals, saying: �I don't see why that would be the case. It's just a warning that pirate cards are around and if you get offered one, or if you've got one by accident, they'd like to know about it, that's all. That was absolutely the purpose and I'm sorry if any law abiding person read it as accusing them.� An angry ESN reader contacted us last week when his father in his seventies living in the North East wrongly believed he faced a police investigation after receiving the official letter. |
November 21, 2001
Sat Zone reports that ITV Digital blames ITV Sport
Channel for rise in piracy:
Although the claim is not reflected in official viewing figures, ITV Digital are partly blaming the heavily advertised, recently launched ITV Sport channel for increased piracy of its channels. �Piracy is a significant problem,� said a spokesman. �It has become more significant in recent months since the launch of the sports channel.� As well as Champions League coverage involving the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, and Arsenal, unofficial cards open up weekly Premiership pay-per-view matches!
November 15, 2001
According to Sat Zone, ITV Digital in bizarre
pirate-card exchange offer!
In another bizarre twist ITV Digital are offering to replace pirate gold
cards with officials ones in their latest charm offence as they attempt to fight
City analysts, who are calling for the digital terrestrial service to close and
pirates, reportedly upwards of 100,000, almost a tenth of all customers. A
letter sent to legitimate customer�s claims: 'Anyone who thinks they may
inadvertently have a pirate card has a chance to put it right. If they call us
on 0870 600 7676 and their card turns out to be illegal we'll substitute it for
a genuine card and a proper subscription, no questions asked.'' Amazingly the
letter will alert many more legitimate customers about the widespread
availability of pirate card saturating :�You may have read - about the recent
arrival of illegal ITV Digital smartcards in the UK' A not very subtle threat
worthy of the BBC licence fees claims: �We have a range of measures to deal with
this - we can also, if appropriate, withdraw all existing cards and replace them
with cards, which the pirates will be unable to copy,� a rumour recently
reported by ESN that would be both costly and unlikely to be effective in the
long term.
November 12, 2001
According to
sat-online French police arrested 7 people for manufacturing pirate Seca and Irdeto
smartcards.
Seven arrested in France over
alleged smartcard piracy Following several recent arrests in Italy, the French
now also appear to be taking a stance against pay-TV piracy. Recently, police in
Paris arrested seven individuals for manufacturing and selling pirate Seca and
Irdeto smartcards. According to our sources the operation has cost the French
pay-TV operator, Canal Plus, almost �200,000.
November 9, 2001
According to
sat-online AEPOC plans to fight
TV-piracy
New figures from AEPOC (European
Association for the Protection of Encrypted works and services), estimates
the illegal turnover in pirated works is in the order of 1 billion Euros
yearly. At a meeting recently in Warsaw, the Association discussed
anti-piracy measures, and the launch of a new website aimed at promoting public
awareness of the problem and the planned counter measures. In a press release
AEPOC claims to �bring together the leading European players in the digital
television sector, representing pay-TV operators, infrastructure providers,
conditional-access companies and hardware manufacturers.� The current list of
AEPOC members read like a who�s who of pay-TV providers across Europe -
Betaresearch, BSkyB, Canal+, Canal+ Polska, Canal+ Technologies, Eutelsat,
Irdeto Access, Motorola, NDS, NTV-Plus, Pace, Philips Digital Networks, RAI,
Sogecable, Soci?t? Europ?enne des Satellites, Stream, Telenor Conax. Tele+, TPS,
Thomson, Viaccess - France Telecom. AEPOC �urges the adoption of
adequate measures to fight personal use and possession of illicit
equipment and software providing access to encrypted
transmissions.�
November 5, 2001
According to
sat-online A new Seca2 card will be
released in Italy to fight unofficial viewing of Telepiu.
More worrying
news has emerged for those viewing Seca encrypted channels unofficially, as
strong industry rumours have surfaced which predict a December 1st rollout for
Telepiu's new SECA2 viewing cards. The pay-TV provider was set to issue its
subscribers with new SECA2 viewing cards in the new year. However, it is now
believed that Telepiu has decided to bring the rollout forward to protect its
investment in high-budget programming for the Christmas holiday period.
According to our sources, SECA2 cards do not require any over-the-air
interaction to provide updates as all the necessary data to carry out such tasks
is contained within the cards! This leads us to believe that those using
unofficial means to view Telepiu via Seca/MediaGuard, such as the popular
combination of an Aston CAM and pirate viewing card, will almost certainly be
left in the dark!
October 28, 2001
According to
sat-online 2 Telepiu and Stream card
dealers were arrested in Italy
Two individuals, believed to be major players in the production and
sale of pirate viewing cards in Italy, were arrested earlier this week. The two
had been operating in the town of Galvano, and had allegedly set-up numerous
websites promoting the sale of mainly unofficial Telepiu and Stream pirate
cards. The arrests are the latest of a recent spate throughout Italy, as
authorities continue to clampdown on suspected pirate card dealers. Despite
this, however, piracy continues to be a major problem for broadcasters such as
Telepiu, with an estimated 500,000 pirate cards in use throughout the
country!
October 16, 2001
According to
Sat Europa
There is a severe shortage of Aston CI-CAMs.
Version 1.05 Seca CAM crisis hits
Italy. Italy has been struck by a 'CAM crisis', demand of Astoncrypt Seca CI
CAMs with Version 1.05 software has exceeded supply, mainly due to the new
production of the limited Version 1.07 CAM. The new CAM will not allow access to
the Stream platform on Hot Bird, and will also have many implications for pirate
smartcard users. Version 1.05 CAMs are being sold by some dealers in Italy for
around �165.00 (262 Euros) per piece. The demands for the production of the new
limited 1.07 CAM are thought to have come from pay-TV operators Canal+. Sources,
close to encryption sector Canal+ Technologies, have revealed the possible
introduction of the so-called "Super Seca" encryption for early 2002, to be
implemented with all Canal+ cable and satellite services using Seca/Mediaguard
encryption. Italy's two pay-TV platforms Telepiu Digitale and Stream, will issue
their own developed CAMs to subscribers using Common Interface receivers, which
will have a PIN code control system to restrict access to just one provider
platform.