Man sentenced to pay 500 dollars a month for 30,000 years!

[Barenaked]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ellite_pirate_



TAMPA, Fla. - A man who admitted scheming to steal satellite television signals has been ordered to pay $180 million in restitution in $500-a-month installments — a payment plan that would take 30,000 years to fulfill.


Steven Frazier, 28, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in a scheme to manufacture and sell devices to decode satellite TV signals and allow people to get premium service for free. He also received a five-year prison sentence.


The scheme was thwarted when federal agents arrested Frazier last fall.


A federal judge ordered restitution Wednesday based on a formula of how much Frazier's intended victims, DirecTV and EchoStar, would have lost had the scheme succeeded.


The companies estimate they could have lost $900 million. "We take this very seriously," said Larry Rissler, a DirecTV vice president.


Frazier's attorney, Kenton Sands, said his client is not expected to pay off the entire $180 million, but the installments will crimp his budget once he's out of prison.


Frazier, of Sacramento, Calif., was arrested in October by the FBI (news - web sites) and U.S. Customs agents in Dallas while he tried to board a flight to Mexico. Customs agents tracking his operations found computer chips and hacking gear in his luggage.


At the time, Frazier had about 5,000 customers lined up for the programming device he helped design and develop.


Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Peluso said Frazier was regarded among the upper echelon of international satellite pirates. The case was heard in Tampa because the first people indicted resided in the area.

[Norm357]

Holy Smokes!!!:eek:

[zander_zye]

totally and utterly ridiculous - waste of time and abuse of judicial authority.

Was this part of a plea bargain, or an actual sentenced handed down? If it was an actual sentence, I highly doubt it would be upheld on appeal. The $900M figure put forward by DirectTV to the court is a pipe dream on their part. Their revenues are not even close to that part. While it is wrong to steal cable (or in this case DirectTV), it is hardly a crime in the rhelm of robbery, homicide, or even frankly burglary. (shoplifting maybe)

Has anyone been following the RIAA? They are now going to track each and every song swapper on line and file criminal charges. OK RIAA - that is your right. But as a society, can we really afford to do this? I say that for each case the RIAA loses, we bill them the full amount including police time, court, etc. The RIAA is a greedy organization with greedy members and greedly lawyers. Personally, I no longer buy CD's of muscians who belong to this organization. Again, although I beleive it is in fact stealing to some small degree, is this worthy of our time to go after the little guy? Just food for thought...

[Sgt. Pepper]

Not to mention the short life span of a cd what is it 3 yrs i know most of mine are mesed up after 1 or 2, don't they make better ones? The fact that almost every cd you buy has 2 good tracks and the rest is stuff you couldn't give away for free.

[Deputy Joe]

That sentence seems to be unreasonable. If someone takes a $999 item from someone elses yard and there is $20,000 of property left do they get charged for what they could have taken? Of course not!

[txinvestigator1]

Originally posted by Sgt. Pepper
Not to mention the short life span of a cd what is it 3 yrs i know most of mine are mesed up after 1 or 2, don't they make better ones? The fact that almost every cd you buy has 2 good tracks and the rest is stuff you couldn't give away for free.

Someone wrote this before here. What? I have CD's from the '80's that play just as well today.

I am in the process of an experiment. I am converting my favorite CD's to WMA (Windows Medai Audio) which is a digital format much like MP3, but only half the size. I am transferring them to a SD (secure digital, 'bout the size of a postage stamp) card and am going to see how well the play on my PDA, which is with me always. I think there is a device that will take the headphone output and plug into the RCA in of stereos, as well as one that plugs into the tape slot of cassette players.

What do ya'll think? On a 256 MB card I could have well over 100 songs.

[Sgt. Pepper]

the average mp3 is about 1mb per min some PDA have speakers mine has one but no jack, i tend to say Mp3 is a much better quality then WMA, if you buy an MP3 player they connect to steros and car radios with a tape player or an external jack

[txinvestigator1]

SP,

I understand MP3's are suppose to sound better, but I don't want to carry another piece of equipment.

Is the sound quality audibly better? What would you say is missing from the WMA sound?

[zander_zye]

The original design of a CD and DVD incorporated a protective coating. Because this coating added approximately 5 cents to the costs of the blank CD/DVD, it is no longer used. With this coating, in theory, you would have unlimited use the product. Unfortunatley, even with due and dilligent care, without this coating, the lifespan of the product is between 1-3 years. Contrary to popular beleif, the laser used to read the CD does in fact affect the CD itself, knocking off microscopic portions of the ridges which over time cause the CD to fail.

Bottom line, the RIAA's problem with reduced revenue is not cause by on line swapping, it is really caused by a poor product, over priced, and the quality of the music being released. (sorry Brittany, while you are sexy and are a pretty good aerobics dancer, you have no real talent for music)

[Stump]

Originally posted by txinvestigator1
I have CD's from the '80's that play just as well today.

Good thing! I don't think they sell the Flock of Seagulls CD's anymore. :D

[txinvestigator1]

Originally posted by Stump
Good thing! I don't think they sell the Flock of Seagulls CD's anymore. :D

Or School of Fish? ;)

Last month I purshased the Time Life Sounds of the Eighty's CD set. :eek:

[sorrel]

Umm if he had 5,000 customers at over a hundred dollars a piece.....going rate for premium service.
One month would be a half million dollars.

But the sat company changes it signal just for this purpose, pirates, every 6 months.

So his scam could have run up a 3 million dollar theft at the most.
Providing he did not aquire more customers before the chips became inactive.
That isn't exactly small change.

I pay for my sat. hook up.

Stealing is still stealing............and there is not a better way to steal from ppl compared to another.
He conspired to steal what he did not pay for.

As did any that bought into his product.
I think they should be held just as accountable.

Does it seem less like stealing because the sat system is already in place ?
I do not think it is, my bill helps pay for the service behind keeping that system in place.........ok plus overhead.

The theft would not have increased the wear of the system, so why is it such a crime.................because stealing is still stealing.
If they wanted signal then they should pay for it, and the system that maintains it.

P.S.
Any of you think that stealing music is ok because you don't like all the songs on a cd ?
Frankly I think if you buy a product such as music you should take it into consideration and make your purchases according to what gives you the most bang for your buck.

I think of my whole cd collection there may be two or three songs I do not like.
Then I don't just buy something to have just the one hit........I wait and see if I truely enjoy the artist.

[Cobra]

Hate to bust this out, but...

That sentencing was ghey liek a moose

[Darin]

I can't believe I'm saying this...But I'm with Zander :eek: The punishment doesn't fit the crime.


txinvestigator1:What do ya'll think? On a 256 MB card I could have well over 100 songs.

Hehehe I think you have too much time on your hands techno nerd LMAO j/k Tx It actually sounds like a good idea.


Stump: Flock of Seagulls???? Bwaaahaaaaa oh man that's funny. Better watch the laughing before I break a rib ;)

[jonesg11]

Seems like Canada is always at the front of stupidity. Just when you yanks think something is dumb, just look north at our government and we'll outdo ya.

About a week or so ago the governement passed a bill in which all blank cds will have another surcharge added to them, that is on top of our outrageously high taxes.

This surcharge is supposed to help recoup the cost of the bands and musicians who lose revenue to online file swapping services and other copy methods.

Now whether the bands and such will ever see the money is another matter. Not to mention the fact of how do you divide it up, and the high chance that it will go into general government revenue.

So no in Canada whenever you buy a blank cd you are labelled a criminal. So I figure if I've already paid for the crime then why not enjoy the rewards of it?

So Cobra, hows that for ghey liek a moose?