Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ucla-cs.ARPA
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!bmcg!cepu!ucla-cs!wales
From: wales@ucla-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.tv,net.legal
Subject: Illegal satellite dish cleanup in San Francisco area?
Message-ID: <645@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 2-Aug-84 11:33:35 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.645
Posted: Thu Aug  2 11:33:35 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 3-Aug-84 05:24:34 EDT
Organization: UCLA CS Dept.
Lines: 34

I read in the paper the other day that a pay-TV company in the San
Francisco Bay area has sent nasty letters to several thousand people in
their area, accusing them of pirating HBO signals via illegal satellite
dishes.  The accused pirates have been told to dismantle their receiving
equipment, sign an agreement to stop illegal interception of signals,
and pay a $300 "out-of-court settlement", or else they will be sued (for
a lot more than $300, I assume).

The company claims that the "pirates" were identified via an "electronic
and photographic survey", details of which were not disclosed.

What I want to know is:

(1) Does a private party in the U.S. currently have a legal right to own
    and operate his own satellite dish?  I assume the answer is a quali-
    fied "yes" (provided he restricts the set of stations he receives),
    since at least one company here in the L.A. area has been advertis-
    ing private satellite-dish installations on the radio for some time.

(2) Assuming that a dish is not inherently illegal, how is it possible
    to figure out what the owner of a given dish is listening to without
    invading the residence and conducting an on-site search?  Or is the
    pay-TV company in question simply saying to itself, "Mr. Jones has a
    dish pointed at satellite X, and HBO is one of the signals broadcast
    by satellite X, therefore Mr. Jones is probably pirating HBO"?

I do not currently own a satellite dish, by the way.

-- 
    Rich Wales
    UCLA Computer Science Department
    3531 Boelter Hall // Los Angeles, CA 90024 // (213) 825-5683
    ARPA:  wales@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA
    UUCP:  ...!{cepu,ihnp4,trwspp,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!wales