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muriel_volestrangler

(101,321 posts) Mon Mar 26, 2012, 04:02 PM Mar 2012

Murdoch firm used hacker site to target pay-TV rival

Source: BBC

A News Corporation company recruited a pay-TV "pirate" to post hacked details of a rival's secret codes online, BBC Panorama has found.

Lee Gibling set up a website in the late 1990s known as The House of Ill-Compute or Thoic.

He said NDS, a pay-TV smartcard maker, then funded expansion of the Thoic site and later had him distribute the set-top pay-TV codes of rival ITV Digital.

NDS denied this and said Thoic was only used to gather intelligence on hackers.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17494723

ITV Digital went bust in 2002 - unable to bring in the revenue its pay TV model had predicted.

This involves Murdoch's TV - so he can't just jettison it, unlike the newspapers. However, some of the accusations have been around for some time, so this may not go far.

7 replies

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Murdoch firm used hacker site to target pay-TV rival (Original Post) muriel_volestrangler Mar 2012 OP

wow - if true this is not cool BadGimp Mar 2012 #1

NDS was sold to Cisco week before last. dipsydoodle Mar 2012 #2

When are we going to start seeing some of THESE ... Joseph8th Mar 2012 #3

Maybe when some get charged dipsydoodle Mar 2012 #5

Kicked and recommended. Uncle Joe Mar 2012 #4

More reason for Justice and FBI to review whether Fox should be allowed to hold broadcast licenses n Julian Englis Mar 2012 #6

Old news cstanleytech Mar 2012 #7

BadGimp

(4,015 posts)

1. wow - if true this is not cool

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Original post)

Mon Mar 26, 2012, 04:10 PM

Mar 2012

dipsydoodle

(42,239 posts)

2. NDS was sold to Cisco week before last.

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Original post)

Mon Mar 26, 2012, 04:21 PM

Mar 2012

Last edited Mon Mar 26, 2012, 04:54 PM - Edit history (1)

News Corp owned 49% of NDS at point of sale. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/15/us-nds-cisco-idUSBRE82E0C120120315

Issue affecting ITV Digital was publicised almost exactly 10 years ago.

Details here :

Smartcard squabble: Too good for court

Last week, you will recall, Canal Plus launched a $1bn (£0.7bn) suit against NDS in the Californian courts, alleging that NDS had conspired to crack its codes and flood the market with forged cards.

>

ITV Digital joined in, claiming pirated smartcards had cost it more than £100m.

The company estimates about 100,000 counterfeit cards may be in circulation in the UK, though that is small beer compared to Italy, where up to 50% of the Canal Plus Technologies smartcards are thought to be fakes.

Initially NDS and its parent company News Corporation appeared stunned by the allegations. NDS's headquarters, in Staines in Middlesex, promised a statement but failed to issue one for several hours.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1879694.stm

Joseph8th

(228 posts)

3. When are we going to start seeing some of THESE ...

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Original post)

Mon Mar 26, 2012, 05:18 PM

Mar 2012

... hackers in court facing decades of prison time? Huh? Oh, right... they're the 1% so it's a different standard. I forgot.

Then they wonder why black markets and disdain for authority...

See my signature for Einstein's thoughts on bad laws.

dipsydoodle

(42,239 posts)

5. Maybe when some get charged

Reply to Joseph8th (Reply #3)

Mon Mar 26, 2012, 05:44 PM

Mar 2012

and then get found guilty at a subsequent trial. That's how it works here in the UK. We're old fashioned : we don't have guilt by media as may be the case in the USA.