Echostar has asked Coolsat to turn over the names of everyone who has purchased a Coolsat FTA satellite receiver... you should assume they will ask all the other FTA receiver companies too...

Tuesday, August 19, 2008
EFF Urges Court to Protect Customers' Privacy

San Francisco, CA - iThe Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) asked a federal court Friday to reject efforts by Echostar to get the names and addresses of every customer that purchased a free-to-air satellite receiver. Echostar claims that the receiver can be modified to pirate DISH satellite TV programming. EFF argues that Echostar's demand, which seeks all purchasers regardless of whether they actually pirated DISH TV, would violate user privacy and leave innocent purchasers vulnerable to bogus legal threats.
The demand for customer records came up in a lawsuit between Echostar, the company behind the DISH satellite TV service, and Freetech, Inc., the manufacturer of Coolsat free-to-air satellite receivers. As part of the suit, Echostar subpoenaed 17 distributors of Coolsat receivers, demanding the names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and other information of every person who purchased a Coolsat receiver over the last five years.
"Innocent customers should not be dragged into federal litigation just because they bought a product that other, less scrupulous purchasers may be hacking for unlawful purposes," said EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann. "The court should recognize the privacy interests of these customers, especially since Echostar does not need these customer lists in order to have its day in court against Freetech."
In recent years, satellite TV companies, record labels, and movie studios have all engaged in dragnet litigation tactics that threaten individuals with costly lawsuits unless they pay significant financial sums to "settle" the dispute. These mass litigation campaigns leave innocent consumers trapped between paying a "settlement" for something they did not do or facing even higher legal costs to prove their innocence. Satellite TV provider DirecTV pioneered this approach in 2001, threatening more than 120,000 individuals with legal action and commencing more than 24,000 federal lawsuits, often with no evidence other than the fact that the individual purchased multi-purpose devices that could be used for piracy.
"Once the names of Freetech customers are disclosed to Echostar, there may be little that any court can do to protect these people from harassment, settlement demands, and legal expenses," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman. "This may be the last chance the court has to protect the privacy of these individuals."

Interesting read.

that would be BS but good info

thanks for the info, bro.

Seems like its not only coolsat from this article

http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/08/18

My question will be - what if they come in to your house and find out that you only have true FTA set up using these type of receivers ? what then ? do you have recourse for the harassment ? Or... are they wanting the data so they can correlate with IP data and download information ? if you never downloaded anything - yet bought some DVB equipment - would they know that ?

either way - its BS that there are 100s of DVB channels in the sky that are FTA... and someone can go on presumption of guilt ... its like assuming everyone with a gun will or has shot someone and is guilty of murder because guns can be used in illegal ways...

Wow, that's over stepping quite a bit. We should also make sure to get the information of everyone who purchased a lighter or matches. They may use them for arson or drug use!

Interesting Read Thanks

Thanks for the info my friend

will coolsat protect its customers? ..if not then this could esculate to more fta manufacturers.glad i never bough a p.o.s coolsat

will coolsat protect its customers? ..if not then this could esculate to more fta manufacturers.glad i never bough a p.o.s coolsat

Read the actual article... it is more than coolsat - would say that it is possibly not even directed to the manufacter - at all - but the sales channels

If they win, you will not be able to roll your own tobacco cigarettes, because that is the same paper others use to roll marijuana cigarettes.

Thanks for the info. Nice reading.

jacb1

lets stop for a second and realize that anyone who gives their real name (or pays with a credit card) when buying an FTA box to modify to recieve Bev/Charlie is an idiot plain and simple.

lets stop for a second and realize that anyone who gives their real name (or pays with a credit card) when buying an FTA box to modify to recieve Bev/Charlie is an idiot plain and simple.

What if I am a true FTA person only and never downloaded a friggin bin in my life... or what if I downloaded a bin sometime ago to get some feature that the 3rd party bin offers, but it is evident that I do not watch either sub with my linear friggin LNB on my dish ? eh ?

Now... suppose they check my house and cause pain and suffering to my children and create some reputation issues with myself and my neighbours.. eh ?

Well.. now we are talking harassment... because I never pirated diddly !!

You know - if there were no true FTA signals up there that a DVB recvr could get - it would be one thing - but then there 230 or so true FTA channels on KU alone - there better be some judge with enough common sense to know the difference between a person who owns a lighter and a person who uses a lighter to burn down homes. This is a civil rights issue

I got fined........ and they took my pansat cause it had ECHOstar T.V this is bogus. I didnt even mod it....

-I Love this sh*it.....The tv companies can go and rub salt....All they are is a bunch
of cry ***s......O by the way, thanks for all the free tv.....I'm running true fta....
mine your own business.....What I got on my roof is my business.....And if U don't
like it, U better have a court order if U want into my place.....BANG, BANG.

Just like comcast here. they can come into your backyard to see if you are legaly/paying for the sevices you are receiving. Too many laws protecting the Inc. If dn didn't screw it's loyal customers, maybee they wouldn't have to demand these things. As a sox fan says "You can put it on the board, Yes!!!"

Sounds like scare tactics directed towards fta stb buyers.

All they did was ask the court for a warrant...... they can't just come to your house and walk right in.... the law does not work that way.... if they came to my house they would be looking at the ugly end of a 90 pound Russian wolfhound and a 12 gauge..... you can't just walk on to someone's property.....

As for the receivers there is no law against owning an FTA unit..... it is the act of modifying the unit to receive pay tv that is illegal..... nothing a quick factory default can't cure..... and besides... they will not go after the end user... no money in that for them.....

i guess it pays to buy your coolsat off of some random dude you met on the net out of the back of his van with cash. the only names they can get off of him are sir wilfred laurier, Mackenzie King, and sir john A ;)

you might not have the best warranty policy this way, but they dont have my name

just out of curiosity,is this common in the states that they take your name when you buy cause Ive bought 4 different boxes here in canada and not once did I give them my name.

Pay cash at any sat store and get a receipt..... Coolsat does not know who cuys their stuff... just their retailers if you pay by credit card.....

This is too funny. I'm laughing out loud. What are they going to think of next?

Sounds Like Commies And Germs. Wheres The Freedoms ??
In The Air"""""""

still if it is a scare tactic it seems to be working right now

[QUOTE=superbrad;270630]All they did was ask the court for a warrant...... they can't just come to your house and walk right in.... the law does not work that way.... if they came to my house they would be looking at the ugly end of a 90 pound Russian wolfhound and a 12 gauge..... you can't just walk on to someone's property.....

QUOTE]

Don't tell that to the energy companies. They have passed laws where I live to do just that. They don't need anyone's permission to tresspass. They can cut down your trees or tear down your garage if they feel it's a threat to their electrical lines, gas lines, etc. They need only the permission of one person to enter an entire apartment complex to "search for problems". They don't have to tell you what they are doing. I looked up the laws. They were passed where I am in 1998. If you protest, you can be hauled away and charged with obstruction. And the galling thing, once they make a mess like cutting down the trees, it's up to the property owner to dispose of the debris! Ain't politics grand?!

how would coolsat knows who bought them, coolsat would only know the distributors they sold them to, no?

how would coolsat knows who bought them, coolsat would only know the distributors they sold them to, no?



Exactly. Unless you used your credit card.

Every FTA store I've been to was owned by someone who wasn't too interested in keeping records of any kind. Protects their customers, and prevents the government from knowing exactly how much taxes they should have payed as well. :o

I just got done reading the Vietech Lawsuit that was filed by Echo July 13, 2007. Talk about boiler plate language. What ever happened with that lawsuit?

This is too funny. I'm laughing out loud. What are they going to think of next?


Probably going to ask Fleabay to turn over all of THEIR records and PayPal as well.

Hows about going after some pawn shops who sell used boxes?

PalPal is how they got Lexus and Snaggs. I mean got their data.

The money trail is a two way street. And it is the only avenue that the providers use to identify pirates = Credit card derived customer lists. So far, that is, but that source is so golden, that they won't look for another, I'm sure.

PayPal is a weak, dumb slut, who'll spread her legs for anyone who can bark like a dog.

Knowing that it is a scare tactic, provides very little comfort, when I know that if Charlie does secure those names, and generates an extortion letter, around 25% will just pay them.

Owning an FTA box is not illegal or your CC company would have told you so, and refused to pay for it. Modifying it for piracy is illegal in Canada, but in America, that's not a crime either.

The crime is watching PirateTv without paying for it. When you do that, you violate the copyright of what you are watching according to the DMCA. So they have to prove you watched PirateTv without paying for it. Nothing less will do.

The below links to a decision that says they have to prove you watched PirateTv without paying for it. Nothing less will do.

Findlaw link: hxxp://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/casesearch.pl?court=11th&CiRestriction=directTV

It is important to remember that Dave played this song already. It pissed off a lot of peeps who work in the court system. It pissed off a lot of judges. For instance, Dave demand letters cases were thrown out as soon as they were filed in the State of Wisconsin. Why? All the judges got together, released a statement explaining their stand, and then simply refused to hear those cases.

Demand letter cases are an abuse of the taxpayer funded American court system. The peeps who work in the court systems are overworked and underpaid. The infrastructure is crumbling after eight years of neglect by George Jr. There are real cases to be settled, and Dave demand letters are nothing more than a revenue stream for Dave. The courts do not want demand letter cases clogging up their dockets. They know better than we do what demand letter cases are all about.

It won't fly a second time Charlie. They made Dave cease and desist with the latest ruling. So it's not currently flying. The courts don't want crap like demand letter cases in their courtrooms. They have too much real work to do. I'll bet they will NOT put up with it again. Once we get a Democrat in office, they won't have to.

its the same thing DTV tried ended up in Supreme Court and got shot down i look at it this way the ride goes on on and on!

i have a coolsat, if they don't want me recieving satelite transmissions, keep it off my roof!

As they say " The Univers of testing is very infinit, but grabbing it for free is pure Fiction"

lmao, funniest thing ever :]

we will just have to wait and see no sense getting all worked up about it

I reely luv this FTA stuff,wow............

Hide the "tobacco" glass water pipes for when we are infiltrated by the authorities looking for FTA-ers.

And turn off the grow lights...

Charlie Ergen sure is running out of ammo. The lil idiot...

thats just plain stupid I bought 5 coolsats for satmex 5 for educational purposes

well the day someone does come to my door I dont know what they are talking about never received any letters and by the way get you damn signal off my property or start paying me rent to store your uncontroled signal on my property, I have posted before on this that back not so many years ago HB* did stuff like this with the BUD users because they were receiving the signal and the courts basically said that they were not using your equipment and that you had no control over the signal and were it was going to and if they wanted control over their signal they needed to have complete control of it or come up with was to block it, just never remember that you ever received a demand letter and never answer the door, and until they make face to face contact they are trespassing, the cable and power companies have their equipment on your property already so there is a gray area there, but a big arse dog will take care of anyone with a big nose that try and snoops on your property, I am not a lawyer and I do not play one on TV so read the stuff here with a grain of salt and let the BS fall were it may dont let them scare you that is what they want to have people give us on FTA so you will have to go to them and pay for a service that is so over priced and really not that great, as far as there customer service goes, and to close my rant ask if they pay for their own service :twisted: