Consumer Safety & Awareness Part 23

Theft of Services -- Part 2

(Continued from last week)


To attack the growing problem of cable service theft, the District of Colombia enacted this law: “No person shall:


a) Obtain, intercept or receive, or attempt to obtain, intercept or receive cable television services from a cable television company by device, converter, decoder, trick, artifice, deception or other means with the intent or purpose to deprive such company of an or all lawful compensation for rendering each type of service obtained;

b) Assist or instruct any other person or persons in obtaining, intercepting or receiving, or attempting to obtain, intercept or receive any cable television service, by any means whatsoever, without payment of all lawful compensation to the cable television company for rendering each type of service obtained;

c) Make or maintain a connection or connections, whether physical, electrical, mechanical, acoustical or by other means, tamper with or otherwise interfere with any cables, wires, components, modems, lock boxes, pedestals, or other devices or equipment of the cable television company used for the distribution of cable television service, with the intent or purpose to deprive such company of any or all lawful compensation, and without express authority from the cable television company;

d) Make or maintain any modification or alteration to any device, equipment or apparatus or remove, disconnect or sell any device, equipment or apparatus installed by the cable television company without the authorization of a cable television company for the purpose of intercepting, descrambling, decoding or receiving any program or other service carried by such company which such person is not authorized by such company to receive, or for the purpose of selling any such device, equipment, or apparatus; or

e) Make, manufacture, import into the District of Columbia, assemble, transfer, distribute, promote, sell, lease, lend, offer, own, possess, or possess for sale, advertise or publish for sale or lease any device, equipment or apparatus, or any instructions, information, plan or kit for such device, equipment or apparatus, or for a printed circuit designed in whole or in part to intercept, decode, descramble or otherwise make intelligible any encoded, encrypted, scrambled or other nonstandard signal distributed by a cable television company.”


Other states have similar laws. Although they are hard to detect, service companies have been fighting back by installing devices that detect usage surges and that can monitor the number of televisions or computers attached through individual houses and apartments. The companies are keeping their detection methods confidential so that they can maintain an edge over those who wish to overcome such safeguards.