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EHG · March 12th, 2009

My personal belief is that the plaintiff's (echo star et all) are just trying to gather evidence proving that a certain percentage of these boxes are being used illegally by end users and in addition somehow trying to tie manufacturers and/or distributors of viewsat to this illegal use of their product.

First of all they would have to prove that Viewsat had in some manner assisted those who create these so called 3rd party bin files. I would imagine that Viewsat goes to extraordinary lengths to maintain a legal arms length distance from any 3rd party coders. I am quite willing to bet that these coders are not on the viewsat payroll.

Next they would have to prove that the manufacturers of these boxes are purposely making them for users who pirate echostar's signals and that the factory chip and programming could be produced so that these boxes could only get true fta programming, still be updated as necessary and not be utilized to obtain illegal (pirated) signals.

Someone else will have to address this as I do not have the technical knowledge to state an opinion on this.

REMEMBER This is a civil case it is not a CRIMINAL case against Viewsat.

If you sent in a box to Viewsat and they removed the chip and gathered the information as the court stated on the owners etc etc - There is no way in hell that you could be criminally prosecuted for the information on a chip that was not in your possession when it was removed from a box you owned.

IMHO The very worst that could happen as long as this case remains a Civil Case is that echostar might use the information gathered to try to intimidate those whose chips were removed and contained 3rd party bins to either submit to a sworn deposition or perhaps might subpoena them to court. Again IMHO echostar is on a fishing expedition (trying to gather evidence by whatever means) at the moment.

I wouldn't sweat it that much again as long as this is a civil case. However If you have returned a unit to viewsat that contained a 3rd party bin file after the dates specified by the court I think I would be somewhat cautious about having in my possession a unit with 3rd party bins in it.

As to the above cautious to me would be to definitely keep track of the court case as it proceeds and see what the court may order and what direction it takes. Echostar representatives legal or otherwise do not have the power to obtain a search warrant or enter your home uninvited. The only way that would occur is if the court issued search warrants at the request of a Federal Law Enforcement agency or a federal agency granted the power to have a court issue a Search warrant. A very unlikely scenario at this stage of the game.

Even if it occurred the chances of winning the case even using a court appointed defense attorney (if you cannot afford a private attorney) are excellent again in my opinion and I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY. However if the outcome was negative and found guilty usually on a first offense of this type the penalty would be a small fine and probation. I would though recommend that if you have a pvr unit you do have a hard disk containing gigs of downloaded content (not a wise thing to have around if you are in this somewhat compromising position of having send your unit to Viewsat subsequent to September 22, 2008.

Again NOT AN ATTORNEY perhaps one of the ABAdss members who is a member of the bar might in a manner that they feel legally comfortable with offer their opinion on the info from this thread.

March 12th, 2009	#22 (permalink)
EHG Knows FTA Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 374 Credits: 2,862.90 Thanks: 78 Thanked 329 Times in 138 Posts	Re: Warning to Viewsat Owners!!! My personal belief is that the plaintiff's (echo star et all) are just trying to gather evidence proving that a certain percentage of these boxes are being used illegally by end users and in addition somehow trying to tie manufacturers and/or distributors of viewsat to this illegal use of their product. First of all they would have to prove that Viewsat had in some manner assisted those who create these so called 3rd party bin files. I would imagine that Viewsat goes to extraordinary lengths to maintain a legal arms length distance from any 3rd party coders. I am quite willing to bet that these coders are not on the viewsat payroll. Next they would have to prove that the manufacturers of these boxes are purposely making them for users who pirate echostar's signals and that the factory chip and programming could be produced so that these boxes could only get true fta programming, still be updated as necessary and not be utilized to obtain illegal (pirated) signals. Someone else will have to address this as I do not have the technical knowledge to state an opinion on this. REMEMBER This is a civil case it is not a CRIMINAL case against Viewsat. If you sent in a box to Viewsat and they removed the chip and gathered the information as the court stated on the owners etc etc - There is no way in hell that you could be criminally prosecuted for the information on a chip that was not in your possession when it was removed from a box you owned. IMHO The very worst that could happen as long as this case remains a Civil Case is that echostar might use the information gathered to try to intimidate those whose chips were removed and contained 3rd party bins to either submit to a sworn deposition or perhaps might subpoena them to court. Again IMHO echostar is on a fishing expedition (trying to gather evidence by whatever means) at the moment. I wouldn't sweat it that much again as long as this is a civil case. However If you have returned a unit to viewsat that contained a 3rd party bin file after the dates specified by the court I think I would be somewhat cautious about having in my possession a unit with 3rd party bins in it. As to the above cautious to me would be to definitely keep track of the court case as it proceeds and see what the court may order and what direction it takes. Echostar representatives legal or otherwise do not have the power to obtain a search warrant or enter your home uninvited. The only way that would occur is if the court issued search warrants at the request of a Federal Law Enforcement agency or a federal agency granted the power to have a court issue a Search warrant. A very unlikely scenario at this stage of the game. Even if it occurred the chances of winning the case even using a court appointed defense attorney (if you cannot afford a private attorney) are excellent again in my opinion and I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY. However if the outcome was negative and found guilty usually on a first offense of this type the penalty would be a small fine and probation. I would though recommend that if you have a pvr unit you do have a hard disk containing gigs of downloaded content (not a wise thing to have around if you are in this somewhat compromising position of having send your unit to Viewsat subsequent to September 22, 2008. Again NOT AN ATTORNEY perhaps one of the ABAdss members who is a member of the bar might in a manner that they feel legally comfortable with offer their opinion on the info from this thread.