Sunday, June 1, 2008

TV Pirate Tells All

Christopher Tarnovsky, smartcard programmer, gives a fascinating insider account of his years in the cloak-and-dagger world of satellite TV piracy. Tarnovsky began as a satellite pirate himself before being hired by a DirecTV contractor to develop anti-piracy electronic countermeasures; he was allegedly responsible for the "Black Sunday" attack on DirecTV pirates. The included video, though not directly relevant to his story, features an impressive display of hardware-hacking skills and is wel