The DMCA, among other things, created an offence of offering for
sale any products that circumvent digital copy protections,
including encryption schemes. This is exactly what Thomas Michael
Whitehead did when he sold hardware that allowed purchasers to
illegally access subscriber broadcasts by DirecTV.
Florida-resident Whitehead was arrested earlier this year
following an FBI investigation known as "Operation Decrypt",
according to CNet News.com. He was found to have reprogrammed
access cards for the DirecTV satellite service, bypassing the
company's copyright protection schemes, and bringing him within the
scope of the DMCA.
Sentencing is due to take place on 26th January, according to
NBC4.tv, and may result in Whitehead, also known as "JungleMike",
facing up to 30 years in prison and a fine of $2.75 million.
The conviction was widely expected albeit the last jury trial
under the DMCA resulted in acquittal. That case involved
Moscow-based developers ElcomSoft. The company had written software
that could crack the security in electronic books and, while the
jury considered that ElcomSoft's product did break the DMCA, it
reasoned that the company lacked the necessary criminal intent
because it did not knowingly break the law.
