- Oct 9, 1999
- 12,513
- 49
- 91
In the hopes of avoiding Moderation, let's keep this generic, eh? No links, no how-to stories, etc.
I visited a guy I know who retired a few years ago, so I haven't seen him very often as of late. He was having some trouble with his computer, that wasn't the interesting part of the visit . . .
He had one of those little satellite dishes, and I asked as part of conversation, hey, how do you like that? What channels are you getting. Smugly he sez, "All of 'em."
He then goes to show me the card programmer he has hooked up to his computer, with which he reprograms his satellite card every month when the access provider changes their codes.
Stealing cable used to be a pretty big deal, but they had ways of telling who was drawing the signal. Short of having someone drive around and count satellite dishes, it doesn't seem like there's any way to catch guys like my friend (who is actually a pretty nice guy except for the stealing part
).
So I guess the question is, how widespread is this? I would like to think that most people are inherently honest (esp. my friend) but it doesn't seem to be working out that way . . .
The more militant part of me says that anything brroadcast through American airspace should be free, just ike public television, but then the more logical part says, "Yeah, but it cost a ton of money to put those satellites up there . . ."
So what are your thoughts on the subject?
I visited a guy I know who retired a few years ago, so I haven't seen him very often as of late. He was having some trouble with his computer, that wasn't the interesting part of the visit . . .
He had one of those little satellite dishes, and I asked as part of conversation, hey, how do you like that? What channels are you getting. Smugly he sez, "All of 'em."
He then goes to show me the card programmer he has hooked up to his computer, with which he reprograms his satellite card every month when the access provider changes their codes.
Stealing cable used to be a pretty big deal, but they had ways of telling who was drawing the signal. Short of having someone drive around and count satellite dishes, it doesn't seem like there's any way to catch guys like my friend (who is actually a pretty nice guy except for the stealing part
So I guess the question is, how widespread is this? I would like to think that most people are inherently honest (esp. my friend) but it doesn't seem to be working out that way . . .
The more militant part of me says that anything brroadcast through American airspace should be free, just ike public television, but then the more logical part says, "Yeah, but it cost a ton of money to put those satellites up there . . ."
So what are your thoughts on the subject?