****************************************************************** *---------------- Syndicated Hack Watch - 09:1993 ---------------* ****************************************************************** *-------------- Special Projects BBS +353-51-50143 --------------* *-------------- SysOp: John McCormac --------------* ****************************************************************** *------------- (c) 1993 MC2 (Publications Division) -------------* *--------------- 22 Viewmount, Waterford Ireland ----------------* ****************************************************************** ****************************************************************** Syndicated Hack Watch is copyrighted material. All unauthorised reproduction whether in whole or in part, in any language will be suitably dealt with. ****************************************************************** Contact Numbers: Voice: +353-51-73640 Fax: +353-51-73640 BBS: +353-51-50143 HST - Special Projects BBS E-mail: mc2@cix.compulink.com.uk FidoNet: 2:263/402 ****************************************************************** Red Hot TV Makes A Comeback With apologies to Mark Twain, it would seem that the rumours of Red Hot Television's death were greatly exaggerated. The channel has made a comeback. The transponder and the satellite have changed. It now transmits via the HTV transponder on Eutelsat 2-F3 at 16 Degrees East. The transmission times are roughly the same but the programming has improved - if that is the correct word. Prior to the channel returning there were promotional tapes running on the transponder that Red Hot Television was to use. The adverts featured a lady doing suggestive manoeuvres with a banana and cream. The transmissions were in the clear. Apparently the channel had to go on the air without their main programming. The broadcast facilities were almost non-existent. The link was done from what appeared to be a back garden. Contact numbers were written on pieces of card board. All in all it was a tribute to the determination of the channel to get back on the air. The programming manager explained that the tapes for the opening night's transmission were lost in transit. He referred to the situation as a "cock up". A colloquial English expression that proved an unfortunate choice of words given the nature of the channel. As a direct result of the lack of programming, he went on to explain, they had to use some of the old programming tapes that they transmitted previously. These old programming tapes were encoded with the Enigma-1 scrambling system. Unfortunately they were not gen-locked. As a result the VideoCrypt decoders could not decode the signals. They were intermittently triggered and the contact number of Red Hot Television's Dutch office was displayed after the channel identifier. During the link on the opening transmission, the pattern of scrambling systems was outlined. They would alternate the scrambling systems between SAVE and Enigma-1. A number of red smart cards were waved on the screen. When all of the subscribers to the channel have their cards, the channel will switch over to Enigma-1. The pirate SAVE descramblers still work. It was possible to watch the SAVE scrambled signals with the same descramblers that worked before the channel went off the air. Of course there are probably a few people who sent their descramblers into some of the more questionable offers published in the satellite television press in the last few months. The programming on the channel has taken on a more coherent form in that there are now more advertising tie-ins. Viewer's home videos are being screened regularly. An contact service for the particularly broad minded is offered with photos, blurbs and box numbers. Every so often the contact telephone numbers for the national subscription agents scroll across the screen. Red Hot Television is still banned in the UK. It is legal to receive the channel in virtually every other country in Europe. In Ireland, the subscription rate per annum is œ165. The fact that the channel is going to use a smart card based system that is compatible with the VideoCrypt system makes the proscription order into a bad joke. A smart card is a very easy piece of equipment to move through the post. The telephone numbers are shown on screen, often in the clear. All the information that is required to subscribe to the channel is there. Sending smart card into the UK has not been difficult. It is now a commonplace occurrence. The problem now for Red Hot Television is to convince people to subscribe to the service. The fact that some so-called journalists claimed that the channel was dead has not helped matters. The satellite viewing public has been burned by porn channels that never started. The consumer satellite television press has adverts from a number of channels who propose to broadcast. Some claim that they will use VideoCrypt. Others offer a discount to Red Hot Television subscribers. They are encouraged to send their SAVE descrambler for an upgrade that will allow them to receive this new channel. It would seem that this channel never expected Red Hot Television to make it back on the air. According to some sources there are pirate cards available for Red Hot Television. This is rather an unfortunate state of affairs as Red Hot Television has not even supplied all of its subscribers with cards yet. Active Logic - Treading On Thin Ice. It would seem that old habits die hard. PR Technology's method are once more being employed. Though this is not surprising. The advert in the September issue of the consumer satellite television magazine, "What Satellite" enticed many to call and a few to foolishly purchase. One of the main products that Active Logic are selling is a version of the Ho Lee Fook chip. This is the replacement for the 8052 in the official decoder. Its only use is to hack the Sky pay channels. But according to the purple prose of the Active Logic promotional material it is a Universal VideoCrypt Scrambling Detector. It will tell the user whether the signal is soft- encrypted, hard-encrypted or clear. As a get-out clause they went on to say that they had been told by some customers that the chip had enabled the descrambling of scrambled channels after their subscriptions had expired. Active Logic of course advised that the programme providers should be paid. They also said that Active Logic accept no liabilities. Its kind of strange. Here they were selling a device with only one function but claiming it was for a different purpose. Perhaps the final indictment is that Active Logic claim that all of the orders are processed through their German office. The points are made that UK law cannot be enforced there and that the customer is technically buying from abroad. What is amazing is that Sky and News Datacom have not moved against them. They would have a good case as the 8752 Ho Lee Fook chip is illegal in the UK. Perhaps they have not moved because they think that Active Logic will damage the Blackbox Industry in the UK by sewing the seeds of distrust. Sky And Pay Per View. Sky's plans for Pay Per View have been affected by the Ho Lee Fook hack. They had intended to introduce PPV but the fact that the source code from the card and the 8052 are known stopped them. The danger of a pirate PPV card with infinite tokens was far more worrying than the Ho Lee Fook hack because the price of the programming would be higher. The datastream for the PPV signal would be different to that of the official subscriber card. The primary difference would be that the programming would be allocated a token value. When the "Authorise Button" on the front of the decoder was pressed, the token value would be deducted from the token reservoir available in the PPV card. The original plan may involved using a token resevoir on the actual Sky subscriber card. This meant that viewers would be allocated a specified number of tokens. When they had used them all, they could ring up Sky's subscriber management centre and order more. Most of the PPV routines are in the 8052. This 8052 has been dumped and the source code has been in circulation for the last few years. Therefore it would be a very serious mistake for Sky and News Datacom to use this initial approach to PPV.