Syndicated Hack Watch - 09:1993

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*---------------- Syndicated Hack Watch - 09:1993 ---------------*

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*-------------- Special Projects BBS +353-51-50143 --------------*

*--------------        SysOp: John McCormac        --------------*

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*------------- (c) 1993 MC2 (Publications Division) -------------*

*--------------- 22 Viewmount, Waterford Ireland ----------------*

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Syndicated  Hack Watch is copyrighted material.  All  unauthorised 

reproduction whether in whole or in part, in any language will  be 

suitably dealt with.

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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

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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.