It is already a criminal act in the United States to intercept and/or decode an encrypted satellite signal. See 18 U.S.C. §2511. Many in the United States may not realize that similar provisions criminalizing interception of an encrypted program-carrying satellite signal are included in Free Trade Agreements already concluded by the U.S., including the North American Free Trade Agreement. With Article QQ.H.9, one might be tempted to read Paragraph 1 as permitting the possession and use of a device which can receive and de-crypt a program-carrying satellite signal (without authorization of the signal’s lawful distributor), although any of the nefarious activities enumerated in Paragraph 1(a) would be criminal. However, Footnote 153 makes clear that receipt and use, or receipt and decoding of the signal are also distinct, criminal activities.
On Monday, August 4, 2008, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued an important decision that sets the stage for Cable companies and Satellite TV providers to sell technology that will allow for the archiving of recorded television shows in digital format. This decision overrules an earlier decision by a federal district court that ruled in…