Now this Is “Piracy”

Not much defense for this:

In what prosecutors say was the first jury conviction ever under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a Florida man was convicted in Los Angeles of selling hardware used to pirate DirecTV broadcasts.

Thomas Michael Whitehead, 38, of Boca Raton, was found guilty of one count of conspiracy, two counts of selling unlawful decryption devices and three counts of violating the DMCA, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Spertus said.

Whitehead faces up to 30 years in prison and fines of up to $2.75 million when he is sentenced Jan. 26 by U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder.

Spertus said Whitehead — also known as Jungle Mike — paid a co-conspirator $250 a month to continually update software to circumvent the latest DirecTV security measures. Whitehead then used the software to create and sell modified DirecTV access cards, the prosecutor said. [NBC 4]

I’d say fry his ass, but they clearly are. This is profit by enabling satellite theft, just an update of selling “black boxes” that enable cable theft. There are no mitigating circumstances here, just plain old larceny.