 Vchat20Landing is the REAL challengePremium
join:2003-09-16
Columbus, OH | reply to Vamp
Re: Unbelievable #1: AFAIK, in most situations unless you buy a modem retail, you do not OWN the modem. You are renting them from the cableco. So in essence they still own it. So in this case, it WOULD be in violation if you hacked it.
#2: Even if you do own the modem and you hack it, it would still be in violation of something because it is running on the cableco's network. This is comparable to the FCC rules regarding OTA broadcasting. Without a license you can only go so far up the power ladder and inside a specific frequency range. Above that point you need a license for it else its illegal. You may certainly own the broadcasting equipment, but the FCC is in control of the airwaves your equipment operates on.
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I reject your reality and substitue my own! -- Adam Savage, Mythbusters |
 justinAustralian
join:1999-05-28
New York, NY
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| Both these points are spurious, really. When you sign up for service you agree not to reverse engineer or otherwise fiddle with the config of the cable modem, whether it be their modem, or yours.
If you do fiddle with it (and they define the word fiddle, not you), and are caught, you are breaking the terms of the contract. Depending on how the company feels, it may also throw in a theft of service charge to elevate it to a crime rather than just a contractual dispute. I'm sure they could also drag in the DMCA if they wanted extra tools to beat you over the head with.
Either way, they hold all the cards here. In most cases they don't have to play even half of them. |
