Yes it was, and an accurate one. "Illegal" means it is against the law. There is no law preventing someone from owning one of these modems. They are not proprietary and readily available.
Even if it was relevant, the DirecTV case was a civil matter and involved proprietary equipment.
Actually DirecTV used smart cards. Those Smart Cards have legitimate uses. If you have a GSM phone you have one. I had one imbedded in my work ID card for VPN purposes.
