Satellite hacking is when someone reprograms a satellite card or uses and illegal decoder to access channels and programs that the subscriber didn't pay the service provider for. The demand for this illicit service is still growing in all countries that have a market for satellite TV. .
The decoding of cable services is nothing new; it was just that the use of the Internet as a criminal communication system has allowed this activity to grow at an extremely fast rate. The Internet provides anyone with the intent to defraud a satellite service provider with the latest techniques and technology as soon as they are available. Although information is degenerative on the net because it is misinterpreted, biased and often times changed, the goal of the criminal to attain credible information on how to rip people off can easily be accomplished.
In the study conducted by Mann and Sutton, they found that hackers joined newsgroups to seek out possible customers to sell their illegal products to. A newsgroup is a list of numerous e-mails addresses and is open to the public for growth. In terms of communication, it's comparable to a large group social context in which many people can have their say and express personal opinions to a large number of people. After the hackers found people to sell their service to, the next step was to form a more interpersonal relationship with client. Since one can't openly discuss illegal intent over the newsgroup due to the public nature of a newsgroup, most hackers used IRC or Internet Relay Chat to communicate with their customers online. This is safer because it's a one-to-one conversation and they can more freely talk about illegal activities. They are less restricted about using symbols and jargon to communicate and can "chat" freely without concern of security and surveillance. It's comparable to a real life, one on one chat because messages are sent instantly.