Man who hijacked HBO’s satellite signal 30 years ago would face far different fate today

On April 27, 1986, a Florida man with workplace access to a satellite transmission dish – and a financial beef with HBO — pulled off the kind of audacious stunt that were it to happen today would likely land him in prison for a long, long time.

From a 2011 Buzzblog post:

John MacDougall, then 25, was the lonely pamphleteer of lore, only instead of paper and ink he was armed with a 30-foot transmission dish, an electronic keyboard, and a burning objection to HBO’s decision in 1986 to begin scrambling its satellite signal and charging viewers $ 12.95 a month.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here