DEFINITELY A THIEF.
One google of "cable theft" will bring up over two thousand citations. From the first page of them:
Cable television theft is the illegal interception of cable programming services without the express authorization of, or payment to, a cable television system. There are two types of cable theft, passive and active. Passive theft occurs when a consumer receives services due to faulty cable operator procedures. Active theft occurs when someone knowingly and willfully makes an illegal physical connection to the cable system and/or attaches or tampers with equipment to allow the receipt of unauthorized services. Active theft can occur at both a consumer or commercial level. Commercial theft usually happens in an environment where the proprietor receives financial gains from the illegal services (i.e. a bar or restaurant). . . .
Sentences in federal and state theft of service cases have ranged from probation to 16 years in prison. Fines and restitution have ranged from several hundred dollars to $2.7 million. Civil judgments have run as high as $245 million.
NCTA's Office of Cable Signal Theft (OCST) works closely with the FCC, Department of Justice, the F.B.I., U.S. Customs, U.S. Attorneys, state and local prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to investigate and assist in prosecuting criminal violations.
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Cable was never installed at my house.
Then what the fuck did you say when you began this? Cable television may not have been installed, but you clearly said you were hooked up through the cable for net service.
Yup. The prisons are probably filled to the brim with "illegal" cable viewers these days.
No, stupid, but more and more cases are pushed until the thief cracks. Usually the cable company will give you time to "make amends", i.e., pay up for the duration of service you can be presumptively found to have been stealing -- which could come to a tidy sum. You pay it or lose the service AND are taken to Small Claims Court (depending on the amount and local jurisdictional definitions). If it hasn't been long, they'll issue a warning, install a 'trap' on the line, and block anything but your modem signal -- if they continue to supply it all.
However, the industry is getting harder-nosed about it. There have been at least six criminal prosecutions in Kentucky for the offense. So the answer to your question is "yes".
Cable companies don't want the bad publicity, nor do they want the public to know how their system works. As a result, the laws designed to protect these monopolies are rarely enforced.
You're talking through your hat. What "bad publicity"? They WANT the public to know they'll prosecute if they have to -- it's just that most 'passive thieves' (like YOU) are small potatoes and easily disposed of with a warning and a trap. National ad campaigns against the crime are run on local systems all the time, on both broadcast and cable stations. The technology is ALREADY common knowledge -- that's WHY it's such a problem. The industry lost on the order of $12 billion (as of 1996). The laws are "rarely enforced" because the thieves KNOW they are thieves and, once confronted, make amends.
As one who benefits from lax enforcement of state sodomy laws I should have thought you would be able to appreciate this fact.
My, my -- still gotcher panties in a twist over how I whupped yer butt? Move on, boy, move on.
As for that person who told you not to worry about it -- assuming that you weren't lying about that, since now you're claiming "cable was never installed" -- I wonder if you identified yourself at the time of the call? While it's true that they're more interested in snaring "active thieves" than passive ones like you, when an occasion arises that they come across someone like you, they'll definitely let you know they've identified you and give you a chance to come clean.
And yes (Spall), they CAN very easily detect unauthorized connections to the lines by measuring the circuit values from the dropbox. The gradual changeover to digitalized service will make most of this a thing of the past, since it will allow greater specificity in what any one cabledrop carries. It will also allow the central cable office to know exactly what everyone on their system is tuned to at any particular instant.
If you have cable modem service, just check the label on the back of your modem -- there's a number on the back that allows the 'help desk' to track directly to your line in the event you have a problem.
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