Dose putting a magnet ontop of a cable box give free premium channels , is it legal ?

Question

Dose putting a magnet ontop of a cable box give free premium channels , is it legal ?
My friend told me that if i put a bar magnet over my Cable Box Sintfic Altanta Explorer that i get like HBO and Showtime etc. is this true , is it legall, dose it work with my type of cable box ? HELP ME, i dont wana get in trouble. your boy joey aka. JOE FRAIZER

Answer

No. Putting a magnet on top of your cable box will NOT enable you to get free premium channels. Your friend is ... what is the expression? Ah yes ... your friend is full of something.brbrCable boxes use digital signal encoding to verify that your settop box is enabled to receive premium channels. The control is provided by the headend of the cable company.brbrThere is no way that placing a simple bar magnet on top of this box will do you any good to get encrypted channels. The bar magnet wont affect the bits. It may, however, screw up the hard drive on your settop box if it is a DVR so I dont recommend trying it. A weak magnet might not do any damage but a really strong magnet could interfer with the hard drive significantly.brbrYou should also realize that the settop box is the property of the cable company and not yours. You are only leasing it. So best to not monkey with the box in the first place.brbrAnd, Yes it is illegal. Doing anything to get services for free that you should be paying for is an illegal activity subject to potential fines and or jail time.