Print
Stealing Internet service is serious business, especially when you've made a business out of allowing others to hop online for free. That's what 26-year-old Matthew Delorey of New Bedford, Mass., is accused of doing, who was arrested for allegedly selling hacked cable modems that gave customers free Internet access. Charged with one count each of conspiracy and wire fraud, if convicted, Delorey will face up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
Delorey's undoing was when he sold a pair of modified modems to an undercover FBI agent, according to authorities. The U.S. Department of Justice says Delorey ran a website called Massmodz.com, where he allegedly sold cable modems that had been modified to spoof the device's MAC address.
But that isn't all that has Delorey in hot water. He's also accused of posting instructional videos on YouTube titled "How to Get Free Internet Free Cable Comcast or any Cable ISP -- 100% works" and "Massmodz.com How to bypass Comcast registration page with premod cable modem SB5100, SB5101."
Should a court ultimately find Delorey is guilty, what do you think, does the potential punishment fit the crime? Sound off in the comments section below.
Comments are closed on this article
nadako
February 01, 2010 at 5:30pm
Comcast has been dumming down our internet for a while now without even mentioning it in the contract so to me that is theft so to me its about time someone did this to comcast that gives crappy service.
devin3627
February 01, 2010 at 4:08pm
what about the postal guy who stole 2,000 netflix movies? it may have been 60 days he got or 6 monthes. i dont remember.
roleki
February 01, 2010 at 12:01pm
Sentence this guy to one year of Comcast customer service. After 6 months, he'll be begging for Federal incarceration. But really, 20 years is a ridiculous max term for this kind of thing... if he broke into a Comcast warehouse and looted the joint he'd be facing less time.
devin3627
February 01, 2010 at 4:04pm
haha nice humor there. sentence him 60 monthes of AOL or even more modernly, sentence him 2 years of Clearwire. hahahahahaha
hillfinger1973
February 01, 2010 at 11:26am
If Comcast was really smart they would give this guy a job.
K0BALT
February 01, 2010 at 10:20am
Can I still get one of these somewhere?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
i7 920@4.4GHz,Heatkiller 3.0, (2X)GTX295 Quad-SLI, EVGA X58 3X SLI, 6GB DDR3 OCZ Gold
Brutusx00
February 01, 2010 at 9:27am
20 years is the kind of sentence you get for murder or rape. This jerk should get a year in prison plus probation for the crime of selling stolen goods or services. Teaching people about how he did it should not be a crime, any network engineer could have pulled that off. Distributing information should not be a crime. He should also be sued by comcast for damages. And ridiculed by his peers for advertizing his criminal empire.
DoctorX
February 01, 2010 at 8:47am
you get 15-20 years or more for murder... this shouldnt be any more than 5 years. That is the problem with this country. The corporate interests have got laws passed that have such penalties that do not fit the crime. Yet this guy could get more jailtime than someone you kills. Sad indeed.
dc10ten
February 01, 2010 at 9:20am
what state do you live in?!
im pretty sure murder goes for more than that.
anyway, jail time is definitely needed. He is screwing with a capitalist system. There are now how many people, who are now getting a free ride from comcast, when there money could've been spent being reinvested in the countries infrastructure (faster better service, who wouldn't want more from comcast? +jobs from rebuilding infrastructure, etc)
if you dont like or agree with comcast and how they conduct business, don't use them. you can always go back to dial up right?
although the purpose behind a "correctional facility" is to change people so they will not do their previous deeds again. So 20 years may be a bit much as far as teaching him a lesson. However if he serves jail time well and proves he's changed, he could get out much earlier.
habuza
February 01, 2010 at 12:12pm
Serious? You think communistcast will "imrpove infrastructure" or "invest" the money? Wow. Just.. wow. Sheeple like you are the reason this country is sinking. You *let* greedy corporations get away with this shit. They don't care about you, or any of their customers, they just fleece you and move onto the next joe or jane doe to drain. And yes, if they were smart, they'd hire the guy. But they aren't, and instead we get to waste more tax payer money on a "criminal" for something as insignificant as hacked cable modems.
GG America. GG, but you all lose now.
orca11
February 01, 2010 at 7:59am
20 years seems a bit harsh, but the guy's a theif... I'd give him 5-10 and take every penny he has.
Shrody
February 01, 2010 at 8:45am
Worst cable company ever. But even so, this guy is a moron. I cant really say I agree with jailtime though, since I hate paying for criminals with my taxes.
lunchbox73
February 01, 2010 at 7:53am
Can I see a show of hands of anybody who feels sorry for this guy?
Tekzel
February 01, 2010 at 7:17am
Sure, he should get some jail time, but he shouldn't get more than, lets say 5 years max. Its not like he raped or killed anyone.
snapple00
February 01, 2010 at 6:41am
Lol. He probably should have kept this to himself rather than posting everywhere on the web how to do it.
That is just dumb.
