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If cable operators thought theft of service to its video business was problematic, wait until IP telephony arrives.
While operators are preparing to tap the bank accounts of deep-pocketed, savvy subscribers with Web-based broadband content, savvy thieves also are lining up to feed at the trough.
"This is going to be a challenge," admitted Donovan Gordon, chairman of the newly renamed Broadband and Internet Security Task Force, which formerly concerned itself only with cable video theft "If we roll over and play dead, we might as well turn over our business to these people. We can't have the robbers outsmart and intimidate the cops."
Right now there's only a thimbleful of content on the Web.
"As content comes aboard, as manufacturers and providers are able to put their stuff on the Internet, then therell be something that's worth stealing if you're a hacker," agreed Sean Badding, senior analyst with The Carmel Group.
Circumventing trouble
The Internet ... in a few years is going to be a real distribution vehicle," Gordon added. "We have to address this issue now and get our smartest people trying to figure how to deal with this problem."
Some of those smart people are working with CableLabs as it steps through...