Sky installation and chip in doorstep

[Cockney Guy]

I was at a friends house on Sunday and he was showing me his new Sky TV installation. He went on to show me a small chip that the engineer had installed into the doorstep leading into his back garden. Although he asked the engineer what it was for, apparently, the engineer would not say, or possibly he couldn't be bothered to explain. The chip (if thats what it is) is about 1/3rd inch round. a small hole was drilled into outside the edge of the doorstep very low down and whatever the device is was pushed into the drilled hole. Can anyone tell me what it does?

Cheers CG

[koster]

The only holes they need to drill are for the cable between the dish and the set-top box, and for a telephone connection to the box. Anything else is weird.

[carlton23]

Hmmm, sounds fishy to me, perhaps Big Brother has a new way of watching you watching TV through that little blue thing on the front of the box that goes round and round and round.

[Cockney Guy]

Thanks for your answers and as you say, a bit weird.

I've just come off the phone from someone else who has Sky (I do'nt have) and she said that Sky tried to sell her some other package and during the conversation they were able to tell her which films etc she had watched recently. Could it have something to do with monitoring your viewing habits, do you think?

Cheers for your input Kosta and carlton23

[zig.zag]

id'e prize it out and take to trading standards

[jacey]

I don't know anything about this sort of thing, but found this when I googled,Could it be to stop hacking the boxes or something ??? will ask my 'man who knows' tomorrow. He might anyway ;-)

[jacey]

oopshttp://www.hotukdeals.com/item/148353/how-to-c hip-a-sky-box/showthread.php?s=4cec7e43492f3a5 c7dcfecfdec601366&p=1615652#post1615652!

[ACtheTROLL]

sounds more like a wind up

of course they know what you are watching ... they make sure you only see what you've paid for - and there is a phoneline stuck in the back

if you were doing covert observations ... you wouldn't start by drilling a bl@@dy hole in full view of everybody .... would you?

and if you were stopping hackers ... you'd think the gizmo would be in the box ... not outside the house embedded in the step!!

[Cockney Guy]

My thanks to all for your answers. I can assure you ACthe Troll that it is not a "wind-up" as I saw the thing with my own eyes and the person is in fact a relative and I know he wouldn't lie about it.
It is my belief that it is some essencial part of the installation and is not put there for any sinister reasons. Furthermore, if you re-read my question, you will see that I never suggested that there was anything sinister about it.
It just seemed odd to me that the device was required.
I'm just interested to know what it's for

[ACtheTROLL]

but why doesn't anyone else have one?

and how does it get power?

and from a radio/microwave point of view ... low to the ground encased in stone (or concrete) isn't generally regarded as an ideal site

I'd have to get them back and beat a confession out of them

[Cockney Guy]

You're asking me questions I can't answer. If I knew the answers, I would'nt have raised the question.

When I see him again on Sunday, I'm going to suggest that he telephones them to ask what it's for

[whiskeryron]

I've had a Sky engineer out today to sort a problem & I gave him the AB artical to read & I asked him what it was all about,& he said it was a load of cobblers & he had never heard anything like it.

[redman41]

The next time the Sky Engineer calls at your friends' house he should ask the Enginer to uninstall the chip as it is not working. He might replace it with something called the Golden Rivet (Anyone who has been in the Merchant Navy will know what that is !)

[llamekuf]

this whole thing is a wind up.

you should get out more.

[orionseye]

Ac the troll, or whoever you are, you should be the one to get out more, you obviously take all that is fed to you by the media, are you a sun reader? for your information that chip that has been drilled into the concrete step as described by cockneyguy or whoever .
I also have one but installed in my wall this was done by a sky engineer and I was told it was a radio frequency identification chip (RDIF CHIP) look it up you might learn something instead of making fun of people, DER.... I guess you have never heard of this chip have you, well do your research and then you might have something more constructive to say. needless to say I removed it myself when the engineer had left and the sky channels are still working fine, last time I had the chip it was whizzing across a local river.

[orionseye]

whoever you all are, you should be the one's to get out more, you obviously take all that is fed to you by the media, are you a sun readers? for your information that chip that has been drilled into the concrete step as described by cockneyguy or whoever .
I also have one but installed in my wall this was done by a sky engineer and I was told it was a radio frequency identification chip (RDIF CHIP) look it up you might learn something instead of making fun of people, DER.... I guess you have never heard of this chip have you, well do your research and then you might have something more constructive to say. needless to say I removed it myself when the engineer had left and the sky channels are still working fine, last time I had the chip it was whizzing across a local river.

[Cockney Guy]

ACtheTroll: Remember your question (above)

How does it get power?

This apparently is how.

RFID tags don't have batteries (How could they? They're 1/3 of a millimeter!). Instead, they are powered by the radio signal that wakes them up and requests an answer.

You might like to read the complete article

http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/169

Thanks to orionseye, at last someone gives a logical answer instead just of taking the p1ss