We need to learn more about these technology and if any are based on Clipper: As reported in the April 11th issue of Electronic Media: The satellite pirates are finally getting the message... owners of satellite dishes and unauthorized decoding technology are converting to authorized equipment in droves... Key pay cable providers are now going though the second stage of moving from General Instrument's Video Cipher II (VC II) encryption system to its more secure VideoCipher Renewable Security (VCRS) system. Adopting VCRS are HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, TMC, Viewer's choice, REquest TV, Playboy channel, Spice, and Netlink. Netline offers three superstations. "There have been 30,000 to 40,000 conversion customers a month for the past for months." Meanwhile, with the digital era in mind, Primestar Partners is preparing to move its DBS (direct broadcast satellite) from Scientific-Atlanta's analog B-Mac encryption to General Instrument's DigiCipher digital compression technology, which also provides teh most recent security meansures. Primstar expects to start phasing in DigiCipher in January. "We have the ability to make changes to the security as we move forward." The French pay TV service Canal Plus International is developing its own digital system in association with broadcasters in Germany and spain. Hughes' (hi Eric), DIRECTV plans to launch next year with News Datacom Conditional Acesss and Authorization Control system... A spokesperson for New Datacom said the basis for the technology is an algorithm with an efficient proof-of-identity scheme. .... have products for both analog and digital encryption. Harry Shapiro Hawk Manager of Computer Services Warwick Baker & Fiore habs@uucp.warwick.com