A complaint announced today by the FBI alleges that through a company called HDTV Ltd. located in Brooklyn, Iqbal and others provided customers in the New York area with satellite broadcasts of al Manar, which is a television station owned and/or operated by Hezbollah.

The Department of Treasury named al Manar as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity" in March 2006, thereby making it a crime to, among other things, engage in business transactions with al Manar. In conjunction with the arrest, agents executed search warrants at both HDTV's Brooklyn office and Iqbal's Staten Island residence where, it is alleged, Iqbal maintained several satellite dishes.

Mike wrote:

Okay, so here's an interesting question. If he's paying Al Manar to distribute their signal, he's consorting with terrorists, but if he's not paying them, then he's stealing their signal and liable under FCC copyright issues?

Decius added:

This IS an interesting question.

I can't imagine Al Manar intends the subscription model to be a profitable venture. What if Al Manar decided to post all of their programming to YouTube? Would YouTube be in trouble for selling advertising alongside those videos, even if there is no economic transaction between YouTube and Al Manar?

RE: The Raw Story | FBI: Brooklyn HDTV company provided users with 'Hezbollah TV'