An Oregon hardware hacker and author has been charged by coppers after they discovered that he was selling unlocked cable modems that can be used to get extra speed from a broadband provider, or obtain free service.

Ryan Harris, who is better known by his pen name DerEngel, was charged in Boston with a conspiracy count, and charges of aiding and abetting computer intrusion and wire fraud. Harris is the project organizer of TCNiSO, a band of tinkerers specializing in cable modem hacking. For five years the group has been producing tutorials on how to bypass the firmware locks on Motorola Surfboard modems. This invokes soldering a special cable to a hidden terminal inside the device, or exploiting a buffer overflow in the modem’s web interface.

TCNiSO flogs pre-modded modems for $100 which are already loaded with the group’s custom firmware, which lets the user control the modem’s functionality. The gear is used as a tool by cable modem “uncappers,” who use the customized modems to crank up the speed of their internet access by downloading special configuration files from an ISP’s server. They can also be used to get free service by spoofing another customer’s MAC address.

Harris has publicly distanced himself from the criminal applications of his work and never taught people how to do it. The charges mostly focus on the antics of a juvenile computer hacker known as “Dshock” downloaded TCNiSO’s firmware and used it to steal broadband. Since Dshock was one of the thousands of people to use the TCNiSO site, Harris has been charged.

Harris said he is not going to plead guilty and his unlocked modems have legitimate uses.