Card sharing is a method by which independent receivers obtain simultaneous access to a pay television network, using one legitimate conditional access subscription card. Typically, the legitimate card is attached to a
personal computer or
Dreambox which is connected to the
Internet, and is configured to provide the legitimately decrypted control word to other receivers who request the information. This decrypted control word is then used to decode an encrypted conditional access service, as though each other receiver were using its own subscription card.