Some of the crimes drew light penalties in the first place such as a North Carolina woman sentenced to two years' probation and 100 hours of community service for distributing satellite cable decryption devices.

NPR: Obama Issues Pardons To 17 For Minor Offenses

It also raised the threat of an all-out war, in the courts and in Congress, over technology that is steadily destroying the once-rigid walls between cable television and myriad other ways of distributing video content.

FORBES: Diller's Aereo Survives First Battle, Threatening All-Out Legal War Over TV