It's perfectly legal to not have a box. You pay for the service, you don't have to pay for the box, and the thing the cable companies don't tell you is that you ONLY need a box to get scrambled programming such as premium channels, pay per view, or digital cable. If you only have analog channels and have no need for a box, give it back to your cable company and avoid the extra fees. Most cable companies sell their boxes too, they're usually not cheap, are worthless without the service, and you can't trade it in for the newest model whenever you want...but you can still buy it if you want. Also, illegal descramblers start with legal cable boxes, RadioShack used to sell such a box. Try to find an unconverted box.