News TV Licensing Authority to deploy Wi-Fi sniffing vans

I've not had a licence for 3 or 4 years now. When I cancelled my direct debit they sent 3 letters, so I phoned up asked if I removed all aerials and only watched catch up and Netflix I wouldn't need one, which she confirmed. Two years later I had a knock at the door from an inspector, my kids were in bed so I told him I wasn't letting him in, just politely told him my situation hadn't changed and if it did I would get a licence. I asked him, if he was to come in would that stop him showing up again? He said no, they would still come, so I said, whats the point letting him in? He just kind of agreed it was pointless. I said sorry for the wasted visit and told him to have a nice day. I think as I had engaged him in a decent manner it must have done something as I've heard nothing from them since, either by post or in person.

This new change just means I won't use the iPlayer app on my TV, which if I'm honest I don't think I've used in about a year anyway. The BBC isn't really that good anymore, news is better at quite a few alternative internet outlets, Netflix has much better documentaries and puts out really good new content. The price of the licence is way higher than the content justifies, in my opinion.

 

The point is that you have the option to change the nature of your interaction with ever other industry apart from TV, in the case of the BBC.

Don't like the electric man coming in? Change the company or change the equipment, the options are open - Consumers choose the extent of privacy they give up in return for a service.

With the BBC, on the other hand, no one ever signs a contract but that apparently makes it reasonable for them to dictate the extent of privacy you give up in return for a service you may not even use.

My point with Dota 2 was merely to point out how obviously dubious BBC practises are once you impose their business strategy on another company that provides a no-barrier service.

 

It doesn't bother me but hey, we're all different.

 

Oh ffs read this article then come back on the So called sniffing they 'might' do: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/08/06/bbc_detector_van_wi_fi_iplayer/

It sort of matches what Gareth said but in more detail and looking at if they'd really actually do it.

I also think that people forget that the license fee pays for all the BBC radio content too and many other BBC related products. Do you think we'd have such amazing streaming services if iplayer haven't been there pushing others too? And comparing BBC content with other countries output is hilarious. The BBC output is the envy of the world (hey, I know we produce crap, but seriously it's nothing compared to other countries crap) and this comes from someone has been brought up in mainland Europe and has relatives over in the states as a comparison. Look up the number of films done by or in which the BBC were involved, then start telling me the license fee isn't worth it .

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Flood the court with orders since it's a suspected criminal offence ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Do you think they'll just send out a notice to anyone without a TV license and with an internet connection, as a default assumption?

You can't do a FOI request to the BBC can you? It's not government. hmm

 

Again, it's not the pragmatic implementation, it's the fact that politicians dream this crap up and they think it's a perfectly sound strategy. At worst it's impossible; At best inefficient and susceptible to abuse. This is DRM. This is an institution responding horribly inappropriately to their own technological obsolescence. It's everything we hated with Ubisoft, but much more intrusive, since it's administered by the government with their wee steampunk van solution.

I don't listen to the radio either. No BBC at all for me...I'm all about movies and podcasts. It's simply not OK for a multi-billion pound company to snoop on anyone in any capacity...If you believe the the vans to be panopticon apparatus, then why would you let a democratic government implement that?

The BBC must die.

 

Oh what total nonsense. I object to the fact they use public money to do snooping and the hassle it causes genuine people who live without need for BBC services. They should charge for their services only and compete on quality of show. Simply charge for access to iPlayer like Netflix, and make it an optional alternative to TV license. I would prefer they go further into semi-commercial honestly, but as an institution it's a huge soft power generator for Britain that's been stupidly cut-back these last 10 years with the diminishing of the world service. In its place we've had too many Authoritarian trolls from China and Russia fill the void. If they viewed the World Service as part of British foreign interests it could be funded easily, but there would be "loss of independence". The BBC is a core British institution and without it you've have Rupert "I look like a testicle" Murdoch's 2 minutes of hate saturating your media even more than he does now. His "media" is what's ruining Britain.

 

So is the Netherlands...and Germany, yah, fairly unique....

 

IT'S THE DAMN EU'S FAULT AGAIN OMG.

 

Apparently you can.
Linky

 

This seems like exactly the sort of think anonymous should target. Hack the TV LA server and publish the technical specs for this system.

On a related note, if they take you to court for not having a license, couldn't you force them to disclose hoe their evidence was obtained?

 

Yes, you'd assume the court would want to know as part of a fair hearing.

foi@bbc.co.uk - time to start a new thread and crowd source the correct language

 

Sure - but what would that prove?

 

They should just scrap the license fee and fund the beeb from the treasury. It's not like people weren't getting taxed anyway if they didn't use it, only a select few who didn't watch any TV.

 

That information would probably be restricted to the judge and/or lawyers as if they divulged it to the public it would make catching future offenders more difficult.

 

Don't spoil it. We Brits love a good moan.

We've moaned our way out of the EU, the BBC could be next.

What a time to be alive!

 

Ermmm almost all the content you get now has DRM from steam, Windows to Netflix. They all phone home and have traceable data and the only way you'll avoid it is either by buying physical copies or pirating it.

Oh and at I know where most of my licence fee actually goes unlike if I use Sky, Netflix etc where I'm just lining shareholders pockets, having the profits being untaxed on some Bermuda island or paying Murdoch for this nth wife. If you don't like it, stop watching any television or move countries. The time when the BBC was most at risk has now passed with its charter renewal and came away (relatively) unscathed.

Also as Bindi pointed out the soft power of the World service is never to be underestimated it is known world wide for its quality of output.

And the vans? I doubt we'll actually see any it feels like a publicity stunt and well I'll take a few vans going around to not having to login everytime it just seems thoroughly unbritish not trusting us .

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Sigh yes. People think a TV tax is somehow unusual, a lot of European countries have it in some form. We should include it in tax (you could even means test it then )

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These likely work in the exact same was as the current vans: by not actually existing.