
BBC to sniff wifi signals for unlicensed iPlayer use - mprev
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/05/bbc-to-deploy-detection-vans-to-snoop-on-internet-users/
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ArtDev
Its insane that this is legal.

Why aren't people protesting?

~~~
petecooper
Brit here. This country can be a bit strange, sometimes.

The BBC is currently funded by a TV licence, an annual fee mandated by the
Government/Treasury. As of now, if you watch broadcast TV live, be it BBC or a
commercial alternative, you require a TV licence. There's been a loophole that
permits catch-up watching via iPlayer, the BBC's own on-demand brand, without
a valid TV licence.

When TV signals were analogue, detector vans would apparently drive around and
be able to check if a household was watching TV without a licence. The digital
switchover effectively rendered these trucks useless. Anecdotally, a large
majority of British households have a TV licence, it's considered by many as a
utility bill.

There's a sort of precedent with the TV detector vans, I guess, and this is
just a modern remix. I'm horrified, personally, and I'm figuring out what to
do next. The cynic in me is wondering whether this news was quietly released
around the launch of the Olympics so it could be buried. I don't know. I do
know as a network installer I'll have to gen-up on the specifics of wireshark
et al because I'm going to get calls.

On a personal note, I moved to a semi-rural location in 2012 and cancelled my
TV licence (I don't want TV, nor iPlayer). I heard horror stories from family
and friends about how the TV licence folks would plague me with calls,
letters, intrusive visits, etc. Sum total so far is a letter each year on the
anniversary of me moving in asking if I'm still sure I don't need a licence. I
don't, and I tell them via their website, and that's it.

~~~
hayd
If you think of it as a state mandated tax, it's a regressive one which hits
the poorest hardest. [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/sep/24/in-
court-non...](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/sep/24/in-court-non-
payment-tv-licence-television-desperate-cases)

I think in urban areas you will be pushed harder for the license. As a first
year student I received at least a dozen threats of being fined/prosecuted...
despite not having a TV.

~~~
tonyedgecombe
It shouldn't really be a criminal matter if you don't pay it, this affects
women disproportionately, see
[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3262731/Licence-
fee-...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3262731/Licence-fee-jail-
terms-not-fair-women-Government-fresh-pressure-overhaul-figures-six-times-
likely-sent-prison.html)

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guitarbill
The Register's response to this is slightly less sensationalist:
[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/08/06/bbc_detector_van_wi_...](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/08/06/bbc_detector_van_wi_fi_iplayer/)

