Do I need to inform that I don't need a TV licence?

Cornucopia

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82000444#Comment_82000444

Their enforcement is a talking process - they hope that if they ask enough questions, people will eventually give some kind of admission. But you don't even have to speak with them in the first place.

They don't use IP addresses to track illicit access to iPlayer because (a) it wouldn't be very effective, and (b) it would involve the cooperation of ISPs to convert IP addresses to street addresses, which they probably wouldn't do, and certainly not in bulk as would be required.

So, no, a VPN wouldn't be relevant to evading the licence requirement for BBC content on iPlayer.

Nick_C

I think iPlayer is blocked if you use a VPN. (Based on attempts to watch the BBC on a tablet when abroad, in the days when I had a license.)

Chief_of_Staffy

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81999955#Comment_81999955

It's illegal for an ISP to give your IP details to anyone other than law enforcement, and even that with a court order backed by evidence of illegality. However, that could easily change if the relevant legislation is passed, let's just say for example by an authoritarian government who see the right to privacy as a threat

B0bbyEwing

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82000515#Comment_82000515

Good evening sir, are you watching BBC iPlayer?

Nope, not me, not at all. As you can hear some BBC show in the background.

What's that then that I can hear?

Oh, neighbours. Very loud TV. Goodnight.

mta999

They usually ask stupid questions like 'when did you last watch TV sir', not differentiating between watching TV in your own house (when you would need a licence) and watching it in a hotel or your friend's licenced house

B0bbyEwing

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82000865#Comment_82000865

I recently read a thread somewhere where a guy got done for no TV licence.

He used his email to log in to his BBC iPlayer account at a friends/relatives house. He had no licence but they did. He was getting done for it because he used his normal email address.

Something along those lines anyway.

Chief_of_Staffy

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82001416#Comment_82001416

The problem is most people roll over and effectively plead guilty. The actual figures are hidden (like all data that the governments don't want us to view) but the available data suggests that the percentage of people who are charged with no licence, who do not engage with the licencing officer or their TVL178 Record of Interview, who sign nothing, and go to trial to plead not guilty, is close to zero.

Indeed, I'll stick my neck out and say that there has never been a single conviction on this basis.

Cornucopia

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82001416#Comment_82001416

Yes, they match emails…

But no, no one is "getting done" as a consequence of it because it is not robust evidence of evasion for exactly the kind of reasons you suggest.

B0bbyEwing

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82001444#Comment_82001444

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82001621#Comment_82001621

Hey, all I'm saying is I read a post from a guy who said XYZ.

Now whether XYZ is accurate or even true at all - that I can't comment on. I'm just saying it's what I read.

Same way I've just read your replies. Now whether you know what you're talking about or whether you're just talking waffle, I can't comment either way. It's just posts I've read.