TV Licence article Discussion

Cornucopia

mta999 said:

Very interesting article on TV licence (apologies if link has been posted before)

https://www.cordbusters.co.uk/mps-bbc-track-iplayer-licence-fee-dodgers/

It's not a bad article but the fundamental thing is that policing iPlayer is a lot more complicated than simply the "make it so" that the article and some politicians are implying.

It's also not true that the BBC currently does nothing on this - they use email addresses to match active iPlayer accounts and unlicensed addresses.   This can trigger a warning, but isn't necessarily indicative of an offence.  

There are some thorny issues that stem from the different usage patterns of TVs and iPlayer.

grandadgolfer

Inside The Factory BBC tonight from Kellogg’s factory…..Paddy McGuinness asked an employee to explain the production process for “All the good license fee payers ” 🤣

brewerdave

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81855998#Comment_81855998

Long time since I set up my BBC account - what information do you have to give when setting up ? Don't think my full name, DOB or address is held ??

JSmithy45AD

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81863565#Comment_81863565

Just checked my online account details and there's only email address, password, user name, postcode, year of birth & gender in there. So none of those three you mention.

Cornucopia

I think the question was whether holding more data would improve their chances of enforcing illegal use of iPlayer. I'm not sure it would, but I'm not a "big data" expert.

mta999

There is of course no check on the data so you could put whatever you want

castle96

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81863865#Comment_81863865

Is that true? You caN put in any email address!!!!

JSmithy45AD

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81865274#Comment_81865274

Any VALID email address, yes. The same for any service you have to register for.

mta999

Valid email yes but postcode, date of birth, gender are not checked

castle96

Sothey can't trace you (from your email address)