Do the dreaded TV vans still work ?

[quantumfall]

I did see tv licencing detector vehicle in the isle of wight not long ago, it had a directional aerial on a telescopic mount 10 ft or more pointing at different homes.

It could all be scare tactics.  Personally I would like this scam of a licence come to an end.

[Simon]

I guess that there is a very limited number of vans left like a couple that are sent out on spot checks or to go after someone that is specifically suspect

[jahonen]

Slightly off-topic, it is actually quite amazing what one can do with a specialized wideband receiver, see paper by Markus Kühn.

Regards,
Janne

[Zad]

To the best of my knowledge the TV License is a license to receive broadcasts within a certain bandwidth

You need one in order to view BBC iPlayer videos too.

[Simon]

To the best of my knowledge the TV License is a license to receive broadcasts within a certain bandwidth

You need one in order to view BBC iPlayer videos too.

only if you "watch as the program is transmitted" otherwise known as live, check the terms of iplayer, if your watching a program 1 hour after is was broadcasted live you do not require a license, you also are not allowed to view the iplayer unless you are in the UK which is crazy because unless there is some way of blocking IP's known to not be in the UK it's impossible to enforce and prosecuting would be a joke at best.

[joelby]

unless there is some way of blocking IP's known to not be in the UK it's impossible to enforce and prosecuting would be a joke at best.

It's actually not too hard to block IPs based on geographic region, for the most part. I bet you can't get to the ABC's equivalent service, iView: http://www.abc.net.au/iview/

These blocks can be readily bypassed using VPNs or having someone save a stream to disk and send a copy to you, but for the majority of casual users these methods are good enough for satisfying copyright holders.

[Simon]

yes correct I can't watch your iview stuff. if IP designation is that an accurate science then yes it's easily implemented

[Zero999]

If you found a fast enough proxy server you should be able to do it but it's not worth the bother.

How is our system much worse than any other?

I don't see why the BBC would be more or less impartial than ITV or any other commercial station. Don't forget that even though commercial stations don't rely on the government for funding, they still need to be granted a broadcast licence which could theoretically be revoked if they piss the government off too much.

I think the debate should be more about whether there should be a public service broadcaster or not rather than whether it's better to pay for it through general taxation or a TV licence. I think the licence is more fair than general taxation because at least only those who have a TV have to pay, not everyone. Advertising is another method but there would need to be a way to ensure the channel doesn't just try to get the highest ratings which is the whole point of having a public service broadcaster: to supply content which is needed but isn't necessarily commercially viable.

[joelby]

yes correct I can't watch your iview stuff. if IP designation is that an accurate science then yes it's easily implemented

It's not, but it's easier to classify residential IP addresses (eg, ADSL endpoints) because ISPs almost always give them reverse DNS records and WHOIS block information that include the ISP name and/or country. This trick is less likely to work for privately-managed IP space, but in most cases you won't care as much about that. It's also possible to determine geographic information using AS paths. If the route to some address goes through systems administered by a different country, assume that the endpoint is also overseas.

[ArtemisGoldfish]

TV reception licensing sounds so strange to me, also as a U.S. citizen. Could you get past it with something like a USB TV tuner for your computer?

[Zero999]

I doubt it. If the dreaded TV detector works and uses IF detection (there's no other way with modern flat screen TVs) it should be able to pick up a USB TV.

[Simon]

TV reception licensing sounds so strange to me, also as a U.S. citizen. Could you get past it with something like a USB TV tuner for your computer?

no as stated before you require a license to view or record live transmissions

[Zad]

You can get around it if you are using a TV receiver that works ONLY off batteries. This means no external mains adaptor socket. I suppose a car TV might well fall into this category.

[Simon]

how would that work ? doesn't a battery TV still emit the signals ?

[Zero999]

I hear about that before, apparently do only need a licence for a mains powered receiver. I don't know if it's true, it sounds like rubbish but could be right. If so, just connect your TV set to a set of batteries and an inverter and only connect to the mains to charge the batteries when the TV is in standby. Better still connect the batteries to solar panels or a wind turbine and watch for free.

[.o:0|O|0:o.]

I hear about that before, apparently do only need a licence for a mains powered receiver. I don't know if it's true, it sounds like rubbish but could be right. If so, just connect your TV set to a set of batteries and an inverter and only connect to the mains to charge the batteries when the TV is in standby. Better still connect the batteries to solar panels or a wind turbine and watch for free.

Apparently this might have been true at one point. The TV had to be running on its own internal batteries and not be connected to mains or a car battery. Since the advent of broadband and the popularity of laptops, the regulations seem to have been updated and now the portable receiver should be covered by the owner's residential licence. Of course, there is no way to enforce the licence if you do not have a fixed residence, but then you probably wouldn't be interested in sinking into a TV induced stupor.

.o:0|O|0:o.

[Simon]

as I said before you need a license if you are "viewing or recording transmissions live" simple dose not matter what the hec you use, yes to use a mobile phone to watch TV you need a license !

[8086]

Hey all, just thought you might like to actually see the rubbish us students have to put up with from TV Licensing:

First a nice blue tear-open 'reminder' that you might need a license (quite poorly worded and intentionally confusing in my opinion, do you need a lisense if you own a laptop etc? You don't, but this tries to make out you do.)



Ignore the blue letter at your peril! You will receive a RED one! How DARE you not buy a TV license!! 


I am surprised they are allowed to get away with such tactics.

[Zero999]

At last someone's actually posted something concrete, rather than just saying what they think.

So you obviously need a TV licence if you watch BBC TV on your laptop but what if you only watch ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 etc.?

I'm pretty sure, they're not going to check to see if you've visited TV websites which deliver non-BBC content.

[alm]

The fact that they present zero relevant facts (except some hand waving like 'most you have lots of free time, so you must watch TV') suggests to me it's just scare tactics, and they have no way of actually checking. Assuming they have an advanced piece of equipment that can actually pinpoint any real-time BBC reception to a specific room, I would expect them to use that as an argument to get people to pay. It looks to me like they just depend on people getting scared (better pay GBP 145 now instead of risking a GBP 1000 fine). I would be surprised if there were any prosecutions where people didn't admit it or do something stupid like boasting 'we watch BBC but don't pay for it' on a public forum .

This kind of letter tends to make me very uncooperative, so I understand people refusing to watch any BBC programs and telling them to go fuck themselves.

It looks like you should just download the TV shows (if they aren't served on demand on the BBC website). It's only watching live or recording that's covered by the license, watching shows someone else recorded and distributed should be fine .

[Zero999]

The should be able to track you IP but if your PC is connected to the university's system via wifi would would be very hard for them to prove without ceasing your machine.
 
The white text on a blue background mentions iPlayer which is the BBC site where programs can be watched or downloaded from but it's not clear as to whether a licence is only required to watch live TV.

You could of course download from bittorrent but that's risky in itself.

[8086]

it's not clear as to whether a licence is only required to watch live TV.

Well it is, but only if you read it very carefully. Of course the intention is to confuse, but the meaning is there somewhere. It says that you only have to pay for a tv license if you watch programmes as they're being broadcast (live). So iPlayer is fine, but the live streams aren't.

[Simon]

At last someone's actually posted something concrete, rather than just saying what they think.

So you obviously need a TV licence if you watch BBC TV on your laptop but what if you only watch ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 etc.?

I'm pretty sure, they're not going to check to see if you've visited TV websites which deliver non-BBC content.

well I've been saying it and all you have to do is check the iplayer terms, as i said before I HAVE because I'm in the position of not watching live but knowing that I'm legal to use the iplayer for recorded stuff that's not live. Yes that letter looks very familair, like i said it just tells you your a criminal and to pay

[Simon]

The fact that they present zero relevant facts (except some hand waving like 'most you have lots of free time, so you must watch TV') suggests to me it's just scare tactics, and they have no way of actually checking. Assuming they have an advanced piece of equipment that can actually pinpoint any real-time BBC reception to a specific room, I would expect them to use that as an argument to get people to pay. It looks to me like they just depend on people getting scared (better pay GBP 145 now instead of risking a GBP 1000 fine). I would be surprised if there were any prosecutions where people didn't admit it or do something stupid like boasting 'we watch BBC but don't pay for it' on a public forum .

This kind of letter tends to make me very uncooperative, so I understand people refusing to watch any BBC programs and telling them to go fuck themselves.

It looks like you should just download the TV shows (if they aren't served on demand on the BBC website). It's only watching live or recording that's covered by the license, watching shows someone else recorded and distributed should be fine .

Correct scare tactics, and said scare tactics lead me to believe that the van's either do not exist because they don't work or that it is obviously cheaper to send you nasty letters than it is to send vans round that need petrol, a driver a techy and maintenance. The same letters will tell you that they catch 1000 people a day ! and that you will be next, it's so pathetic it is laughable if they caught 1000 people (households) a day that's 365'000 houses so well over a million people that are not paying and heaven knows how many more. I'm really just waiting for someone to take them to court for defamation or something....

[Nermash]

This is some real nazi crap from UK goverment, enforcing students to pay for watching TV in their room.
If they realy want to take 145 pounds from students with no real income, then no amount of earthly money will be enough for their greedy little souls! Yes, this is rant!