Across this green and pleasant land thousands of legally-licence-free people are being subjected to TV Licensing's latest fishing expedition.
As previously discussed on this blog TV Licensing has been sending letters to "No Licence Needed" properties claiming that it has evidence of unlicensed BBC iPlayer use.
In common with most claims made by the BBC and TV Licensing, this is complete and utter bullshit.
In our view TV Licensing sends these letters in an effort to intimidate recipients into either making contact with it, thus confirming their personal details, or paying for a TV licence they do not legally require.
Suppose, just for one millisecond, that TV Licensing really did have some evidence that BBC iPlayer had been used at an unlicensed property - even in those circumstances that in no way proves than an offence has been committed.
This is because it is perfectly legal, for two main reasons, for a person to use BBC iPlayer even if their own property is unlicensed:
- There is no legal requirement for a TV licence to watch S4C on-demand programmes via the BBC iPlayer;
- It is perfectly legal for anyone who does not have their own TV licence to sign into BBC iPlayer inside another property that is covered by a TV licence.
Can I just stress, contrary to absolute twaddle being pedaled in various "Johnny come lately" Facebook groups, that TV Licensing has absolutely no way, at all, of tracing IP addresses to physical addresses.
That is a highly invasive legal power reserved only for the state and only then with the correct legal permissions. TV Licensing, as the bastard offshoot of the BBC, has no such powers.
The only way TV Licensing could possibly know that someone was using BBC iPlayer without a valid TV licence is if a person used the same email address for their dealings with TV Licensing and BBC sign in. Even if they did, for reasons mentioned in the bullet points above, that in no way proves they are guilty of unlicensed TV reception.
Remember that legally-licence-free people, like the majority receiving these letters, are under no legal obligation at all to TV Licensing. They should not feel intimidated into responding, even though the letters are trying to force their hand.
Our advice, as always, is to totally ignore TV Licensing.
Bin its caustic missives and keep its scummy operatives outside in the cold.
Tell TV Licensing nothing at all.
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Further anti-BBC reading:
- Is The True Or Did You Hear It On The BBC?, by David Sedgwick (aff. link)
- The BBC: Myth of a Public Service, by Tom Mills (aff. link)
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