TV detector van • Hacker News Board

Re: TV detector van

#161

Post by petercooper » Thu, Aug 08, 2019, 8:24 PM UTC

smsm42 wrote: post #146

petercooper wrote: post #74

Have to laugh at all the Americans saying this is crazy or nonsensical when it's legal to carry guns in much of your country :-D That aside, lest anyone think TV detector vans are all over the place, in my almost 40 years of living in the UK I've never seen or had interactions with one. They may as well be the Loch Ness monster for how mythical they are.

I heard The Great Britain, having solved the gun problem, is finally dealing with the scourge of fully automatic assault potato peelers: https://dailycaller.com/2018/05/03/british-man-arrested-for-... I think this is the only approach that makes sense. They should've done forks first though - it's four holes in one strike, can you call any country which allows such weapons among its populace anything but crazy?

No, all of that has to wait until we have resolved The Great Brexit, a true example of a gunless country shooting itself in the foot.

Re: TV detector van

#162

Post by radicalbyte » Thu, Aug 08, 2019, 8:25 PM UTC

scandox wrote: post #109

exhilaration wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You had a coin-operated TV...? At home...? Did someone come regularly to collect the coins? I'm genuinely fascinated by this.

I still know people in Dublin that have coin operated electricity, though I think nearly all of them have been moved to card based systems.

They had that in the mainland too. It was something which was forced on poor people and resulted in electricity prices considerably higher than they otherwise would have been.

My grandparents were forced to have one. My late grandfather had PTSD from fighting in WWII and could basically never hold down a job or make a good financial decision.

Re: TV detector van

#163

Post by TazeTSchnitzel » Thu, Aug 08, 2019, 8:25 PM UTC

groundlogic wrote: post #34

noodlesUK wrote: post #13

This is such nonsense. In my opinion the BBC should be paid for by a proper tax, as an informed public benefits everyone, or they should just give up on calling it a license. The people going around houses just send threatening letters, and act as though they have some right to enter your home and inspect it (they don't). They go around terrorising people who don't know their rights, but don't watch TV anyway. I rout…

Swedish public service transitioned from a per-household fee (for households that held devices capable of showing RF broadcast TV) to a per citizen tax January 1st this year. Of course, they go to great lengths to avoid calling it a tax, but... well, it is a tax. I don't really like it. There's no opt-out any longer. And the content is predictably all-consuming leftist.

If you think (centrist) Swedish public broadcasting is all-consuming leftist, I have really bad news about the current (centrist, but notionally centre-left) Swedish government!

Re: TV detector van

#164

Post by rtkwe » Thu, Aug 08, 2019, 8:25 PM UTC

bcaa7f3a8bbc wrote: post #54

rtkwe wrote: post #41

The interesting thing is the Operation section sounds a lot like they're using the same principal behind TEMPEST [0] and van Eck phreaking where leaked emanations from electronic devices can be used to spy on the computation being done and data being displayed. Flat panel displays can be spyed on using this method [1] so it's not completely out of bound of reality that these vans could work as detectors. [0] https://…

It's very likely that those vans were used in the 1970s to capture the RF leakage from the local oscillator and other driving circuitry of the CRT TVs. But while it's still technically possible to detect RF leakage from modern LCD TVs, I'm not sure BBC has the capabilities to deploy those and achieve reliable detection. Many people would say these vans became hoaxes at some point in history.

Maybe, it would be easier to detect the presence though than to read the actual contents being displayed in theory though.

Re: TV detector van

#165

Post by Emma_Goldman » Thu, Aug 08, 2019, 8:26 PM UTC

The BBC also claims to be able to detect when anyone uses their online streaming service, IPlayer, though I suspect this may be a ruse to scare people away from watching without a licence.

Curiously, the TV licence is a third of the price if you have a black and white television set.

Re: TV detector van

#166

Post by woodrowbarlow » Thu, Aug 08, 2019, 8:26 PM UTC

tlb wrote: post #5

"...it was thought that they operated by detecting electromagnetic radiation given off by a TV. The most common suggested method was the detection of a signal from the TV's local oscillator." This seems extremely tricky to do, and it wouldn't be very directional. Why not just look for the flickering light pattern from a TV coming out people's windows? You could correlate the brightness changes with the broadcast sign…

that's exactly how it works, apparently:

"the optical detector in the detector van uses a large lens to collect that light and focus it on to an especially sensitive device, which converts fluctuating light signals into electrical signals, which can be electronically analysed"

Re: TV detector van

#167

Post by rolph » Thu, Aug 08, 2019, 8:26 PM UTC

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #119

rolph wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yup even brushing your teeth and using mouthwash is not a stymie, often this is viewed as destruction/interference with evidence, if a cop can discover empty aloholic containers.

Brushing your teeth doesn't affect breathalyzer readings at all. Alcoholic mouthwash can give false positives for up to 20 minutes, and cops are supposed to wait and try again for that reason; you've got a good shot at getting it thrown out if they don't.

around my parts, it would be tampering with evidence even if there is no proof or indicator that evidence of a crime existed, before "tampering" the brushing teeth and mouthwash is simply part of a power commuters hygene routine. in NY for example people use the time spent at traffic lights to do all sorts of things.

Re: TV detector van

#168

Post by umvi » Thu, Aug 08, 2019, 8:27 PM UTC

beenBoutIT wrote: post #127

umvi wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US no one cares if you buy a TV and set up some rabbit ears or whatever you want with it, especially not the government

The only things we (Americans) allow our government to exercise that amount of control over are psychoactive drugs/plants and female reproductive rights. With things like AR15s or TVs we require unfettered access with no paper trail, but if you want Adderall you'll need 3-sheet triplicate DEA forms and it's a federal crime in all 50 states to possess a growing number of naturally occurring plants and fungi.

This is an inflammatory comment.

"Naturally occurring plants" are illegal in all of the EU as well. Also it's a logical fallacy[2]. Lots of naturally occurring things can have very bad effects on society. Caster beans are natural (and legal). Should we allow people to grow and process them and sell ricin by the vial - after all, it's a naturally occurring protein, right? Should we allow people to grow, process, and sell naturally occurring anthrax bacteria?

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20643883

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_nature

Re: TV detector van

#169

Post by dzhiurgis » Thu, Aug 08, 2019, 8:28 PM UTC

jrjarrett wrote: post #132

monkeynotes wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ads were hugely dystopian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NmdUcmLFkw I am an ex-pat and as an adult I am have become quite disillusioned with the UK and glad to have gotten out a decade ago. I miss nothing about England except my friends, and I'd feel sorry for them, but they all seem mostly happy with life. Paying a license to have a TV (and it's assumed you must watch TV), opt in porn on the internet, CCTV ev…

I don't know where you moved to, but is the US anything admirable lately? Guess I should cross the UK off the list of places to flee to.

I moved to NZ. Glad to get out of UK's weather and rat race.

Went to Hawaii for couple weeks one year ago. Experienced culture shock.

NZ is probably best place in the world.

Re: TV detector van

#170

Post by NeedMoreTea » Thu, Aug 08, 2019, 8:30 PM UTC

Emma_Goldman wrote: post #165

The BBC also claims to be able to detect when anyone uses their online streaming service, IPlayer, though I suspect this may be a ruse to scare people away from watching without a licence. Curiously, the TV licence is a third of the price if you have a black and white television set.

Not so curious. When the colour licence was introduced, a colour TV was an expensive luxury, and a 12" b&w TV was standard fare for impoverished students. I think the relative differential has increased over the years as students came to rely on the portable telly being the cheap option.

At the same time as introducing the colour licence, they abolished the radio licence.

btw, as you have to sign in to view iPlayer these days - annoyingly even for radio, I am sure they can detect when people use it. It's not even a bit challenging. :)