Opening up BBC Sounds to others’ podcasts and commercial radio • Hacker News Board

Re: Opening up BBC Sounds to others’ podcasts and commercial radio

#51

Post by DanBC » Sat, Apr 13, 2019, 8:38 AM UTC

Mindwipe wrote: post #26

chrisseaton wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why should I need an account to listen to BBC content? It doesn't apply to audio of course, but watching BBC video content now requires you to be a licence payer doesn't it? So they need to know who you are. I guess they just extended the system to all content for simplicity.

> It doesn't apply to audio of course, but watching BBC video content now requires you to be a licence payer doesn't it? So they need to know who you are. I guess they just extended the system to all content for simplicity. The database for the BBC website logins and the database for people who have a license fee aren't connected, and couldn't be under the Data Protection Act. The BBC login doesn't check if the infor…

> and couldn't be under the Data Protection Act.

Watching tv without a licence is a crime and DPA includes exceptions for the detection or prevention of crime.

Which bit of DPA do you think prevents them linking these databases?

Re: Opening up BBC Sounds to others’ podcasts and commercial radio

#52

Post by DanBC » Sat, Apr 13, 2019, 8:39 AM UTC

CheckBlanket wrote: post #46

afandian wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? There are tonnes of critics and conspiracy theorists. Look up 'TV licensing' on YouTube. I am not one of those. I am very grateful that we have Radio 3, 4 and various podcasts. The news is generally balanced and generally of high quality. I think that's reasonable contextualization for the comment.

The stuff on YouTube is pretty ridiculous, but it did lead me to discover http://www.bbctvlicence.com - an archive of the automated and increasingly aggressive (until the cycle resets) letters TV Licensing inundate non-license holding households with. I've got a personal stack of around 10, I've only lived here half a year. The BBC doesn't do themselves any favours in winning back non-payees with these tactics.

Did you fill out the form telling them you don't need a licence?

Re: Opening up BBC Sounds to others’ podcasts and commercial radio

#53

Post by giobox » Sat, Apr 13, 2019, 3:47 PM UTC

dbbk wrote: post #32

afandian wrote: post #13

I commented on the BBC website but I might as well post it here too: As a proud listener, viewer and supporter of the BBC, this is one part that seems really unfortunate. Why should I need an account to listen to BBC content? All the pages on the BBC website that pretend to answer this question are evasive and dodge the question. What do you have to hide? Please re-consider. Allow your content to be made available vi…

I worked at the BBC when this account requirement was rolled out. The idea behind it is honestly about improving the user experience. If you're logged in, they can keep your progress saved across devices (so for iPlayer that means across platforms like Computer, Phone, Xbox etc), and they can learn more about you to promote recommendations on what to watch. People broadly speaking really like this, it's one of the be…

Note I am not arguing this to be true today, but what you are saying is not mutually exclusive to using mandatory logins more nefariously in future. Also, one does not need to force accounts for this - users can decide if they want a login and viewing history - YouTube arguably does this already today. The compulsory part is the real issue, not the benefits it brings.

I’ve sadly seen many many features like this (just watch the industry - who hasn’t?) that are sold under one seemingly positive guise only to be used for another negative one later.

Regardless of public statements on the matter today, I’m really not sure the BBC will resist the temptation longer term to use iPlayer logins as a licence fee enforcement tool among other things, it’s too easy to spin positively as a business decision.

Much of my own unease in all of this is due to the BBC’s odd nature as a kind of hybrid public/private entity. Perhaps the time has come to just let the BBC be a private company and compete directly with Netflix et al, at which point I would care much less about how access is provided. If it is to be a public broadcaster though, I think one of its primary duties should be to be as open as is practical.

Re: Opening up BBC Sounds to others’ podcasts and commercial radio

#54

Post by Mindwipe » Tue, Apr 16, 2019, 9:40 AM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #51

Mindwipe wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It doesn't apply to audio of course, but watching BBC video content now requires you to be a licence payer doesn't it? So they need to know who you are. I guess they just extended the system to all content for simplicity. The database for the BBC website logins and the database for people who have a license fee aren't connected, and couldn't be under the Data Protection Act. The BBC login doesn't check if the infor…

> and couldn't be under the Data Protection Act. Watching tv without a licence is a crime and DPA includes exceptions for the detection or prevention of crime. Which bit of DPA do you think prevents them linking these databases?

It's the difference between specific and general monitoring.

The BBC can absolutely take an individual login to iPlayer that they think is suspicious, and have TV licensing determine if that address has a license.

But it is objectively true that you can type in any old nonsense into a BBC account registration and it does not validate it against the License Fee database - that's because moving to a general system of checking is not what that database would be collected for, and would probably not be found to be a proportionate or non-general monitoring and therefore cannot use that exemption.