Hocus pocus ?

The National Audit Office staff are good on money and sums, but are they science experts ? There's a new hoo-ha about the policing of online viewing of a) live tv b) iPlayer stuff without a TV licence from September 1st. The BBC apparently have ways of finding miscreants, says NAO boss Sir Anyas Morse....

"TVL detection vans can identify viewing on a non‐TV device in the same way that they can detect viewing on a television set. BBC staff were able to demonstrate this to my staff in controlled conditions sufficient for us to be confident that they could detect viewing on a range of non‐TV devices."

There's a good dissection of what might be going on in The Register, written by Chris Williams. What I can't find is any modification of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers legislation to allow the BBC to scan wifi networks - maybe readers can help. One regular has reminded me that Google got into real trouble over picking up bits of data when they sent cars round the UK to create Google Street  View.

Meanwhile, according to the BBC view of life, you also need to think about 'plugging in' devices if you're away from your tv-licenced home. Presumably they have detector vans for that, too..

Will I be covered to use BBC iPlayer when I’m on the go or abroad? 

If you already have a TV Licence for your address, you will be covered to download or watch iPlayer when you’re on the go, provided the device you’re using to watch or download programmes isn’t plugged into the electricity mains at a separate address. If the device is plugged in at a separate address, you will need to be covered by a licence at that address. At the moment, you aren’t able to stream or download programmes on iPlayer while abroad. But you should be able to access programmes that you’ve downloaded before going overseas (available for 30 days after they’re shown on live TV).