Comment by rmc | Hacker News Reader

Comment by rmc | Hacker News Reader

It is illegal if you live in the UK and consume TV to not pay for your TV license.

Legally, I’m unclear of if an American connecting on a VPN to a live stream in the UK is breaking the law. I would guess that it hasn’t really come up with the TV license people yet.

I don't know about the UK law, but nearby Ireland has a similar "TV Licence". The law there is not "you need a licence to watch TV", but "if you're in Ireland and you have something that's capable of recieving TV signals, then you need a TV licence".

If the UK is similar, then it's not "watch BBC" that requires a licence, but "owning a TV in the UK". The OP almost certainly does not own a TV in the UK, so almost certainly not need a TV licence.

(NB: There may or may not be terms & conditions on the iPlayer website which say you may only access it if you are in UK / have a TV licence / etc., which might make the above the illegal (but not for TV licence reasons). I'm suprised the Olympics works for them, usually BBC iPlayer stuff uses GeoIP to block it from non-UK IP addresses.)

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/topics/

> You must be covered by a valid TV Licence if you watch or record television programmes as they're being shown on TV. It makes no difference what equipment you use - whether it’s a laptop, PC, mobile phone, digital box, DVD/video recorder or a TV set - you still need a licence.

Worth noting that you can legally watch any recorded show online without a licence

Indeed, it is similar here in the UK. Although importantly, it tends to be interpreted as 'something that you do use to watch TV'. So for instance, the TV that OP had that he did not use to watch 'live TV' would not have needed to be licensed. You'd have probably got nasty letters about it, but would be well within your rights not to pay for a license as you would not be using it.

Also, although it has no weight on this discussion, it's worth mentioning that TV licenses are per household, not per TV.

However, having said that, the BBC probably has to take adequate precautions to stop non-UK viewers watching the Olympic coverage as part of their deal with the organising committee to be the 'official broadcaster'. Sports broadcasting is a massive money maker, I'm sure! :)

I don't know whether this would mean a US citizen using a proxy to view the BBC feeds is breaking the law though. Interestingly, our extradition treaty with the US [1] "allows the US to extradite UK citizens and others for offences committed against US law, even though the alleged offence may have been committed in the UK by a person living and working in the UK", although there is apparently no reciprocal right. Therefore one can only assume it doesn't matter whether it is legal or not! (IANAL etc.)

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extradition_Act_2003

According to Wikipedia[0], the UK is actually more like "You need to pay if you have something you use to watch TV". This is quite better than some other countries.

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licence

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