Originally Posted by
Humakt
Hmm...I wonder how they would police watching things on your computer.
You see, the thing is, it is the house that is licensed, not the individual. Which is why you only need the one license for your home, not for each resident living there to have one nor one for each device.
Therefore, how does that affect watching something online via a laptop, for instance?
Here's a scenario. Let's assume family A does not have a TV, nor watch TV online or in any other way. As such, they do not have a license. Family B, friends of family A, pay a visit. They DO have a TV licence, but it's for their own home. They bring with them a computer and watch something online. Who is culpable? If it's Family A (because the programme is being watched on their premises), then what would happen if, say, they were watching something online whilst, say, in the middle of the street (that is at no one's home)? Or maybe in a car (if you want to avoid public broadcast accusations)? My point being, if you watch it somewhere away from a residence.
And what would happen if family A (the ones without the licence) were visiting family B (who do have a licence) but family A brought their own laptop with them and watched something online at family B's home?
Thinking about it, what if you watch something via your tablet (earphones in so that not everyone can hear it) on the bus or train - whether you have a licence or not? Does that need a public performance licence? And how are you going to police that?
It's going to be very hard to prove who owns the computer/device that is being used without some serious invasion of privacy and data protection abuses which will cause all sorts of problems for the prosecutors.
I suspect this is legislation that will actually be very hard to get a conviction on and they are hoping to scare people into towing the line. The mobile nature of so many devices make the threat very hard to enforce. Best of luck to them, I suppose.
It's not something that is going to bother me - don't have a TV and don't watch online either.