Tv Licence

[nailit]

Just tried to access a programme on BBC iplayer and got a pop up informing me that the law has changed and you now need a licence to view catch up.

1) How would they know if you were viewing?
2) If tv licencing were to pay a visit to your home, would they have a right to take your laptop to analyse if you had been viewing iplayer?

Thanks.

[Old_Geezer]

It's a daft system. A national TV provider should be funded by public funds, i.e. general taxation, not licence schemes.

[nailit]

I once stole a sandwich from Tesco when I was homeless and skint. Does that make me indecent?

[ummmm]

No it doesn't.

[nailit]

some people seem to think so ummmm...

[New Judge]

“I once stole a sandwich from Tesco when I was homeless and skint. Does that make me indecent?”

I think there’s a significant difference between the offences, nailit. Your offence was committed in response to a situation where you had an urgent and necessary requirement for food and had little choice but to act in the way you did. You were still guilty of an offence but the mitigation you had was considerable. A person who watches a TV whilst wilfully refusing to buy a licence has no such mitigation. Watching a TV is not a requirement, either urgent or otherwise. It is not a necessity. Other alternatives are available (such as not watching a television). The set has to be bought and it is well known that it is a requirement to hold a licence. It is a deliberate and premeditated act in defiance of the law. Whether or not you agree with the law does not alter that. We cannot pick and choose the laws we agree with. Furthermore it is the wilful refusal to pay for a service provided – a service which is not a vital necessity.

As I said, it depends how you define decency.

[nailit]

Fair enough NJ. Just didnt want to be seen as 'indecent' because I had a need to eat and no way of ensuring that except by breaking the law. Agreed, the tv licence is another matter.

[Baldric]

Deja vu?
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/ChatterBank/Question1464732.html

[nailit]

That thread Baldric was specifically about TV. This thread is about watching iplayer on a computer.

[tamborine]

Taking a food from a shop without paying is theft, that could give you a criminal record. Being Hungry & skint does not absolve theft.

[nailit]

Tambo, what was I supposed to do then? Starve?

[nailit]

Hope you never find yourself in that position...

[tamborine]

My comment is for others reading your thread. Best ask for food.

[nailit]

Ask who? I was sleeping on a car park and had no money.And I wasnt too concerned about having a criminal record as Id just been released from prison.

[Old_Geezer]

But we can pick and choose laws. We have free will (maybe). The gaols are full of folk who chose to and got caught, whilst outside is full of those who didn't get caught. Without the ability to there is no way one can justify claiming that "just following orders" doesn't remove responsibility for one's actions; and peaceful civil disobedience as protest against the elites in authority is removed from the common folk.

[New Judge]

Gentlemen, gentlemen!

I hope not to be in that position, nailit, and hope you never do again as well. But let us not descend into a slanging match. It’s a question of opinion. Some people think decent people do not offend at all; others think there is no lack of decency about any offending. Some (most, probably) sit somewhere in between and prefer to take into account all the circumstances. Hopefully my explanation has illustrated that not all criminal offending need necessarily lack decency.

[tamborine]

I understand your difficulties but theft is not the answer. Youve been in jail & know its horrors.

[nailit]

NJ, hope you dont mind me asking but are you (or have you ever been) a judge/magistrate??

[nailit]

Tambo, instead of burying your head in the sand, please tell me how was I supposed to eat when I was hungry and had no way of providing food for myself?

[Zacs-Master]

Going back to the OP, it's clear Nailit, that you're looking for ways to avoid paying the license fee. Can you see how that would annoy the hell out of people who do pay?
I think this attitude may have had an effect on people's perception of you as a person and their opinion of your lawful transgressions.

[ummmm]

Tambo - why are you advising Nailit on something that happened in the past?