Most people ‘expected’ to obey iplayer licence rules

The TV Licensing authority has said it is confident “most people will simply obey the law” and stressed it will not implement “mass surveillance techniques” to monitor those using BBC iplayer.

Yesterday a loophole that allowed viewers to catch up with shows on BBC iplayer was closed, meaning that anybody wishing to use the on-demand service must now confirm they have a TV licence. It had not previously been disclosed how the TV Licensing body would implement the changes in legislation, although there were rumours of snooping on people’s Tv-viewing habits via private wi-fi connections.

A TV Licensing spokesman denied these rumours, saying: “We will simply use existing enforcement processes and techniques.”