TV detector vans and laptops

[allegro]

Can they detect you watching the tv on your laptop?

A few work pals and i had got a little room in work all set up for the world cup including wall chart, fridge full of ale, wide screen tv and armchairs.

This morning i received a generic letter addressed to "the occupier" from the tv license bods asking if i would need a license for the premises.

My first thoughts were to dismiss it but could do without the hefty fine so thought of using my laptop but unsure as to how the detection gear works.

Whats the general consensus?

Thanks in advance

[TEKNOPUG]

I would say no.

Providing you aren't plugging the lap-top into a TV aerial or have some obvious TV tuner attached, I would say you are fine.

I assume that you'll just be watching over the internet? In theory, you should be paying a licence fee to view BBC content (the reason why you struggle to get I-player on a foreign IP address).

However, I can't see them going to the lengths required to prove that you were watching licence fee material over the internet. The TV licence would effectively have to include "internet licence" too.

[escargot]

Detector vans don't exist.

[TEKNOPUG]

To answer your question reqarding detection, CRT transmit certain radio-waves that can be detected (by the vans). Whether this is still the case now with LCD/Plasma tellys, laptops etc I don't know. Basically, any address that doesn't have a TV licence will be recorded as "suspicious" and they'll investigate from there.

[Mark Benson]

allegro said:

unsure as to how the detection gear works.

It doesn't. It's a complete fallacy.

[zac510]

Wow, how did they know you were 'the occupier' ? Their power and much touted database must know no bounds

[allegro]

escargot said:

Detector vans don't exist.

I have seem them! Escort van sized things with a white satelite type dish on the roof.

[Timsta]

allegro said:

escargot said:

Detector vans don't exist.

I have seem them! Escort van sized things with a white satelite type dish on the roof.

The vans exist. The detectors don't.

[J500ANT]

I've never seen one, and they're based in Bristol.

How can someone in a van outside detect what's going on inside your house? (Apart from with binoculars) A TV doesn't transmit as well as receive, after all.

[allegro]

TEKNOPUG said:

To answer your question reqarding detection, CRT transmit certain radio-waves that can be detected (by the vans). Whether this is still the case now with LCD/Plasma tellys, laptops etc I don't know. Basically, any address that doesn't have a TV licence will be recorded as "suspicious" and they'll investigate from there.

Makes sense. You wouldn't expect a place of work to be top of their list i'm guessing.

[TankRizzo]

allegro said:

escargot said:

Detector vans don't exist.

I have seem them! Escort van sized things with a white satelite type dish on the roof.

You saw a van with a dish on the top. TV Licensing have always fudged it whenever they have been asked about their vans, because they don't "detect" TVs. They just rely on a database of houses without licences.

[TEKNOPUG]

allegro said:

TEKNOPUG said:

To answer your question reqarding detection, CRT transmit certain radio-waves that can be detected (by the vans). Whether this is still the case now with LCD/Plasma tellys, laptops etc I don't know. Basically, any address that doesn't have a TV licence will be recorded as "suspicious" and they'll investigate from there.

Makes sense. You wouldn't expect a place of work to be top of their list i'm guessing.

Even if you got a knock at the door (don't talk to them or let them in BTW!) you don't have a TV or a TV tuner/aerial and therefore you don't need a TV licence. I also believe (although could be wrong) that a TV licence is only required for "live" broadcasts, so even watching I-player on your laptop shouldn't require one.

[Arklight]

They dont exist/work. They just have a list of properties without a TV licence and go and have a hover or a manual look to see if you have a TV. you will also get the odd letter to see if you would like to get one etc.

[Famous Graham]

allegro said:

Can they detect you watching the tv on your laptop?

A few work pals and i had got a little room in work all set up for the world cup including wall chart, fridge full of ale, wide screen tv and armchairs.

This morning i received a generic letter addressed to "the occupier" from the tv license bods asking if i would need a license for the premises.

My first thoughts were to dismiss it but could do without the hefty fine so thought of using my laptop but unsure as to how the detection gear works.

Whats the general consensus?

Thanks in advance

Did you buy the TV for the purpose and get it delivered to your office? That'll be where they got the info.

[ShadownINja]

TEKNOPUG said:

I also believe (although could be wrong) that a TV licence is only required for "live" broadcasts, so even watching I-player on your laptop shouldn't require one.

Pretty much. According to the website and the helpful woman on the phone, I only need a licence if I am watching or capable of watching live broadcasts. So, if I watch live football on my computers or iplayer's live facility, then I need a licence. If I sit in a pub with a German T-shirt on, then I don't need a licence but probably need weaponry.

[Doofus]

If you use a laptop at work to watch TV, the law assumes that it's your own laptop (even if it isn't), and your own TV license covers its use (if you don't have one, then you're breaking the law). A desktop PC, however, needs a TV license covering the premises in which it's installed.

If you use any equipment of any kind to watch football, you're a neanderthal and you need to get a grip.

[TEKNOPUG]

Famous Graham said:

allegro said:

Can they detect you watching the tv on your laptop?

A few work pals and i had got a little room in work all set up for the world cup including wall chart, fridge full of ale, wide screen tv and armchairs.

This morning i received a generic letter addressed to "the occupier" from the tv license bods asking if i would need a license for the premises.

My first thoughts were to dismiss it but could do without the hefty fine so thought of using my laptop but unsure as to how the detection gear works.

Whats the general consensus?

Thanks in advance

Did you buy the TV for the purpose and get it delivered to your office? That'll be where they got the info.

OP bought a laptop, not a TV

[tybo]

Doofus said:

If you use any equipment of any kind to watch football, you're a neanderthal and you need to get a grip.

[TEKNOPUG]

ShadownINja said:

TEKNOPUG said:

I also believe (although could be wrong) that a TV licence is only required for "live" broadcasts, so even watching I-player on your laptop shouldn't require one.

Pretty much. According to the website and the helpful woman on the phone, I only need a licence if I am watching or capable of watching live broadcasts. So, if I watch live football on my computers or iplayer's live facility, then I need a licence. If I sit in a pub with a German T-shirt on, then I don't need a licence but probably need weaponry.

Just watch via a P2P site - it'll be delayed by 5mins and therefore not "live"

[allegro]

Thanks guys. I suspected it worked on a database of unlicensed properties.
I even recall an ad where the van pulls up outside a house with the obvious flicker of a tv through the curtains, implying they rely on visual evidence.

Shall enjoy the world cup as planned