The situation:
My landlady who got rid of her TV screen last year and resigned her TV licence, has just received a mail today from the TV licence authority/organisation. The letter states that some kind of inspector might pay a visit in order to control if there is any device to watch TV.
Nothing wrong with that.
If you look closely at the list of devices, besides TV's, it includes mobile phones and computers amongst other things.
According to this site:
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/d...ave-money-on-your-tv-licence-catchup-3423808/
You need a TV licence only if you have a means (device or software) to watch TV live broadcast.
Nothing wrong with that either, I do not watch live broadcast, although I do catch up some French TV programs, but it is neither BBC nor British shows and catching up is allowed.
The problem:
However, what strikes me is the fact that some person/stranger who is not a civil servant, works for a private company hired by BBC/TV licence and who is neither police, nor represents any official authority, in order to control the device (looking for software), may have access to my computer/hard drive, and thus private data.
To me it sounds like some kind of invasion of privacy, and if I remember correctly, even in France the police need some kind of warrant from a judge to look into your computer/hard drive.
Question:
Are they really allowed to access your computer/data without any kind of warrant? If so I would be very surprised and the TV Licence letter is rather vague...
My landlady who got rid of her TV screen last year and resigned her TV licence, has just received a mail today from the TV licence authority/organisation. The letter states that some kind of inspector might pay a visit in order to control if there is any device to watch TV.
Nothing wrong with that.
If you look closely at the list of devices, besides TV's, it includes mobile phones and computers amongst other things.
According to this site:
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/d...ave-money-on-your-tv-licence-catchup-3423808/
You need a TV licence only if you have a means (device or software) to watch TV live broadcast.
Nothing wrong with that either, I do not watch live broadcast, although I do catch up some French TV programs, but it is neither BBC nor British shows and catching up is allowed.
The problem:
However, what strikes me is the fact that some person/stranger who is not a civil servant, works for a private company hired by BBC/TV licence and who is neither police, nor represents any official authority, in order to control the device (looking for software), may have access to my computer/hard drive, and thus private data.
To me it sounds like some kind of invasion of privacy, and if I remember correctly, even in France the police need some kind of warrant from a judge to look into your computer/hard drive.
Question:
Are they really allowed to access your computer/data without any kind of warrant? If so I would be very surprised and the TV Licence letter is rather vague...
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