[Get-iPlayer] Re: BBC iPlayer login will be required from 2017

[Vangelis forthnet]

On Wed Sep 28 14:44:19 BST 2016, RS wrote:

> The reasons given for collecting the information seem pretty flimsy.
> (snip)
> Do I want my use recorded against
> my email address and postcode?

... That is exactly the whole point there, Richard!
Tracking/monitoring an individual logged-in iPlayer user
(who appears behind an identified and recorded
pool of IP adresses) associated with a valid
UK e-mail address and a valid UK postcode...
One may argue that the postcode is not your full
home address, but still...

 On the 20th of this month, the BBC revised
their privacy policy; the following page is quite terse:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/usingthebbc/account/why-do-i-have-to-provide-personal-info-when-i-register/

but the more detailed ones

https://www.bbc.co.uk/usingthebbc/privacy/who-else-can-see-how-i-use-the-bbc/

> We're required to share it for legal or regulatory purposes.

and

https://www.bbc.co.uk/usingthebbc/privacy/privacy-policy/

are quite eye opening:

> 4. How will the BBC use the information it collects about me?
> The BBC will use your personal information for a number of purposes 
> including the following:
> to ensure the TV Licensing database is accurate and kept up to date
> 8. Will the BBC share my personal information with anyone else?
> We may share your personal information internally
> (i.e. with other BBC divisions) for example,
> to check your details against the TV Licensing
> database. Please see section 4 above for more details.
> 19. Other BBC Operations e.g. TV Licensing
> Go to the TV Licensing Privacy Policy
> to see how the BBC uses your personal information
> for TV Licensing purposes

Remember, this is not happening come next year,
it is valid as of 20/09/2016...So, one of the reasons
(if not the main one) the BBC forces you to register
is for them to check TV licence abidance; you can
treat this forced login as a digital analog (see
the antithesis here?) of the TV detector vans...
Of course this is not advertised as such, they claim:
"Everything we do has to benefit you, our audience."

Also, the compulsory login is another more effective
way to thwart even further the illicit overseas access,
a process that began one and a half years ago,
after the data emerged online that tens of millions
of Chinese VPN users enjoyed iPlayer TV programmes;
the BBC lost face to their rights holders, so
something had to be done...
At first all streams were moved to secure
and fully geo-blocked CDNs, in a second stage
a crack down started on most geo-location evasion
methods (which is a taboo subject here)...
In their revised policy, they indicate that:

> to use IP addresses and device identifiers
> to identify the location of users, to block disruptive use,
> to establish the number of visits from
> different countries and to determine whether
> you are accessing the services from the UK or not.
> If not, you may be re-directed to the international
> version of the BBC website (bbc.com)

So if one is registered in the group of overseas users
(as it would be hard - though not competely impossible -
to register a fake UK account), I presume one
will be denied access to UK-only content even
if a geo-location evasion method is used...

Now, don't get me wrong; a law has been passed
by the UK government and put in effect since Sep 1st,
so it must be adhered to. The chain of events that
lead us here is
1. The BBC funds were significantly cut by the government.
2. The TV licence being the major revenue for the BBC,
the so called "loophole" had to be closed.
3. Hence the new law was passed and enforced.
4. The BBC initially relied on users' honesty for
online content, but as they admitted themselves:
"The government has asked us to review
whether a verification system for accessing the iPlayer
will be required in the future."
5. The "login" requirement was announced on 27/09/2016
and will be enforced at the start of 2017.

So, in essence, this latest development
has little to do, IMO, with bettering
the iPlayer services; the BBC could always
do that without forcing upon us a login;
those (few?) wishing for tailored content
could always use the existing optional BBC ID
feature...

As for the future of GiP, it all depends on
whether the resources accessed by it
are also affected by the announced change.
If all it takes is a username & password,
it'd be easy codewise to accommodate
(and perhaps store them in a cookie or .rc file).
GiP already stores BBC cookies in

%USERPROFILE%\.get_iplayer\cookies.get_iplayer
(on Windows...)

Regards