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BBC: ISPs Should Assume VPN Users Are Pirates

Posted by Soulskill on from the arrr-me-hearties dept.

An anonymous reader sends this news from TorrentFreak: After cutting its teeth as a domestic broadcaster, the BBC is spreading its products all around the globe. Shows like Top Gear have done extremely well overseas and the trend of exploiting other shows in multiple territories is set to continue. As a result, the BBC is now getting involved in the copyright debates of other countries, notably Australia, where it operates four subscription channels. Following submissions from Hollywood interests and local ISPs, BBC Worldwide has now presented its own to the Federal Government. Its text shows that the corporation wants new anti-piracy measures to go further than ever before.

The BBC begins by indicating a preference for a co-operative scheme, one in which content owners and ISPs share responsibility to "reduce and eliminate" online copyright infringement. ... "Since the evolution of peer-to-peer software protocols to incorporate decentralized architectures, which has allowed users to download content from numerous host computers, the detection and prosecution of copyright violations has become a complex task. This situation is further amplified by the adoption of virtual private networks (VPNs) and proxy servers by some users, allowing them to circumvent geo-blocking technologies and further evade detection," the BBC explains.

22 of 363 comments (clear)

  1. So if I... by TWX · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...have to VPN in to the work network to deal with switches or to check the status of an outage, I'm automatically assumed to be a pirate?

    Seems like the BBC is looking to piss off every IT department in the UK.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    1. Re:So if I... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Thats nothing. I use a VPN everyday for my company's cloud based accounting system. My entire department is staffed by pirates.

    2. Re:So if I... by Z00L00K · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And if I want some privacy and protection against password snoopers for some features that I want to control on my home server I'm also by default a suspect by that logic.

      The internet seems to be a new playground for Big Brother... Make sure that the sheep are walking as the government want.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    3. Re:So if I... by BitterOak · · Score: 5, Insightful

      ...have to VPN in to the work network to deal with switches or to check the status of an outage, I'm automatically assumed to be a pirate? Seems like the BBC is looking to piss off every IT department in the UK.

      I'm sure VPNs at your place of work will be exempted from any new legislation. After all, they're never going to pass a law which will inconvenience banks and large corporations. It will be dedicated VPN services that will come under attack.

      --
      If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
    4. Re:So if I... by pepty · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And if I want some privacy and protection against password snoopers for some features that I want to control on my home server I'm -

      Home server? Forget the VPN issue, that's a banning right there.

    5. Re:So if I... by ray-auch · · Score: 5, Funny

      Won't somebody please think of the children !

      The BBC in particular seems to have been pretty good at employing people who "think of the children"...

  2. That's fine by Solandri · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What say the managers and officers running the BBC open up all their finances for the public to see. What? You don't want to? Well then you must be embezzling.

  3. geo-blocking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The BBC may want strong geo-blocking but it is completely against the interest of you and I. Geo-blocking is not a right given by law it is just a consequence of license agreements (an indirect consequence of copyright law).

    Why should I as an internet user be compelled to give you accurate information about where I am located geographically?

  4. Copyright has no clothes. by headkase · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The old saying "The Emperor has no clothes" applies here. Copyright law is a distorted abomination. The terms of copyright are outrageous, a work created today will not enter the public domain in my lifetime because the length of protection is so corrupted. Since I will die before Alien (1979) enters the public domain then that means copyright is effectively unlimited. "Expiry" is a lie. Sane copyright law would see works enter the public domain after a reasonable amount of time such as 14 (original term) to 20 years (what would be acceptable). Not only would those works then be able to be freely shared but also new works, with new sane protection terms, would be able to be created in those universes. A new Alien movie which does not need the blessing of the old creators. 20 years is long enough, long enough for Terminator 2 to now be public domain and Skynet to be a free literary construct. When it comes to copyright laws another saying applies "unjust laws serve to bring all laws into contempt." A primer on the subject can be found here as a freely downloadable PDF: The Public Domain.

    --
    Shh.
  5. Arrrrgh! by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 5, Funny

    Arrrgh, matey! Debit Left!!!, Credit Right!!!

    --
    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
    1. Re:Arrrrgh! by jimmydevice · · Score: 5, Funny

      The Crimson Permanent Assurance

    2. Re:Arrrrgh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Arrrgh, matey! Debit Left!!!, Credit Right!!!

      I think that's "Debit to port, Credit to starboard" yer landlubber

  6. Contacting BBC, via VPN by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Methinks BBC did what they did on the advise of their lawyers, and I am sure that there are still plenty of good people within BBC who can discern good from bad, right from wrong

    So ... why don't all of us contact BBC and tell them what we think ?

    Their website is at http://bbc.com/

    You can contact them via http://www.bbc.co.uk/faqs/cont...

    Or file a complaint at http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaint...

    Their worldservice email address is at worldservice.letters@bbc.co.uk

    Their FB page is at https://www.facebook.com/bbcwo...

    Let them know, let BBC know how wrong they are about VPN

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    1. Re:Contacting BBC, via VPN by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Or more importantly contact you local member. Contrary to popular belief, politicians will listen, you just have to put it across the right way (ideally with the support of some local industry heavyweights)

    2. Re:Contacting BBC, via VPN by Xest · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The problem is BBC worldwide, it's a law unto itself and it needs to be reigned in. It's been doing things this last decade that are unacceptable, from buying companies it really should not be buying into because they're outside it's remit, to doing a real shit job of distribution, for example, shows paid for by the BBC license fee payer are sold on commercially by BBC Worldwide yet BBC Worldwide sells them in the US but not the UK so us in the UK who pay for the content in the first fucking case can't even buy Bluray discs of the content to keep like those in other countries can. I wanted to purchased Hidden Kingdoms on Bluray for my parents but BBC Worldwide only produce a US region version on Bluray and only sell it in the US even though it's production was financed by UK license fee payers - we can't get a copy except on DVD which completely defeats the object of such a show that's so heavily focussed on visuals.

      This episode shouldn't be used to shame the BBC as a whole, it's at odds with what most people in the BBC proper believe, it's those at the top of the BBC responsible for reigning in BBC worldwide that's the problem - they let it go off and do it's own thing completely independently and it's gone feral and gotten rabies as a result.

      Thus, if anyone does complain to the BBC about this I strongly advise you to lean towards making the point that enough is enough, BBC Worldwide needs to be reigned in and as it's whole owned by the BBC it needs to be pulled towards the views of license fee payers and not be allowed to continue to run amock doing it's own thing. BBC Worldwide makes a ton of profit for the BBC, but it can only do so because it's allowed to sell on content that UK TV license fee payers have paid for in the first place.

      It's also worth noting that the BBC's charter is coming up for renegotiation soon too, so it's getting to the point where the BBC really can be forced to making sweeping changes or face having it's budget cut.

    3. Re:Contacting BBC, via VPN by dejanc · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is the problematic part from TFA: the BBC Worldwide indicates that ISPs should be obliged to monitor their customers' activities.

      If anything, ISP's should be regulated never to monitor their customers activities - I really think ISP looking into what I am transferring should be illegal. Just like a phone company should never listen to my conversations, ISP should never look into my data.

    4. Re:Contacting BBC, via VPN by Xest · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No it's not, that's why even now it's well established that there are Russian regulars in Ukraine, the BBC still errs on the side of caution by calling those that are established as such "rebels" rather than "Russian soldiers" or similar.

      The BBC may not fit your particular bias, but it's actually fairly unbiased - it takes immense caution before taking sides as in the example above. In fact, the BBC ended up in a massive fight with the government some years back precisely because it called out the then government over it's lies that led to the Iraq war once it had actual evidence so to call it a government mouthpiece is a bit of a joke. It does back up British values certainly, but that's a different thing - if you're looking for it to support Putin's or China's authoritarianism then no, it wont do that. There is certainly still some bias at the BBC in some areas - for example, coverage involving their own journalists is pretty poor, when Alan Johnson was kidnapped in Gaza they had daily coverage of it but stories about a kidnapped aid worker that were running at the same time went lightly reported which always struck me as a pretty blatant failure in objectivity but all in all it's very much a top tier news source in terms of quality and objectivity.

      Likely when you say you're avoiding bias, what you really mean is that you don't like unbiased or low bias news and you're actually looking for confirmation bias and want something that will back up your own predetermined biases, and, well, have fun with that if that's what you're after, that's not what the BBC is, nor what we would ever want it to be.

    5. Re:Contacting BBC, via VPN by Kjella · · Score: 5, Informative

      There's also that despite their public funding, which means they could give their content away for free, then instead try to leverage it for profit as hard as they can.

      Tax some (UK population) and give benefits to others (rest of the world) is not socialism, generally the rule is everybody pays and everybody gets. If the former doesn't hold, you can't expect the latter to hold either so I perfectly understand BBC Worldwide charging for their content.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    6. Re:Contacting BBC, via VPN by Archtech · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Gentlemen, gentlemen... please calm down! You are talking past one another. The terms "left" and "right" are archaic, dating back to the French National Assembly of 1789. At that time "left" meant progressive, radical, secular, revolutionary; while "right" meant conservative, monarchic, religious. All of that is so far behind us that it's pretty much irrelevant nowadays.

      The BBC is *pro-establishment*. Partly because it had a nasty near-death experience when it tried to tell the truth about Tony Blair and the Dodgy Dossier: the director-general had to resign, heads rolled, and since then everyone has known that the only thing to do is parrot the government line. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_...

      The BBC is also pro-establishment because of its membership. It leans very heavily towards well-educated, middle-class, liberals who (rightly or wrongly) try very hard to be politically correct at all times.

      These facts confuse anyone who tries to apply old-fashioned categories like "left" and "right". The BBC seems to be "right" because it's pro-establishment; but it also looks "left" because it's politically correct. However, I find that if you assume the BBC will always speak truth to power you will be absolutely wrong. The BBC will, in fact, tell power exactly what it thinks power wants to hear. Because, to be honest, that's how you get on in life these days.

      From what I hear, things aren't all that different in the US media.

      --
      I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
  7. What's suprising by whoever57 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What's surprising, based on this article, is the minimal checks that the BBC's geolocation blocking uses. It's purely DNS based. Just set your nameserver to a UK-based DNS nameserver and you can fire up and watch programs using the BBC iPlayer.

    The ITVPlayer, in the other hand requires the actual program streams to be pulled using a UK-based IP address.

    For people with the technical skills, a London, UK based virtual private server can be rented for about $10/month and perhaps less.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  8. As a BBC "customer" in the UK... by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The irony of this discussion is that as someone who lives in the UK and pays his licence fee, I still sometimes run into content on the BBC that I'm told I'm not allowed to see because I live in the wrong place.

    This is why I lack much sympathy for the Beeb when people use VPNs and the like to circumvent geographical restrictions. I do understand that there are commercial agreements and licensing conditions at work here, and I do understand that the BBC Worldwide commercial arm is not the same as the BBC itself (though it is a wholly owned subsidiary).

    Just to be clear, I think the BBC is a borderline national treasure. It is certainly not perfect, but the range and quality of programming it has produced over the years is so much better than the apparent norm on commercial television channels that I pay my licence fee gladly, even if it is a bizarre pseudo-tax based on archaic rules about who has to contribute.

    However, if you're going to take primarily public funding, with only a relatively small amount coming from BBC Worldwide's commercial activities, then not sharing the results with those members of the public who are paying your bills is not on, IMHO.

    --
    If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
  9. ...and say what exactly? by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But what exactly are you going to say? Despite the inflammatory slashdot summary the quoted text from the BBC submission only says that pirates use VPNs. This is not at all the same as saying that all VPN users are pirates. The troubling part is that they are advocating that ISPs should throttle and disconnect users based on accusations from other companies which, as we have seen time and time again are often inaccurate.

    So lets go after the real issues and not invent new ones based on deliberate misinterpretation since the latter will result in loss of all credibility and leave the field wild open for really draconian suggestions.