Actually, this has been a legal requirement for many years. And it isn't just purchasing a TV.
The agency is informed of the following:
1. purchased of television and other receiving equipment
2. owners of new houses
3. council house tenants
4. house sales/purchases (in theory!)
plus some others I can't recall of top of head. The residential details were interesting, as they were held for 10 years. Ever wonder, given the number of sets in the country, the agency knew when to send a detector van out, and where? The residential information was cross-referenced against the licence database. When the number of "unlicenced" properties reched a given proportion, a van would investigate, concentrating on unlicenced addresses.
The 10 year date reflected the size of storage systems back in the 80's (small).
This still lives on, today. You might not have a TV/video/etc, but for years you will receive a reminder that you 'need' a TV licence as
you - the address - does not have one. Of course, larger datasets and more powerful processing allows them to store data longer, and fine tune the various parameters, such as letters, visits, and detector vans.
"Interesting" story. How do I know this? 15 years ago I was on a systems analysis course, in the Army. The course as run by the Royal Signals at Blandford Camp, in Dorset. This barracks is large, very large (by UK standards) and includes married quarters living accomodation within camp boundaries. The perimeter is about 8miles long, in total. Its so large there is a bus route that passes through it(!)
Part of the course context for the analysis studies involved a fictional location - Popo Island - which was replacing manual systems, one being the TV licence system. As students, we gathered the business requirements, the future needs, analsysed the current system, and developed a three options report;
a. keep as is
b.
c. throw more money/men at it
Option B was always the "preferred solution", ie replace/upgrade computer system (althouh I did once submit one that didn't involve a computer, merely a streamlined manual system, but I digress). We put together various 'solutions (including the data analsysis, JSP diagrams, etc)' and business cases. Anyway, when this particular assignment was completed, suprise suprise we find that just about every one, on every course, had submitted a solution that was very similar to that used in the UK, and were then given a presentation on the system used in the UK, and how it works.
But this is were is gets humourous: Solders tend not to buy TV licences (well, not when I were a lad!), at Blandford no-one living inside the perimeter bought one. The TV licencing would periodically send a detector van (they didn't have details of soldiers in barracks, and the MOD does not supply MQ details to anyone exept courts - this predates "poll tax") to investigate the MQ area.
Now Blandford Camp is a communications nexus, with some very sensitive traffic. The agency had to noify the MOD in advance, because the detection equipment is of course based on the same principles that TEMPEST uses... so in advance this visit would be printed on Part 1 orders. When the van did arrive, it would be stopped at the Guardhouse, and searched - in minute detail, to ensure it really was - and only just - a detector van, with equipment soley tuned for TV frequencies. Meanwhile, a landrover would take off round the MQ area, letting everyone know the detector van was on-site.
Oddly enough, no one was ever caught without a licence there :-)
motorollin wrote:
@Doobrey
The law has changed recently. Retailers are required by law to send the TV Licensing Agency the names and addresses of all customers who buy equipment containing a tuner. This doesn't necessarily mean you have to buy a license, but once the licensing agency know you have bought something capable of displaying a TV signal they will start sending you letters...
--
moto
