What does the 'Login' protect, exactly?
iPlayer is largely used to deliver 'another chance to see' content that has already been broadcast, free-to-air (I know there's the minor exception of BBC!!!). I don't need a 'login' to view the 'free-to-air' content, be that delivered on Freeview/Freeview HD DVB or over FreeSat DBS/S2 (which broadcasts free-to-air to the entire footprint of western Europe, as a minimum, and wider still with a larger receiver dish..)
It seems to me that the BBC and the public would be far better served if the BBC were to spend the cost of this nonesense on much better content, rather than yet another 'technology for it's own sake' project.
IF it has to be technology for it's own sake, I'd like to see the BBC put much better effort into transforming content delivery by dropping FlashPlayer - Newer technologies have the DRM that BBC would adore and would also allow the tracking of users, their points of presence, devices and capabilities in a much more efficient and effective way than a 'home-grown' approach would muster.
Finally, there seems to be (deliberate) ambiguity about the proposal to require a Login and the use of the consequential data that will be gathered. The BBC will need to be clear what the 'defined use' will be of the (meta-)data they will collecting, who it will be shared with and host of other Ts&Cs declarations. To turn over the datasets to Television Licencing, for other 'tracking with punative intent' purposes, sounds like a major Data Protection and Data Misuse proposition...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
