3 ms·

Don't really see the point of this and am tbh slightly irked at a wastage of my licence fee.

by dev_north_east 7y ago

that_lurker 7y ago
This allows anyone that has access to TOR to read BBC. Many countries might block outside news organizations.
- dev_north_east 7y ago
  Yes I understand that. 1 - Can the same not be achieved via VPN usage? 2 - Can TOR browsers not already access the BBC in the "clearnet"? 3 - Why do I, as a UK resident, have to provide money so that someone in Vietnam can access our state news?
  - hkt 7y ago
    Soft power. So people around the world see things our way. The likelihood of this being immensely costly is near nil, by the way.
  - sambe 7y ago
    The license fee is not the BBC's only source of funding. Its worldwide operations are generally profitable.
    - rvz 7y ago
      That's true, most broadcasters have to also bid for broadcasting contracts which give them a-lot of revenue too if they win. However, UK audiences tend to question the TV license if the BBC does anything out of their duty. But non-UK audiences will see ads on the site that will eventually be clicked on. So what does the BBC do? Increase more click-bait articles on newsbeat, entertainment, brexit sections to make up for their lost UK audience that are now on other news or streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, etc.
  - davidcollantes 7y ago
    > Can the same not be achieved via VPN usage? You will need to use a VPN provider (often for a fee). Tor comes at no cost. > Can TOR browsers not already access the BBC in the "clearnet"? I don't understand this question. > Why do I, as a UK resident, have to provide money so that someone in Vietnam can access our state news? It doesn't cost anything extra to run a Tor mirror.
    - StavrosK 7y ago
      > I don't understand this question. The GP is saying that someone using the Tor browser could simply just visit bbc.com already. However, they'd have to exit the network, whereas with an .onion address they don't.
  - mellosouls 7y ago
    3 - You have been doing this as long as you have been paying the license fee for any international outreach, e.g. The World Service.
  - isostatic 7y ago
    > 3 - Why do I, as a UK resident, have to provide money so that someone in Vietnam can access our state news? Up until a few years ago you didn't. In the news + current affairs genre there was 1) UK output (Huw Edwards, News24, Panorama, etc) -- licence fee funded 2) World service (mainly radio, in a variety of languages) -- funded direct from the foreign office 3) World News TV (English language TV station) -- commercially funded However the government of the time told the BBC they had to continue to fund World Service, but stopped the grant in aid. This meant that Doris in Dudley had to pay for Radio Hausa broadcasting from Abuja. Hausa is good for the UK (soft power), but it should be funded by the foreign office. To add confusion, a couple of years ago the government then decided to invest £300m over 4 years to expand the world service reach - this money came from the foreign office. Then there's more confusion. Many reporters for world service are expected to file into UK news too. If there's a news story in Vietnam that breaks, it will be nominally world service reporters who are on the scene reporting. Even if it's a planned event, like the Trump/Kim summit, local WS staff will be planning and often staffing that event, even if Huw Edwards is flown out to cover it, so there is still a tangential benefit
  - rkangel 7y ago
    > 3 - Why do I, as a UK resident, have to provide money so that someone in Vietnam can access our state news? If you access BBC News from outside the UK you'll notice that it has advertising. I don't know how much of the cost of international news this offsets, but it will help. But the more important answer is that everyone benefits if accurate and unbiased news is available to all. The cost of running an onion site is negligible. The cost of international news (and the World Service etc.) is not, but is definitely worth it (and as pointed out elsewhere, not actually paid for by the licence fee).
cyphar 7y ago
Onion services provide additional anonymity to users of the service because none of the traffic ever leaves the Tor network. Personally I think it's a great thing that users can safely and anonymously access the BBC no matter where they are in the world. Even Facebook has had an onion address (http://facebookcorewwwi.onion http://facebookcorewwwi.onion) for several years.

Don't really see the point of this and am tbh slightly irked at a wastage of my licence fee.

that_lurker 7y ago

This allows anyone that has access to TOR to read BBC. Many countries might block outside news organizations.

dev_north_east 7y ago
Yes I understand that. 1 - Can the same not be achieved via VPN usage? 2 - Can TOR browsers not already access the BBC in the "clearnet"? 3 - Why do I, as a UK resident, have to provide money so that someone in Vietnam can access our state news?
- hkt 7y ago
  Soft power. So people around the world see things our way. The likelihood of this being immensely costly is near nil, by the way.
- sambe 7y ago
  The license fee is not the BBC's only source of funding. Its worldwide operations are generally profitable.
  - rvz 7y ago
    That's true, most broadcasters have to also bid for broadcasting contracts which give them a-lot of revenue too if they win. However, UK audiences tend to question the TV license if the BBC does anything out of their duty. But non-UK audiences will see ads on the site that will eventually be clicked on. So what does the BBC do? Increase more click-bait articles on newsbeat, entertainment, brexit sections to make up for their lost UK audience that are now on other news or streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, etc.
- davidcollantes 7y ago
  > Can the same not be achieved via VPN usage? You will need to use a VPN provider (often for a fee). Tor comes at no cost. > Can TOR browsers not already access the BBC in the "clearnet"? I don't understand this question. > Why do I, as a UK resident, have to provide money so that someone in Vietnam can access our state news? It doesn't cost anything extra to run a Tor mirror.
  - StavrosK 7y ago
    > I don't understand this question. The GP is saying that someone using the Tor browser could simply just visit bbc.com already. However, they'd have to exit the network, whereas with an .onion address they don't.
- mellosouls 7y ago
  3 - You have been doing this as long as you have been paying the license fee for any international outreach, e.g. The World Service.
- isostatic 7y ago
  > 3 - Why do I, as a UK resident, have to provide money so that someone in Vietnam can access our state news? Up until a few years ago you didn't. In the news + current affairs genre there was 1) UK output (Huw Edwards, News24, Panorama, etc) -- licence fee funded 2) World service (mainly radio, in a variety of languages) -- funded direct from the foreign office 3) World News TV (English language TV station) -- commercially funded However the government of the time told the BBC they had to continue to fund World Service, but stopped the grant in aid. This meant that Doris in Dudley had to pay for Radio Hausa broadcasting from Abuja. Hausa is good for the UK (soft power), but it should be funded by the foreign office. To add confusion, a couple of years ago the government then decided to invest £300m over 4 years to expand the world service reach - this money came from the foreign office. Then there's more confusion. Many reporters for world service are expected to file into UK news too. If there's a news story in Vietnam that breaks, it will be nominally world service reporters who are on the scene reporting. Even if it's a planned event, like the Trump/Kim summit, local WS staff will be planning and often staffing that event, even if Huw Edwards is flown out to cover it, so there is still a tangential benefit
- rkangel 7y ago
  > 3 - Why do I, as a UK resident, have to provide money so that someone in Vietnam can access our state news? If you access BBC News from outside the UK you'll notice that it has advertising. I don't know how much of the cost of international news this offsets, but it will help. But the more important answer is that everyone benefits if accurate and unbiased news is available to all. The cost of running an onion site is negligible. The cost of international news (and the World Service etc.) is not, but is definitely worth it (and as pointed out elsewhere, not actually paid for by the licence fee).

cyphar 7y ago

Onion services provide additional anonymity to users of the service because none of the traffic ever leaves the Tor network. Personally I think it's a great thing that users can safely and anonymously access the BBC no matter where they are in the world. Even Facebook has had an onion address (http://facebookcorewwwi.onion http://facebookcorewwwi.onion) for several years.