S.O.T. Why am I being asked to sign in to BBC News Android App?

[The Other John]

Since a recent update on my Fire tablet I now get this message whenever I
open the news app: You will soon need to sign in / Register now.
Why? What will I or BBC gain from this? I already have to sign in for
iPlayer.

--
TOJ.

[MB]

Is it so they have better data on how many using the website?

[Max Demian]

The BBC are really annoying with their silly sign-on messages.

I expect it will put a lot of people off. Reminds me of a local library
that stopped putting magazines up on racks so you had to go to the desk
and request them. The idea was to see how many people were reading them
I suppose, but it must have had the effect of reducing use, especially
if there was a queue at the desk or it was unmanned. And they would miss
casual readers.

--
Max Demian

[John Williamson]

The good thing is that you only have to sign on once per device.

Still a PITA, though.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

[John Williamson]

On 13/04/2022 11:00, Max Demian wrote:

> The BBC are really annoying with their silly sign-on messages.
>

True.

> I expect it will put a lot of people off. Reminds me of a local library
> that stopped putting magazines up on racks so you had to go to the desk
> and request them. The idea was to see how many people were reading them
> I suppose, but it must have had the effect of reducing use, especially
> if there was a queue at the desk or it was unmanned. And they would miss
> casual readers.
>

Probably introduced when the magazines started walking out of the door.

[williamwright]

On 13/04/2022 11:36, John Williamson wrote:

>>
>> The BBC are really annoying with their silly sign-on messages.

They obviously don't look at people's passwords, because mine are really
rude.

Bill

[Andy Burns]

williamwright wrote:

> John Williamson wrote:
>
>> The BBC are really annoying with their silly sign-on messages.
>
> They obviously don't look at people's passwords, because mine are really rude.

My username and my password are rude.

They don't even store useful settings in your user account, so they have to ask
*every* time have I got a licence, *every* time do I want to enable parental
controls, and then most times they start showing me a trailer which I always
click skip and would like to permanently opt-out of.

[Dave W]

On Wed, 13 Apr 2022 19:06:39 +0100, Andy Burns <use...@andyburns.uk>
wrote:

That's strange - I only get asked if I have a licence if I use a new
device. Parental controls yes, but that's understandable. The trailers
are only a few seconds long, and occasionally interesting.
--
Dave W

[Andy Burns]

Dave W wrote:

> Andy Burns wrote:
>
>> They don't even store useful settings in your user account, so they have to ask
>> *every* time have I got a licence
>

> That's strange - I only get asked if I have a licence if I use a new
> device.

You probably don't clear cookies very often?

[Dave W]

On Wed, 13 Apr 2022 22:18:34 +0100, Andy Burns <use...@andyburns.uk>
wrote:

Indeed. Why would I want to?
--
Dave W

[John Williamson]

Cookies are a known security risk, especially those linked to a third
party website.

The BBC one that keeps you logged in to their streaming services is not
a third party one, so can safely be left in place.

My browsers are set to clear all third party cookies when I close the
browser, but retain cookies which connect only to the owner of the page
I downloaded. As a result, I only ever have to log on to the BBC once
per device.

[MB]

On 15/04/2022 23:27, John Williamson wrote:
> Cookies are a known security risk, especially those linked to a third
> party website.
>
> The BBC one that keeps you logged in to their streaming services is not
> a third party one, so can safely be left in place.
>
> My browsers are set to clear all third party cookies when I close the
> browser, but retain cookies which connect only to the owner of the page
> I downloaded. As a result, I only ever have to log on to the BBC once
> per device.

At least you can opt out of the cookies. I went to use another TV
stations streaming service a few days ago, you cannot access with an Ad
Blocker and the "manage cookies" link takes you to a page that lists ALL
the cookies and then each one has to opted out on the cookies owners'
websites. You might think they are trying to discourage you from opting
out!

[Roderick Stewart]

The popular computer tidying-up application CCleaner (Formerly "Crap
Cleaner" until they decided somebody might think it was rude) has a
very handy cookie clearing system. There's a screen with two panels,
the left one listing all cookies accumulated since the last time you
cleared them, and the right panel showing all the cookies you want to
keep, and you can just move items from one list to the other according
to preference. If a website you use a lot keeps annoying you by
requiring a new login or data input the first time you use it every
day, you can just find its name in the left hand list and move it to
the right, and then CCleaner will leave it alone.

Rod.

[John Williamson]

On 16/04/2022 09:27, MB wrote:
> On 15/04/2022 23:27, John Williamson wrote:
>> Cookies are a known security risk, especially those linked to a third
>> party website.
>>
>> The BBC one that keeps you logged in to their streaming services is not
>> a third party one, so can safely be left in place.
>>
>> My browsers are set to clear all third party cookies when I close the
>> browser, but retain cookies which connect only to the owner of the page
>> I downloaded. As a result, I only ever have to log on to the BBC once
>> per device.
>
> At least you can opt out of the cookies.

I use a proper browser. Iron on Windows and Chrome on Android. When it
deletes the third party cookies, it doesn't ask the website for
permission. A few web sites ask me to log on again next time I download
them, because they use a third party login utility, but pages that do
that tend to be dodgy anyway.

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

On Sat, 16 Apr 2022 at 09:27:22, MB <M...@nospam.net> wrote (my responses
usually FOLLOW):

Yes, those sorts of sites are most irritating. I generally find those
ones, if you turn off Javascript and then press reload, don't bring up
the cookie dialogue at all, but mostly still work - though I expect that
won't remain the case for long.

_Sometimes_ there's a "reject all" button/function/whatever, but it's
often hard to see. And also they seem to talk about "legitimate"; it's
_my_ decision what's legitimate and what's not, so any that do that
definitely get given the no!
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Often at work I wish they'd pay me what I'm worth, but sometimes I'm glad they
don't. (BrritSki, in uk.media.radio.archers, on 2000-12-25.)