According to a report in RTE News, Ireland's government is considering expanding their current mandatory TV license to also cover:

anything that is made visually available to the consumer, including developments such as Internet-based television stations and video blogging

according to "Technology expert Ronan Coy". Should this be enacted as quotd (which tends to be how things play out) it would mean that licenses would be required for any computer with Internet access. So much for watching The Show with Ze Frank for free.

The part I find at fault is that the original purpose of the TV license was to funnel money into the country's national TV and radio statios, i.e. to pay for the costs of running these services and development of future services. If they believe they should be receiving funds for internet broadcasting then they should set up a micropayments system to cover *their* costs. If someone is viewing or listening to broadcasts other than the state's national services then the state has no incurred expenses therefore has no right to demand fees. Lets make this clear, this is a license fee for Internet usage, and depending on how they word it, potentially for *any* digital media playback.