However, whilst browsing a tech news site I found this article:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03/20/bbc_upstairs_we_watch_downstairs_you_pay/
3,000 Britons a week, mostly in the lower income brackets, are being given criminal records for refusing to pay big media licensing fees. Figures from the Ministry of Justice show 165,000 have been prosecuted in the past twelve months, with 142,375 convicted and sentenced. This amounts to ten per cent of all court cases heard by magistrates. 74 individuals have even gone to prison for non-payment of the compulsory per-household fee, which sees all funds raised going to just one large media company: the UK broadcaster, the BBC.
Whilst I think the article is very badly titled with a lot of irrelevant digressions, the numbers quoted are shocking.
I still get their nasty letters - no wonder they seem to assume anyone without a licence is probably a criminal based on these figures.
it's strange that we haven't heard a peep from consumer groups, digital rights "activists", anti-poverty campaigners nor tax-fairness agitators. The silence is deafening. Could anyone tell me why that would be?
I have emailed a response to the author and sent a link to this section. As this bloke seems to be lacking feedback, perhaps others here could help with this too?
