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Frankly, EU and European countries take privacy a lot more seriously, for historical reasons too.

Hmm, have you ever heard of the GEZ in Germany??? They are worse than anything in the US.

This is incorrect. Read this:

http://www.gez.de/door/gebuehren/gebuehrenpflicht/ index.html#9 (German)

For Businesses: Radios, TVs, and, starting Jan. 1, Internet-capable devices are required to be registered and paid for individually. 200 computers = 1104.00.

Note this is also true for the self-employed. I've got a television, 5 computers, an Internet-capable mobile phone, and an iPod FM-tuner in my home office. That means I get to pay 56.14 (about $70 US) per month to finance documentaries about how cheese is made.

You also have to pay for any old computers you may have sitting around in closets, and Linux rack-servers. I imagine big hosting companies like 1und1 and VServer aren't particularly happy about this.

That's not entirely true. The more radios and TVs you have, the more you have to pay. According to the GEZ website, you pay 5.52€ for a radio or 17.03€ for a TV and radio. If you have two TVs, you should be paying 34.06€. Bonus: you are now authorized an extra radio. Woo hoo! Feature filled alarm clock.

Did "they" also want to sell them a newspaper subscription? THBT. Check the official site of the GEZ

The term used for justification is Grundversorgung (basic supply with news) really pisses me of. The first thought is, why should I pay for something, regardless wether I'm using it or not. Exspecially cable-modem users will be ridiculed (who will open the phone-line for 1 Euro/hour to listen to internet-radio?).
Basic supply with news only is required because of possible catastrophic event. But this fee should be paid by every citizen equally, because the emergency plans include sending around police cars with megaphones. Why is there no GEZ-fee on using megaphones??? Ok, better don't remind them. Where I'm getting my day-to-day news from on the other hand, should be my decision.
An internet connection is not necessarily a channel for "Grundversorgung" (what about washing machines with internet connection?). You have to pay already only if it is possible for you to access these channels (which are not only news like tagesschau.de but also come with a lot of other crap no sane person would pay for and which is not accessibly by internet anyway). The GEZ is extending its mandate way beyond basic supply with news and expects to get paid for it by mandatory fees. No thanks!

It is called "GEZ Gebühr" (fee for the GEZ, the Gebühreneinzugszentrale - Central for fee collecting, a divison of the public broadcast services ARD and ZDF), everyone in Germany has to pay the GEZ fee to receive radio broadcasts (reduced fee, about 5 Euro per month) or TV and radio broadcasts (full fee, about 15 Euro per month). It does not depend on the number of devices, you have to pay 15 Euro no matter if you own one TV set or 10.000. Some group of persons may apply for exemption.

The original idea of the "internet fee" was that you could receive internet streams from the websites of the public broadcast services with an internet capable device (not only PCs, but also UMTS mobile phones), so a PC would be equal to a TV set (yes, that's how german politicans think) and you have to pay the full GEZ fee. It simply does not matter if you actually do receive those streams, all that counts is that you are able to recevie them.

After lots of complaints from nearly every organisation, the "internet fee" was changed to the reduced radio fee. This does not affect common households, because they usually already pay for receiving radio and TV broadcasts, so the PC is "just another TV set". But each and every company that uses even only one PC now has to pay 5 Euro per month for the ability(!) to receive TV and radio broadcasts via internet. A related information: The german tax authorities force you to use an internet capable PC for your monthly tax declaration, so nearly every company now has to pay the GEZ fee.

Tux2000, nearly becoming mad during the attempt to translate this nonsense into english

you have to pay once for having a TV if you have any number of TV sets in your household, however many persons you're living with in your household. As of April 2005, this includes Internet-capable PCs.
only if the private household exception holds for you. As this is germany, there are exceptions to the exception (children with a income, shared appartments, secondary appartments) ...
This whole law is completely fucked up. It should be just a flat tax (less bureaucracy, no garden gnomes ...)

In Germany, the GEZ (Gebuehreneinzugszentrale) demands every household with TV and/or radio to contribute a monthly fee which is more expensive (about 16 Euros) than a cheap DSL connection. What is more, GEZ people are known for their sometimes nasty methods to acquire subscribers. So especially many students don't need a TV and put the money into more useful things like internet connectivity.

In Germany, the GEZ (Gebuehreneinzugszentrale) demands every household with TV and/or radio to contribute a monthly fee which is more expensive (about 16 Euros) than a cheap DSL connection. What is more, GEZ people are known for their sometimes nasty methods to acquire subscribers. So especially many students don't need a TV and put the money into more useful things like internet connectivity.

It's not exactly a British custom, the same thing, called the GEZ, also exists in Germany. Of course, they use the same tactics and fear mongering like the BSA and the British folks do.

In Germany its called GEZ, the Gebühreneinzugszentrale.

You have to proof, that you don't own a radio or else you're fined ca. 10 /month. If you own even one TV-Set you'll have to pay 16 /month.

Since you have to register your residence in the Einwohnermeldeamt, which shares its database with the GEZ, you'll receive a letter from the GEZ ca. 2 weeks after taking up residence.

If you don't pay the yearly Gebühr of 200 you can be fined for up to 2000. There are even TV-Spots on German TV with the Slogan:"Haben Sie schon GEZahlt?"(Have YOU payed your GEZ-fines ?). This is all only for maintaining the so called "Grundversorgung" of public broadcasting. I'll leave the quality of the programs to the viewers imagination ...