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France To Tax Blank Computer Media
hmckee points to this
Reuters story on TechWeb indicating that French computer buyers may soon face extra fees to compensate artists for illegal copying, levied on hard drives as well as more conventional recording media like magnetic tape. Computer-based recordable media like CD-Rs and mini-disks will be taxed starting later this month as well. hmckee writes: "Although it's not definite for France, I didn't know Germany started at the beginning of the year."
...chalk up another one for The Bad Guys. The corporations have managed to get presumption of guilt into the legal system when their precious money's involved.
This is one of those times I'm glad not to live in the EU. Of course, I somehow doubt it'll be too long until the US starts eyeing this, and then I'll be screwed either way.
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The U.S. does this already with casette tapes. It will only take a little bit more lobbying for Congress to extend this to optical media (CD-R, etc).
if the masses are breaking the law, why is it even a law? Even France is a democracy. France is a democracy right?
How we know is more important than what we know.
is there anyone who dosnt think that Capatalist Corporatism has gone too far?
Not at this keyboard. Of course, I object to the term "Capitalism" being used that way. I think "Fascism" is a more accurate term. Or perhaps "Corporate Statism." But what we have is is definitely not capitalism -- taxing the users of products on the assumption that they are criminals, for the benefit of a specific group of people? Please. Take that back to Harrison Bergeron where you found it. The problem with using the term "capitalism" to describe a situation where the government takes away the rights/money/freedom on one group in order to give it to another and/or increase its own power is that, it will make people want "not capitalism," i.e., something like socialism or fascism -- systems that are, by definition, the government taking away the rights/money/freedom on one group in order to give it to another and/or increase its own power. I see it as a trap. What I want is more freedom, not more bondage. Corporate statism, socialism, fascism, communism -- all the collectivisms -- result in more bondage and less freedom.
- - - - -
Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
I guess Communism is beginning to look alot more appealing, eh? Imagine: State owned business (no monopolies screwing us)
... except, of course, the state, which runs those monopoly businesses.
and a planned economy (what advantage do proprietary standards and IP have?)?
Mmm... central planning. Where's the bread line? I'll get in now. Under a "planned economy," some people get to decide what the rest do, and they have the force of government coercion to make the proles "cooperate." That's "better?"
For 50 years the Monied Elite in America have destroyed Socialist Ideals with a transparent campaign of propaganda
This is almost the exact opposite of the actual situation. For the whole last century, the leaders of the U.S. have denounced "socialism" and "communism" while nurturing it here. Check out the Socialist Party Platform from the early 1900s. Notice how 100% of it is law in one form or another. The U.S. has a mixed economy, but vast sections of it are, in fact, government-controlled and even centrally planned in some cases. Very few markets are "free" in the U.S. Take banking and finance, for instance -- heavily regulated, with a central bank that has the power to define the value of the currency; the dollar is worth more or less depending on how the Fed inflates or deflates the money supply. Agriculture: almost totally government-controlled. They set prices, quotas and provide subsidies. They allow or disallow any particular thing from being produced or sold. Everything is licensed. Power: nearly 100% state-controlled, if not owned, monopolies. Health: largely overnment controlled, nad moreso every day. Since 1965, control has increased steadily. One day, the outright nationalization of health care will be announced. Right now, it's just controlled through medicare, medicaid, FICA, HMO regulations, and lawsuits. Witness the creeping control of government over TV, Radio, computers, the internet, and even political speech -- which is specifically protected by the consitution. Not that the constitution matters a whole lot; it's pretty much just the overheated and failing brakes on the busride to hell these days.
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Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
If you're an independent artist (whether you've sold any works or not), petition or sue the government for your cut of the money. After all, this is to compensate artists, not labels.
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
Of all the corrupt $WHOREING$ things western governments are doing right now, this has got to take the cake...
Is it just me, or did anyone else read this in the parent, and think, "what kind of variable is WHOREING?"
[
Can I now legally copy audio CDs for my friends?
The simple answer is NO, but you can legally copy your friend's audio CD for YOUR OWN use.
To paraphrase the introduction to the Copyright Board's ruling:
On March 19, 1998, Part VIII of the Copyright Act came into force. Until then, copying any sound recording for almost any purpose infringed copyright.
Part VIII legalizes one such activity: copying of sound recordings of musical works onto recording media for the private use of the person who makes the copy.
It does not matter whether you own the original sound recording (on any medium), you can legally make a copy for your own private use.
To emphasize this point, endnote 4 of the Copyright Board's ruling says:
Section 80 does not legalize (a) copies made for the use of someone other than the person making the copy; and (b) copies of anything else than sound recordings of musical works. It does legalize making a personal copy of a recording owned by someone else.
Please think before you flame
Buying a Dell computer is equivalent to dropping the soap in a prison shower.
Well, since we have the tax now in Canada, it is kinda legal to do this. We now have the right for casual copying. This means basically, I lend you any CD you want and you can copy it. I can also make copies for myself (duh). However, I cannot make copies for you, you physically have to make the copy.
This is logical, because whats to stop people from just starting their own pirating business? It works nicely, people have the right to lend CDs out to friends and let them copy 'em. It may not seem like a lot, but it allows the music companies to actually distribute "their" music while giving consumers the rights they deserve with the content they purchased.
Buying a Dell computer is equivalent to dropping the soap in a prison shower.
Hard drives *can* be used for pirating but are mostly used for other purposes, this is like taxing cars because some of them can be used as getaway vehicle in a bank robbery
Besides, with the margins they put on, it simply won't work, any neighbouring EU country will simply ship the hardware sans tax. Those socialist bastards[0] will simply tax their own sellers out of existance.
[0] i spent 17 years under socialism... so i figure i got full right to use the term ;)
-DVK
"The right to figure things out for yourself is the only true freedom everyone shares. Go use it"-R.A.Heinlein
Now it's For the Artists. Yet another sticker they can throw on anything to force laws past the public's scrutiny, on seemingly moral grounds.
It's spelled minidisc. 'disc' for optical media, and 'disk' for magnetic media. But then again, a professional journalist such as yourself working for a technology site would know that, wouldn't you?
-atrowe: Card-carrying Mensa member. I have no toleranse for stupidity.
The only way to keep this kind of tax from being levied in the United States is to make out voices heard by voting -- even if it means pushing the chad all of the way out and reading the instructions.
What really bugs me about this, and should probably really make the French angry is that this tax is going on hard drives, too. The article says HDD will be taxed from US$86-144, and DVD-RAM about US$8.29. I'm guessing a CD-ROM would be around US$1-2. I don't how many HDD the French buy, but record companies must be excited about this.
If I lived in France, you can bet my hard drive would be filled with Metallica MP3's.
Great, a black market in computer hardware!
The world is getting more SciFi all the time.
Smuggling cigarettes is boring anyway.
"Hey, you! Is that an IDE interface in your pocket!?"
"It's for personal use, man, don't hassle me!"
"Tell me, do you use LINUX?" "That's none of
your business, man."
"Ho ho, what's THIS? A bag of blank CDR disks!
You're coming with me, son." "No, wait, those
belong to my brother, man, I never even saw them
before."
When did our governments get in the business of collecting taxes for products specifically because their use may or may not cause some industry money?
/. community are fundementally resolved when employing other economic systems - too bad we've already lost our governments to these $WHORES$. I guess we will have to take it up the duff and wait for the revolution. They always come. This last 200 years _could_ have lead to a different outcome, but alas we havnet learnt anything. Replacing our Monarchs and Priests with CEO's and Monied Elite leads to the same problems... McCarthy sure did us a favour -- polluted the American psyche so badly it is going to take 100 years to recover from the "Red" scare.
Whats next? You pay a tax on bicylces because it may cost the Auto Industry revenue?
You pay a tax on Beer because it may cost the Win Industry revenue?
Of all the corrupt $WHOREING$ things western governments are doing right now, this has got to take the cake -- so, is there anyone who dosnt think that Capatalist Corporatism has gone too far?
I guess Communism is beginning to look alot more appealing, eh? Imagine: State owned business (no monopolies screwing us) and a planned economy (what advantage do proprietary standards and IP have?)? Looks like the 2 Major Ills of the
I wonder if America(Americans) realize that they have been BrainWashed - I mean that very literally. For 50 years the Monied Elite in America have destroyed Socialist Ideals with a transparent campaign of propaganda. This conditioning has led America(Americans) to trust, believe and have faith in whatever dogma is spewed in the interest of Business(TM).
How sad - any hope to build a civilization where humanity can grow and achieve has been replaced with greed, selfishness and consumerism. It truely sickens me.
I wonder why people cling to the present Corporatist economic system - is a Government bought and sold to/by TransNational Corporate interest not enough?
Does anyone need any more evidence?
If AOL were to start distributing on CD-RW media, they might actually find willing takers in France!
What I always wonder about this is - If I buy some blank CD's, and pay an extra fee which goes to the distribution companies and (maybe) artists that I am possibly copying, then shouldn't it be legal for me to actually copy their stuff?
If I get taken to court, couldn't I just say, "Your Honor, I paid a fee as part of the purchase price of the blank media to compensate them for copying their content. If that doesn't make it legal for me to copy their content, then it should be illegal for them to charge me extra for the blank media, right?"
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
"HTML needs a rant tag" - Alan Cox
Let me get this straight--government in France does something stupid, and you use this as evidence that corporations are evil? This is a recurring theme on Slashdot--government does something evil, at the behest of a corporation, and we blame corporations for wanting something in their own interest, not government for caving in. This is completely ass-backwards.
The solution to these kinds of stupid laws (DMCA, UCITA, etc.) is not socialism/communism and more government. It's campaign finance reform so that nobody can buy off politicians, and less government. We have to enforce separation of government and corporate interests. If corporations are disbarred from forming high-powered lobby groups or making huge "soft money" campaign contributions, their power over government will evaporate.
Remember, without government co-operation, the worst a corporation can do is make crappy products you don't have to buy. It's the government that has the power of the gun, and thus the government that people should fear most.
- Assumption of criminality: "Pay this tax, just in case you're a criminal." This is ridiculous. Paying car insurance is one thing, because no one ever plans to have an accident, but taxing people just in case they decide to do something illegal. Bullshit.
- Who will it help? Who is this supposed to benefit? The artists? Bullshit again - they're already getting screwed, just like they've always been, and will continue to be. Not that every musician is exploited, but very many are, and they won't see a cent from this.
- Business model. At the core, this is government levying taxes on a population to prop up an outdated business model. If real competition were present in the industry, companies would seek to improve their business plans rather than ask government for a handout. It's not my job to compensate fools for failed business practices: stupidity should be painful.
Sigh. This has all been said before, though.pessimistic legs signs off
question: is control controlled by its need to control?
answer: yes
This isn't as much "normalization" as it is "don't take so many drugs when you're designing tables."