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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."
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."