Japan Considers Taxing of WiFi

DoktorTomoe writes "According to an article at Asia Pacific Media Network, Japan plans to introduce a fee for using WLan. The changes necessary for such taxation could be made as early as 2005. "

Comments

Tax everything

[ajuda]

Isn't this a bit moronic? Find things that make economies more efficient and help spread information and tax them? It's not like wireless costs the government anything to allow. Oh yeah, first post.

Re:Tax everything

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not like wireless costs the government anything to allow?

Yeah, there's not a government agency that regulates public use of the EM spectrum and certifies devices so that using your Microwave doesn't disrupt your wireless network. No, no government involvement in that at all. It's all manufacturers magically agreeing to use the same spectrum, because one thing vendors love is for their competitors' products to be interoperable with their own.

And furthermore, taxes exist to create revenue. They do not exist (primarily) to punish bad people. Taxes are not punishment, they are how we pay for things.

You can't have an economy of any scale if all you tax is cigarettes and liquor (even though apparently some states are giving it a shot anyway). You have to tax good things too. But you spread it around so that nobody gets hit too hard, and you tax luxuries (like, say, wi-fi networks) a little higher because the people with them have more money and can afford it.

No, I don't favor Japan's tax on Wi-Fi. But Jesus H Christ stop being such a knee-jerk libertarian and consider that good beneficial things are taxed all the time and have been for CENTURIES without ill effect. It's the way governments work. We should at least be glad taxes are imposed by elected representatives instead of kings. We tax OURSELVES. People who use a third-person pronoun for a democratic government are usually just whining that they got outvoted.

This is unfair as there is no license protection

[javaxman]

The reason this would be an unfair tax is that it's a tax on transmitters, but not a license for spectrum use.

The cell-phone frequency example cited in the article puts Joe Japanese Wifi User on par with cell companies. However, cell companies get a slice of spectrum *licensed*, all to themselves. If they find someone transmitting on that frequency other than themselves, they can order them to shut down, and/or take them to court.

Joe Wifi User gets no such protection. If two guys buy Wifi base stations and set them up next to each other, they both 'payed for the use of the spectrum' and get exactly the same ( no ) protection for the money they've paid. It's just an extra, specific tax on wifi equipment, not any sort of 'spectrum use' fee. A spectrum use fee implies a protected license to use that spectrum. Wifi ain't like that, we're all using the *same* range of frequencies.

Re:Human Life Tax

[marcello_dl]

When all of the space for the spectrum gets filled, who do you think the people will be pissed at for not managing that? The government. They are just trying to help manage it before it gets out of hand.

I don't understand. The tax would have a regulating effect only if wifi access available in public places were taxed, but what about your own apartment using a low power access point? With all the available wifi channels there's no big risk of saturation when everybody keeps the power low enough (risking to be fined if they don't, as it happens with loud noise).

We have this tax today,

[Anonymous Coward]

Right here in Norway. It is called "Høythbjånds skatan", or as it is called among the geeks here "Tis mig i øret", which is a delicious pun. Anyway unlike this one time fee suggested in Japan, we must register when buying our favorite Linksys or whatever and the tax is around 50$ pr year.
The fun thing is that most shops does not register people when they sell it(like when you buy a tv). I have yet to see this tax enforced and most people does not know it exists.
In all fairness, I must say that this law was before the days of wifi so it is a kind of a "leftover" that should be put to death.

Re:Wardriving...

[FireFury03]

Does this mean that the Japanese government is going to take up wardriving to look for violators?

Unfortunately that's exactly what we get in the UK from the TV Licencing authority - they drive around in detector vans looking for anyone watching TV who doesn't have a licence.

They also have the assumption that _everyone_ has a TV and target households who don't have a TV with threatening letters and billboard adverts, even if they don't have a TV.

A few years ago after I moved house I didn't have a TV for a few months - I got a threatening letter from the TV Licencing Authority with "YOU ARE BREAKING THE LAW" printed across the _outside_ of the envelope in big letters. If I had any money at the time it would've been interesting to sue them for libel.