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Pay To Have Your Phone Tapped
An anonymous reader writes "The Globe and Mail is running an interesting story over who should carry the cost of wiretapping (registration may be required): 'Canada's police chiefs propose a surcharge of about 25 cents on monthly telephone and Internet bills to cover the cost of tapping into the communications of terrorists and other criminals.'"
Will he next ask for a tax for doughnuts?
I've also been looking for someone to kick me in the nuts, for $10/hr. Any takers?
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Where your family will get billed for the bullet after you get executed.
On the other hand, who am I to talk, as the Netherlands is the country with the most wiretaps in the world annually, or at least the most open about the amount they wiretap.
- -- Truth addict for life.
MRS. BUTTLE: Thank you. And this is my receipt for your receipt.
(sigh)
Blockwars: free, multiplayer, Tetris like game
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
"I understand this concern on behalf of the taxpayers. People want value for money. That's why we always insist on the principal of Information Retrieval charges. It's absolutely right and fair that those found guilty should pay for their periods of detention and the Information Retrieval procedures used in their interrogations."
Only charge those who are being wiretapped. That way they can see the charge in their bill, know they're being tapped, and stop using that phone line to conduct their illegal activies. This ultimately reduces the cost of wire tapping to zero. ;-)
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Well if were getting charged for it, we might as well use it eh?: "Plot, bomb, president, plane, nuclear, chemical, hi-jack, kill, big-mac.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
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89. Freezing
90. Gas 3 dollars a liter
91. No football
92. Government spies on you and steals your money
93. Terrorists come and go as they please
94. Suffocating taxes on everything
95. The French
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In Europe, it's common knowledge that the telcos pay the costs of the wiretapping infrastructure (upfront, I don't believe they're swallowing it).
;-)
This is very nice for the authorities, as they could have a system built to their spec but not pay a single cent for it.
What is interesting is that some time ago, a large German telco made a mistake and billed several customers for the wiretapping (their detailed phonebill showed lots of connections to a number where the calls were presumably forwarded to).
Obviously, the authorities were not amused at all.
It has not happened again since
Rainer
Windows 2000 - from the guys who brought us edlin
Sheesh, people! It should be so clear - if a person is causing a problem, you send them the bill. Just charge the suspect. Make sure to get the money before you do it. You could tell them it was for... I don't know, a nation-wide iPod purchasing campaign.
Don't be silly everyone knows it's the Bluetooth fairy!
Someone asked me the difference between ignorance and apathy, I told them I don't know and I don't care.
Agreed, but the side-effect of this is becoming a plutocracy, which the USA now is (and has been for quite some time).
Nonsense. Political power and the government is NOT in the hands of "the wealthy classes". Political power is squarely in the hands of ALL the people. Some people might be too stupid to exercise their political power but to pretend that it is in the hands of the wealthy in a democracy is a travesty of the truth.
Mmmm.. Donuts
I think it is grossly unfair to make everybody pay for wiretapping when the majority of people will themselves never be wiretapped. Kind of like paying the private copying levy on blank CDs when all you are doing is backing up your data.
To be fair, they should only add the levy to the phone bills of people who are being wiretapped.
Ideology is for ideots.
For a moment, I thought the Canadian police were only going to have the tax charged on the telephone lines that they were wiretapping:
Monthly Phone bill for XXX-XXX-XXXX
Basic service: $10.00
Digital Dialing: $5.00
Emergency Services Provision Tax: $1.00
Police Wiretap on this telephone line: $0.25
Optional services $3.50
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
Really, one of the problems I can see with this whole; you pay for your own wiretap business is the following transaction.
It is about 10:45 in the morning in an undisclosed city. The apartment is worn down and the furniture mostly consists of milk crates and things found outside of construction sites, much like your typical bachelor pad. A man stands in the midst of the room, knee deep in his shag carpet with a bill in one hand and a phone in the other pressed tightly up against his ear. He appears to be in his late twenties with about five days growth of beard, he taps his foot impatiently as he stands staring hard at the bill, as if that would make the inscrutable charges vanish. The line picks up...
Operator: Hello, this is [phone company x], how can we help you?
Man: Yes, I have a question about an item on my phone bill.
Operator: I'm sure that you do sir, or else you wouldn't be calling us. Could you tell me what the item is?
Man: Yeah, it's a twenty-five cent surcharge with the code WT next to it.
Operator (Pauses for a moment): According to our records, that's supposed to be there.
Man: (Confused) But what is it, I'm looking at last month's bill and it isn't there.
Operator (again pauses, some typing can be heard): Yes, the charge was added this month.
Man (a little upset): Yes, but for what.
Operator (pausing once again, and letting out a loud sigh): For the wiretap sir.
Man (really upset): The wiretap?
Operator: Yes sir, the wiretap that the Feds put on your phone last month to monitor you.
The man then hangs up the phone, tossing it casually onto the couch. He then goes into the kitchen and grabs a bite to eat.
Of course that's a bit of an exaggeration, the phone company is never that helpful. All right, so this was mostly a joke, deal.