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New Fee For Internet-Capable PCs In Germany
An anonymous reader writes "German online news sites heise.de and spiegel.de has stories, that from April 2005 on a fee of about 17 to 18 EUR per month must be paid to the national broadcasters in Germany for personal computers in private households, which have possible access to the internet. The fee must not be paid, if it is already paid for a TV set. Companies are said to be obliged to pay that fee from 2007 on." Those who don't read German should make use of the Fish.
It doesn't bother you *at all* that you have to pay a monthly fee to accelerate electrons into a phosphor-coated plate of glass? This is why I'm glad I don't live in Europe!
My other car is first.
This folks, is what happens when the government has too much power. And as an American, this really upsets me regardless of the fact I don't live in Germany.
...or rather close to it.
The world is getting to be a much smallar place. If we let these trend continue, all of us geeks will be fucked around the world (not in a good way)!
Life is not for the lazy.
n. A political and economic system of Europe from the 9th to about the 15th century, based on the holding of all land [intellectual property] in fief or fee and the resulting relation of lord to vassal and characterized by homage, legal and military service of tenants, and forfeiture.
It's baaaaack!
Cthulhu for President! Why settle for the lesser evil?
Your post proves my original argument completely. For you BBC is the mouthpiece of truth, yet you can't see through the thick cloud of your own bias. Your post is full of lies (that most people might take at face value), and you probably feel the BBC completely agrees with your views. Ergo, the BBC is biased, just like you.
But I'll add more: the BBC is not simply biased; it completely distorts the facts in order to comply to its bias. So much so, that the BBC reporters, when they lie, they contradict each other and the presenter at the studio! No wonder, lies come in various colors and shapes, they are bound to contradict each other. In the best case, they just "omit some details", sometimes they fail to investigate the information they get from (always the same) one source. Often times they show the views of only one side, while, at best, giving the other side only one insinuating question to answer.And then there's the distortion of historic data, the omission of important historical facts, and generally, they rely very much on the audience's ignorance. Often BBC fails to translate some very interesting speeches by their hero Arafat.
But it all makes perfect sense: the islamic world is a 1 billion+ market, rich with oil and on the increase. You don't want to piss off that, right? Truth and journalistic integrity be damned.
Sigged!
Yep - that's us. We know German but we don't read it - all of us.
Thank you for pointing that out. I listen to both Fox and BBC daily, and can testify that while Fox may lean right, they always put both sides on to give their arguements. The BBC feels it only needs to give you one perspective, theirs.
Their reporting on non-political events is good, although they always seem to find a way to work politics into them, but anything that has political ramifications leans so far left that even most Liberals/Labor will admit the bias. This is part of why they like the BBC.
The BBC used to be one of the most objective and comprehensive news sources in the world, with equal respect from all sides of the political spectrum. Now, however, they have become more tabloid, choosing to represent a singular point of view, with more concern to promoting a political philosophy than getting to the truth. All we can do is hope that this is a short term problem with their current management.
As an American, I can't help but to feel that the BBC is now dangerously anti-American, so yes, I still listen to BBC radio every day, but for different reasons that I used to: Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
Yes, that sounds perfectly fair.
By the way, I'd like to open a new type of supermarket in your area. I'll charge a monthly fee to anyone who has an oven in their home and you can get all the groceries you want. Sound unfair? Not at all. If you don't want to pay my fee, simply get rid of your oven.
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
OK, sounds like we got a deal. You keep Fox News, I get my Eurotrash BBC along with the tyranny of a $15 or so broadcasting tax per month and everybody's happy.
Yeah, Slashdot is run by folks who are americans, and more power to them. Thanks goodness american American Zealot.