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EU May Force iTunes Store To Accept Returns
Sweet Harmony writes "ArsTechnica is reporting that the European Union may soon require online music stores to accept returns. A review of European consumer protection laws has highlighted online sales of 'digital content services' as an area where existing consumer protection laws need to be harmonized. 'The EC would like to standardize cooling-off periods along with other aspects of the EU's consumer protection laws. One of the issues being considered is whether the rules on consumer sales should apply to 'digital content services' like music.'"
It only works because most americans are too lazy to take advantage of the system. It wont work in Europe just like free refills doesn't work in Europe because everybody just buys a "small" and refill it.
It's amazing to go the US and realize all these nice offers you get, just by not being stupid and lazy.
consumer protection is nanny-stating now? christ you people are fucking idiots, you keep extending the term nanny-state to everything - eventually you're going to consider any action taken by a government to protect it's citizens (that's a fucking governments job you dipshit) "nanny-state"
why don't you fucking ANARCHISTS go buy an island somewhere and leave us rational human beings the fuck alone - we're sick of your naive shit
If you cannot keep politics out of your moderation remove yourself from the Mod Lottery.. NOW!
I have been living in Germany for the past 2 years, and trust me, in the EU the consumer does NOT come first. The government comes first, pure and simple. Ever buy anything from outside the EU and have it shipped to you? I, blisfully unaware of the details of doing so, had an electronic dictionary shipped to me from Japan. This is not an item you can even buy in the EU. However, they wanted to tax me on it, and I wasn't paying 50 euros in tax just to please the German government. Since I am not a member of the EU and refused to pay the outrageous taxes on it, I just said to have them mail it to my house in America, I could pick it up there. I had to take time out of my very busy day to go the very inconviently located Zollamt to deal with these people. Naively I took the beureucrat's word for it(there were 4 of them working there and not a single person came in the whole hour I was mingling with them, which leads me to believe the whole customs racket is just a vast employment scam by the government that annoys everyone else), but of course weeks passed by and nothing. So I called the place in Nuernberg, and they said it was in Frankfurt. Had to call Frankfurt and had to pay 12 cents a minute to be put on hold(something that never happens outside of the EU mind you, not in America, not in Japan etc) only to have Frankfurt tell me it was in Nuernberg. This went back and forth for weeks and eventually they returned it to the person that mailed it to me. The EU, where the consumer comes first, spent extra money to deny me my property. Brilliant! It's a real consumers paradise! Now compare that to the US and Japan, other places I have lived, where I have sent and received laptop computers with no hassle whatsoever from the government.
Ever ride a DeutscheBahn train? Ever actually be on time with that train? Especially when you compare it to the rail system in Japan the rail system in Europe is another government run nightmare. They don't exist to move you around places, they exist to make some government workers feel powerful, and thus do a terrible job of getting anywhere on time. Broken down trains, trains that don't come, and just plain lateness are way too common. I've spent more time waiting in bahnhofs for the next train since I was too late for my connection than I care to count. Again, the government, not the consumer, comes first.
Speaking of consumers, you ever compare the sales taxes in Europe to that of the US, Canada, or Japan? Guess what, they can be 4 to 5 times as much, and in a lot of places in the states, they don't charge sales tax on things like food. I always found it funny that the sales taxes supposedly go to help the less fortunate, and yet a sales tax is the MOST regressive tax you can find. Again, it's not the consumer that comes first, its the government. The government makes a lot of money and employs a lot of people to collect this overly complex tax(businesses don't have to pay it if they are putting it into a finished product, the tax levels are different for all sorts of items, etc).
The government in the EU has this significant power trip, and the iTunes thing is no different. The government sees somewhere where it doesn't have absolute control and CANNOT STAND IT! So therefore they decide that they know what is best and now set their sight on the biggest player in the market.
Bah, if only the American government weren't worse(in different aspects). But no, the EU is a consumer's nightmare, not paradise.
Monstar L