Your argument was a good one in the days before computers, which is why out-of-state catalog sales did not have to withhold taxes. Now, the complexity argument is easily overcome.
Then there's still the little matter of jurisdiction. Podunk, NE, has no authority to require West Podunk, SD to collect taxes. They simply cannot mandate the actions of any other cities, let alone ones in other states. It's the Constitutionally mandated job of the Federal government to regulate commerce between the states. As the Supreme Court has stated, a business must have a "nexus," some sort of physical presence, to be required to collect sales tax in a given jurisdiction.
This is mostly a moot issue anyway, as I originally stated. You're not exempt from paying taxes on out of state purchases no matter how you spin it. You just haven't been caught yet (if you aren't reporting it).
The current tax regime favors catalog sales over on-site retail sales, for no good reason, and that ought to change.
This doesn't make sense. To the end consumer, taxes are not the difference in choosing retail or catalog to buy. The end consumer must al be concerned with the price of shipping purchases made online. This is usually greater than any tax burden would impose. People are not flocking to mail-based shopping to beat the taxes. They're doing it because of variety, convenience and price.
Can anyone put forward a well-reasoned argument why the Internet should be exempt to sales tax?
Well, putting aside for the moment your painful sentence structure of "the Internet" paying taxes or being taxed, let's get to the root of what you mean. Sales tax on items purchased over the Internet are not exempt from sales tax. This is a myth. Look at your state income tax return and you are almost sure to see a line for "use tax." In this line you are instructed to enter the value of merchandise you own/were given/won/etc that you have not yet paid tax on. Now for the second part, why people believe purchases made over the internet are "tax exempt." When you make a purchase at a retail store, the merchant is required by law to withhold sales tax on your behalf and submit it to the local jurisdictions. There is only a single juridsdiction (or group of jurisdictions) that remains the same with every transaction. It would be burdensome to expect a mail order operation, doing business across the country, to be familiar with the hundreds, if not thousands, of local tax jurisdictions and which apply to any given transaction. There is also the small matter of other jurisdictions not having the authority (to require tax collection) over a business outside their jurisdiction. Therefore the individual taxpayer is responsible paying any taxes they incur on a purchase made through the mail.
Is the Internet exempt simply because it is 'too cool' or 'over the head of stuffy old lawmakers'? Perhaps taxation laws are merely over the heads of overexcited teenagers.
Or perhaps you're guilty of not understanding the issues? I certainly hope you impart better research skills to your students at CCBC. With your attitude towards "overexcited teenagers" I would doubt it though.
He doesn't understand property rights himself...
on
Ebay vs. Musician
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· Score: 2
Look at his new anti-eBay logo at the top of his page. The text reads, "Resale of this product on eBay os strictly prohibited by the artist." Well, too bad. You don't get to decide those things. If someone buys his CD, he doesn't have a say over what happens to it anymore.
You will find nothing of the sort, since webster doesn't list a plural form of "virus".
Dicionary.com does though. As does my OED on CD, though they don't have a free version online I can link to.
"Virii", which is correct according to the rules of the english language
You are very much mistaken. I challenge you to find a dictionary or usage guide that supports you.
If you're going to play spelling nazi, you need to start checking your sources a little better.
Says the pot to the kettle. Even the most basic of research would have led you to a plethora of papers demonstrating your error, such as this one and this one.
a little thing happened last year in September that pushed civil liberties to the background for the "Free World".
Without civil liberties it's not a very "free world" now is it? If we don't have freedom, what are we fighting to preserve, exactly?
Re:Immediate US Security Threat...Tempest Everywhe
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First US Camera/Phone
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· Score: 2
As of this week, spies among us can just waltz in with their routine cell phones, zap the photos of the Iraq attack plan over the air, and nobody is the wiser.
Except that there's no such thing as "routine" electronics around classified documents. You cannot bring any sort of electronic device into a SCIF area, where documents classified Top Secret and higher are kept.
TiVo has recently discontinued the Lifetime Service offering.
Umm, no, they have not. They discontinued yearly service sometime last year. As of two days ago Lifetime was an available option, and there have been no announcements of any upcoming changes. Can you produce one?
I guess I'm out of sync with the general public but IMHO TV programming by and large is worthless.
No, it's still pretty trendy here on Slashdot to speak condescendingly of the "idiot box" and brag about how you only have a television set because you're forced to for some byzantine reason and you really wouldn't watch the awful thing if you could possibly avoid it.
I'd say you're quite in sync with the arrogant prick crowd, if that's what you're aiming for.
TiVo has had an exclusive deal with Best Buy since the Series 2 was introduced. That's only B&M store you'll find TiVo at. The Series 1 TiVos were sold at Wal-Mart, Target, etc (I bought my HDR212 at Target). I saw a 14 hr Series 1 sitting on a Wal Mart shelf about 6 months ago. Still priced at the $299 price point they were first introduced at.
I want a telephone that recognizes an anonymous caller ID and automatically plays back a message saying "Sorry, not accepting anonymous calls. Call back with the * feature to disable anonymous calls."
I have that. My phone company calls it Privacy Manager, others use different terms but it's offered all across the country. When CallerID can't determine the number the caller gets a recorded message asking them to press 1 to record their name, or to enter a code to bypass Privacy Manager and ring my phone. If they press 1 my phone rings with Privacy Manager listed as the caller. When I pick up I hear the caller's recorded name and I can choose to answer or send it right to voicemil. Unwanted calls never even get this far though, since most telemarketers are use automated dialers and couldn't get past the Privacy Manager menu if they wanted to.
Maybe you meant to post this in the previous news item
Maybe you meant to read the article?
"BayTSP tracks for the FBI the global carriage of kiddy porn. When a big child pornography bust takes place, it is generally on the basis of evidence gathered by BayTSP."
So, at some point, they need to possess child pornography. While the FBI cannot grant permission for a non-sworn officer to commit a crime (and even in those cases they have limited discretion, usually simple possession of controlled substances and the like), they most likely just have an understanding with the relevant District Attorney. The FBI chooses whom to arrest, and the DA decides which cases to prosecute, and they simply won't arrest or prosecute BayTSP because it's not in their best interests.
What does is say next to the tab key? QWERTY or DVORAK?
A Dvorak keyboard isn't anamed after its key layout, you know, it's named after a person. Dr August Dvorak. If it were named after its layout you'd have to call it the "quote less than greater than P Y" keyboard.
This is one reason why companies have official corporate software packages and employees are not supposed to install other software. Use only the software the company tells you to and you're fine. Install your own personal software, even if it's to make your job easier, and you become liable. If you need something that bad get it approved. Have you ever heard of the employees being fined because there weren't enough Word license to go around? No, employees are only liable when they do things like install warezed Quake for their after hours LAN parties.
they will just move to an IRC server that doesnt support finger/dns.
And how will that help? They're not going after people in the channels, can't prove they're doing anything. They're going after people running fserves. You have to allow people to connect to your server for them to download anything. Once they're connected they know who you are.
Not necessarily. It's a very contested area, legally. It depends on the photograph and purpose of publication. In this particular case, it's very questionable at best, and most likely an actionable breach of privacy (in the US). While the photos were taken in a public place, the Lifeguards were the intended subjects, not incidental ones (they were't shooting the beach or sunset, etc) and the photos were not intended for news reporting purposes (the article strongly implies they were in fact intended for sexual titillation).
Here is a good primer on American law on the subject (since you're an American I assume you're speaking of US law).
I wouldn't expect a comment from him. According to his website, he's on vacation right now. Well, not quite vacation, more like a working vacation. He's on a guest on CruiseTrek.
Slashdot Mirror
The "real story" would be the article. Which contains the answers to every single one of your questions.
Then there's still the little matter of jurisdiction. Podunk, NE, has no authority to require West Podunk, SD to collect taxes. They simply cannot mandate the actions of any other cities, let alone ones in other states. It's the Constitutionally mandated job of the Federal government to regulate commerce between the states. As the Supreme Court has stated, a business must have a "nexus," some sort of physical presence, to be required to collect sales tax in a given jurisdiction.
This is mostly a moot issue anyway, as I originally stated. You're not exempt from paying taxes on out of state purchases no matter how you spin it. You just haven't been caught yet (if you aren't reporting it).
The current tax regime favors catalog sales over on-site retail sales, for no good reason, and that ought to change.
This doesn't make sense. To the end consumer, taxes are not the difference in choosing retail or catalog to buy. The end consumer must al be concerned with the price of shipping purchases made online. This is usually greater than any tax burden would impose. People are not flocking to mail-based shopping to beat the taxes. They're doing it because of variety, convenience and price.
Well, putting aside for the moment your painful sentence structure of "the Internet" paying taxes or being taxed, let's get to the root of what you mean. Sales tax on items purchased over the Internet are not exempt from sales tax. This is a myth. Look at your state income tax return and you are almost sure to see a line for "use tax." In this line you are instructed to enter the value of merchandise you own/were given/won/etc that you have not yet paid tax on. Now for the second part, why people believe purchases made over the internet are "tax exempt." When you make a purchase at a retail store, the merchant is required by law to withhold sales tax on your behalf and submit it to the local jurisdictions. There is only a single juridsdiction (or group of jurisdictions) that remains the same with every transaction. It would be burdensome to expect a mail order operation, doing business across the country, to be familiar with the hundreds, if not thousands, of local tax jurisdictions and which apply to any given transaction. There is also the small matter of other jurisdictions not having the authority (to require tax collection) over a business outside their jurisdiction. Therefore the individual taxpayer is responsible paying any taxes they incur on a purchase made through the mail.
Is the Internet exempt simply because it is 'too cool' or 'over the head of stuffy old lawmakers'? Perhaps taxation laws are merely over the heads of overexcited teenagers.
Or perhaps you're guilty of not understanding the issues? I certainly hope you impart better research skills to your students at CCBC. With your attitude towards "overexcited teenagers" I would doubt it though.
Look at his new anti-eBay logo at the top of his page. The text reads, "Resale of this product on eBay os strictly prohibited by the artist." Well, too bad. You don't get to decide those things. If someone buys his CD, he doesn't have a say over what happens to it anymore.
So create a user named "wine" with no write access to anything you care about. Su to it and run Wine. Problem solved.
Dicionary.com does though. As does my OED on CD, though they don't have a free version online I can link to.
"Virii", which is correct according to the rules of the english language
You are very much mistaken. I challenge you to find a dictionary or usage guide that supports you.
If you're going to play spelling nazi, you need to start checking your sources a little better.
Says the pot to the kettle. Even the most basic of research would have led you to a plethora of papers demonstrating your error, such as this one and this one.
Portable CD/MP3/DVD players can be had for under $100. The only link I can find has them for $107, but my local Target has one on clearance for ~$70.
Without civil liberties it's not a very "free world" now is it? If we don't have freedom, what are we fighting to preserve, exactly?
Except that there's no such thing as "routine" electronics around classified documents. You cannot bring any sort of electronic device into a SCIF area, where documents classified Top Secret and higher are kept.
So basically what you're saying is, you use the "idiot box"? I enjoy several television programs, yes. I'm not the least bit ashamed of that. Are you?
Umm, no, they have not. They discontinued yearly service sometime last year. As of two days ago Lifetime was an available option, and there have been no announcements of any upcoming changes. Can you produce one?
No, it's still pretty trendy here on Slashdot to speak condescendingly of the "idiot box" and brag about how you only have a television set because you're forced to for some byzantine reason and you really wouldn't watch the awful thing if you could possibly avoid it. I'd say you're quite in sync with the arrogant prick crowd, if that's what you're aiming for.
TiVo has had an exclusive deal with Best Buy since the Series 2 was introduced. That's only B&M store you'll find TiVo at. The Series 1 TiVos were sold at Wal-Mart, Target, etc (I bought my HDR212 at Target). I saw a 14 hr Series 1 sitting on a Wal Mart shelf about 6 months ago. Still priced at the $299 price point they were first introduced at.
I have that. My phone company calls it Privacy Manager, others use different terms but it's offered all across the country. When CallerID can't determine the number the caller gets a recorded message asking them to press 1 to record their name, or to enter a code to bypass Privacy Manager and ring my phone. If they press 1 my phone rings with Privacy Manager listed as the caller. When I pick up I hear the caller's recorded name and I can choose to answer or send it right to voicemil. Unwanted calls never even get this far though, since most telemarketers are use automated dialers and couldn't get past the Privacy Manager menu if they wanted to.
in some other higher species. Most notably and frequently, in turkeys.
Maybe you meant to read the article?
"BayTSP tracks for the FBI the global carriage of kiddy porn. When a big child pornography bust takes place, it is generally on the basis of evidence gathered by BayTSP."
So, at some point, they need to possess child pornography. While the FBI cannot grant permission for a non-sworn officer to commit a crime (and even in those cases they have limited discretion, usually simple possession of controlled substances and the like), they most likely just have an understanding with the relevant District Attorney. The FBI chooses whom to arrest, and the DA decides which cases to prosecute, and they simply won't arrest or prosecute BayTSP because it's not in their best interests.
A Dvorak keyboard isn't anamed after its key layout, you know, it's named after a person. Dr August Dvorak. If it were named after its layout you'd have to call it the "quote less than greater than P Y" keyboard.
Did you download it? Didn't think so, troll. It's perfectly open and editable with no protections whatsoever.
This is one reason why companies have official corporate software packages and employees are not supposed to install other software. Use only the software the company tells you to and you're fine. Install your own personal software, even if it's to make your job easier, and you become liable. If you need something that bad get it approved. Have you ever heard of the employees being fined because there weren't enough Word license to go around? No, employees are only liable when they do things like install warezed Quake for their after hours LAN parties.
And if you go up to the parent directory of that site, you'll find another site, here, of someone shooting various bits of hardware with a .45.
Check the original before posting to this one.
they will just move to an IRC server that doesnt support finger/dns. And how will that help? They're not going after people in the channels, can't prove they're doing anything. They're going after people running fserves. You have to allow people to connect to your server for them to download anything. Once they're connected they know who you are.
Not necessarily. It's a very contested area, legally. It depends on the photograph and purpose of publication. In this particular case, it's very questionable at best, and most likely an actionable breach of privacy (in the US). While the photos were taken in a public place, the Lifeguards were the intended subjects, not incidental ones (they were't shooting the beach or sunset, etc) and the photos were not intended for news reporting purposes (the article strongly implies they were in fact intended for sexual titillation). Here is a good primer on American law on the subject (since you're an American I assume you're speaking of US law).
there's ExtractStream to pull the MPEG data off the hard drive. Don't ask about it in the TiVo forum though, video extraction is a banned topic.
I wouldn't expect a comment from him. According to his website, he's on vacation right now. Well, not quite vacation, more like a working vacation. He's on a guest on CruiseTrek.