Most people I know who fly from NZ/Aus to Europe/UK to go through Asia/middle east to avoid the USA.
They typically spend 3-7 days in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai on the way to/from the UK etc buying up hotels nights, tourist attraction tickets, food, shopping etc etc etc.
The US is already missing out on Billions of dollars in Tourism, and its only going to get worse.
We have a trip coming up, but it will be our last to the USA, there is simply too much else to see in the world to be bothered with the aggravation.
We were going to be coming for 8 weeks, but have reduced this to 3, 8 days of which are now a cruise in the Caribbean. Time has been allocated to Hong King, London and when we get back, off to Samoa for 10 days.
worse here.
To watch GoT you need sky basic NZ$50 + HBO NZ$10 a month.
Thats NZ$120.
BUT.... you MUST have a 12 month subscription so that comes to NZ$720
NO, I don't want sky.
If this were me buying Milk I would find that Milk costs $5, but you must buy $60 worth of other groceries you don't want first, and you must buy those groceries every week for a year. Only then can you get the milk.
Now I do pay NZ$12 a month for Netflix, unlimited viewing of large volume of content where I choose to watch what I want when I want on what device I choose, where ever I want, AND 2 other people in my house can do the same. So I am NOT going to pay more than that for content I am forced to watch when THEY want me to only on ONE device and then have to suffer adverts too.
Can I subscribe to HBO, no.
Stop setting up anti-competitive systems
They say it costs twice the amount to win a customer back than to keep and existing one .
HOWEVER, the marketing people know their bonuses come from winning a customer back and they get nothing for keeping one.
Me, I have ghostery turn up to the max, I also have a large hosts list, I have zero interest in being tracked/spammed/harassed . If I can't get to their site...I go else where....easy choice to make.
Well I am in NZ, but yes, when required to do so I have paid all of the taxes asked of me.
However, taxes are NOT the issue here, it is being stopped from importing digital files that is the problem, oh and being told I am a criminal (pirate) when I have in fact legally paid for the item, and if required paid taxes on it.
The laws/rules are designed to inhibit/kill competition by reducing the number of sources to ONE local source, and with them being to dictate terms and conditions.
I buy in stuff from China, Singapore,USA,UK,Taiwan, etc etc regularly for my/my family consumption, something I am legally allowed to do. When companies won't export, I have freight forwarding addresses that I can use, one of them is even run by a NZ government department, the NZ Postal service, or I have friends who will buy and ship to me. Customs declarations are on the items.
ALL of the big brands are available to me if I wish, for me to buy and import. No copyright/patent/brand name protection applies, I buy it, I import it.
I can buy and import any (legal) physical product: Books, CDs, DVDs, Clothes, Shoes, Cars, computers, software, etc etc etc etc.
Just because its a digital file rather than a physical item they want different rules ?, Why ?
The ONLY reason for this is to reduce competition and increase prices.
If I pay for it, I am entitled to it, legally.
Slashdot Mirror
Most people I know who fly from NZ/Aus to Europe/UK to go through Asia/middle east to avoid the USA. They typically spend 3-7 days in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai on the way to/from the UK etc buying up hotels nights, tourist attraction tickets, food, shopping etc etc etc. The US is already missing out on Billions of dollars in Tourism, and its only going to get worse. We have a trip coming up, but it will be our last to the USA, there is simply too much else to see in the world to be bothered with the aggravation. We were going to be coming for 8 weeks, but have reduced this to 3, 8 days of which are now a cruise in the Caribbean. Time has been allocated to Hong King, London and when we get back, off to Samoa for 10 days.
And yet you still bought it.....
Wow catching up with what IOS did in 2007
worse here. To watch GoT you need sky basic NZ$50 + HBO NZ$10 a month. Thats NZ$120. BUT.... you MUST have a 12 month subscription so that comes to NZ$720 NO, I don't want sky. If this were me buying Milk I would find that Milk costs $5, but you must buy $60 worth of other groceries you don't want first, and you must buy those groceries every week for a year. Only then can you get the milk. Now I do pay NZ$12 a month for Netflix, unlimited viewing of large volume of content where I choose to watch what I want when I want on what device I choose, where ever I want, AND 2 other people in my house can do the same. So I am NOT going to pay more than that for content I am forced to watch when THEY want me to only on ONE device and then have to suffer adverts too. Can I subscribe to HBO, no. Stop setting up anti-competitive systems
They say it costs twice the amount to win a customer back than to keep and existing one . HOWEVER, the marketing people know their bonuses come from winning a customer back and they get nothing for keeping one. Me, I have ghostery turn up to the max, I also have a large hosts list, I have zero interest in being tracked/spammed/harassed . If I can't get to their site...I go else where....easy choice to make.
Next thing we will find is that they are training doctors and sending them to America because it is a more effective way to kill more americans.
Well I am in NZ, but yes, when required to do so I have paid all of the taxes asked of me. However, taxes are NOT the issue here, it is being stopped from importing digital files that is the problem, oh and being told I am a criminal (pirate) when I have in fact legally paid for the item, and if required paid taxes on it. The laws/rules are designed to inhibit/kill competition by reducing the number of sources to ONE local source, and with them being to dictate terms and conditions. I buy in stuff from China, Singapore,USA,UK,Taiwan, etc etc regularly for my/my family consumption, something I am legally allowed to do. When companies won't export, I have freight forwarding addresses that I can use, one of them is even run by a NZ government department, the NZ Postal service, or I have friends who will buy and ship to me. Customs declarations are on the items. ALL of the big brands are available to me if I wish, for me to buy and import. No copyright/patent/brand name protection applies, I buy it, I import it.
I can buy and import any (legal) physical product: Books, CDs, DVDs, Clothes, Shoes, Cars, computers, software, etc etc etc etc. Just because its a digital file rather than a physical item they want different rules ?, Why ? The ONLY reason for this is to reduce competition and increase prices. If I pay for it, I am entitled to it, legally.
By RIAA standards, this is entirely acceptable. If we base it around their income, the RIAA example would balloon out to about $20 Billion