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Apparently, the MPAA is after the US Government and the EU to impose a monthly tax on internet broadband users because --and this is the really ridiculous part-- "broadband users will probably engage in digital piracy at least once or twice, sometime in the future, if they aren't already."
The MPAA is proposing a Three Strike Program. If you're caught three times pirating a single movie or TV show, you will be prosecuted--that is, you get three chances (really two, since you're prosecuted on the third infraction) if you pay your monthly internet tax ($12-25 USD each month, depending on your connection speed). If you get caught not paying your taxes (which will be paid automatically as part of your ISP bill, kind of like the asinine extortive amount we already pay for basic telephone service --half my damned phone bill is taxes), you're on the Zero Strikes Go-To-Jail Program.
If you don't have an ISP and use public computers, they have two suggestions for the US Attorney General's Office and IRS: an automatic tax for every working stiff that includes calculations for "members of the family who do not work but are of computer-user age," and a Bill-Me-Later tax that requires public labs and internet providers to install software requiring users to log-in with their SSN before they can surf. Oh, Winston Smith, where art thou!
The music industry is interested in this as well, and would like their own tax. The CEOs and attorneys all say it works so well for the BBC...
So... is it true that something like 200 people went to jail last year in the UK because they didn't pay their TV tax...?
Does MI5 really drive around in black vans hunting for unlicensed television sets?
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Apparently, the MPAA is after the US Government and the EU to impose a monthly tax on internet broadband users because --and this is the really ridiculous part-- "broadband users will probably engage in digital piracy at least once or twice, sometime in the future, if they aren't already."
The MPAA is proposing a Three Strike Program. If you're caught three times pirating a single movie or TV show, you will be prosecuted--that is, you get three chances (really two, since you're prosecuted on the third infraction) if you pay your monthly internet tax ($12-25 USD each month, depending on your connection speed). If you get caught not paying your taxes (which will be paid automatically as part of your ISP bill, kind of like the asinine extortive amount we already pay for basic telephone service --half my damned phone bill is taxes), you're on the Zero Strikes Go-To-Jail Program.
If you don't have an ISP and use public computers, they have two suggestions for the US Attorney General's Office and IRS: an automatic tax for every working stiff that includes calculations for "members of the family who do not work but are of computer-user age," and a Bill-Me-Later tax that requires public labs and internet providers to install software requiring users to log-in with their SSN before they can surf. Oh, Winston Smith, where art thou!
The music industry is interested in this as well, and would like their own tax. The CEOs and attorneys all say it works so well for the BBC...
So... is it true that something like 200 people went to jail last year in the UK because they didn't pay their TV tax...?
Does MI5 really drive around in black vans hunting for unlicensed television sets?
Probably is true, and it's the TV Licensing authority that do the driving, not MI5.
Of course, the license fee is to provide the BBC as a public good exempt from the political demands a tax funded system would face while allowing it to provide things that would not be viable in the commercial sector. I'd like to know what service this Internet tax will provide to me, rather than to people who can't sell their stuff because they screwed up their business model.
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I shouldn't have come off as anti-BBC; I absolutely love BBC programming.
I would not be adverse to a mandatory tax in the US specifically for PBS.
The TV License tax in the UK was a poor example and doesn't really compare at all to the proposal of an internet tax in the US.
My understanding is that this tax is designed specifically to compensate the movie and television industry for lost revenue due to digital and DVD pirating.
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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I know that if such a tax got passed in the US (which I highly doubt would get passed, and even if it did, would likely get thrown out in court), then I would start downloading stuff for free for the first time. My theory being that if I'm paying my taxes for it, I'm allowed to do it.
As described by the OP, it really would never come to pass because it is effectively fining everyone for something they may not have done, and certainly haven't been proven to do in a court of law.
I know that if such a tax got passed in the US (which I highly doubt would get passed, and even if it did, would likely get thrown out in court)...Since when did politicians in this country ever meet a tax they didn't like?
*Tosses tea into water*
*Tosses bad tea into sites responsible*
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Since when did politicians in this country ever meet a tax they didn't like?
Hopefully the one in which they aren't gathering money for themselves and their various projects will be the exception. But then I suppose if lobbyists are paying them in campaign contributions, yacht parties, private jets, & resort getaway hunting trips... we'll have to see.
You know- the thing is they can't keep suing the population indefinitely. Their whole scheme mostly works on getting people to settle whether they have a strong case or not based on the threat of going to court, which then costs tons of money for the MPAA or RIAA to pursue. But this ridiculous request for legislation allows them to indiscriminately charge everyone indefinitely on the assumption that they are all criminals and then they can still sue them. Wtf?
Also considering all the money they have recouped from suing the population is rarely redistributed to any of the artists supposedly affected... I don't want to think this would stand a chance of passing.