CDR: Re: Germans to tax PCs for Lars

[Tim May]

At 3:01 PM -0400 9/6/00, Craig Brozefsky wrote:
>Adam Langley <agl at linuxpower.org> writes:
>
>>  Is this really a bad thing? Music is becomming a public
>>  service. When author cannot control their works (as is happening
>>  now) the works basically become a public service - and the way
>>  public services are funded is by govt taxes.= If they stop trying
>>  (and failing) to control content and just use this - well it's not
>>  perfect - but it's better than a DMCA/UCITA world.
>
>it is naive to think that this tax is going to stop them from pursuing
>their UCITA/DMCA led efforts to completely control the works they
>distribute in order to destroy "fair use" and reap as much money as
>possible from consumers.  This tax is just icing on the cake for
>them, a welcome revenue stream.

I agree completely. The Home Recording Act I referenced in my last 
message was also a tax (on blank tape), and yet it certainly didn't 
stop the recording companies from going after Napster, MP3, and 
various other companies.

The governments of the world always love new excuses to add taxes.

And the extra lobbying that will result as companies scramble to try 
to glom onto this "revenue stream" will also be welcome to 
governments: this will increase campaign contributions, kickbacks, 
bribes, and lucrative post-gov't. employment offers. The mother's 
milk of politics.

And cretins like Gore and McCain babble on about "campaign reform." 
Why do high tech companies feel the need to fund _both_ major parties 
in these United States? Insurance. Protection money. The nation is a 
"shakedown state," a protection racket, with campaign contributions 
and the like just the rent the government collects. This funds the 
lobbyists in their large Georgetown mansions, this funds the 
Caribbean cruises, this funds the lucrative jobs at Halliburton 
(Cheney), Microsoft (Patty Murray), and so on, for a hundred other 
such examples.)

This whole foo-fah over MP3 is just seen as a chance to shake down 
the companies for more money, with the highest bidder winning the pot.

Germany is just trying to get into the racket as best it can.


--Tim May
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