Nightshade
sic semper tyrannis
Premium
join:2002-05-26
Salem, OR
4 edits | reply to hairspring
Re: Great!
While this does sound like a good idea on the surface it really is not and here's three reasons why.
The first one is not everyone downloads pirated music and movies. So, this tax is going to be paid by everyone who uses a ISP connection to benefit a few. Quite unfair if you ask me.
The second one is that this so called tax money is not going directly to the artists, it is going to the **AAs. Therefore there is going to be no guarantee that the artists will see one dime of this money.
But lastly this is not a tax. A tax is levied by the government or the people themselves to pay for services rendered by the government or the people. Last time I checked the **AAs are not a government entity. Though I am sure they would love to be. This is extortion, plain and simple.
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True Happiness Must Come From Within |
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banditws6
Shrinking Time and Distance
join:2001-08-18
Naples, FL
 ·Comcast
| said by Nightshade  :The second one is that this so called tax money is not going directly to the artists, it is going to the **AAs. Therefore there is going to be no guarantee that the artists will see one dime of this money. You are absolutely right, and that is my biggest problem with this proposition.
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"I'll follow the law until it's just stupid." -Ted Nugent |
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Cabal
Premium
join:2007-01-21
Boston, MA
| reply to Nightshade
said by Nightshade :The first one is not everyone downloads pirated music and movies. So, this tax is going to be paid by all to benefit a few. Quite unfair if you ask me. They rarely are. My taxes partially fund schools and libraries I will never use, but that's not changing anytime soon.
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Nightshade
sic semper tyrannis
Premium
join:2002-05-26
Salem, OR
4 edits | But you did go to public school at one time right? So you used the services at one time. You pay your local fire department through taxes even though you don't expect, nor want, your house to burn down.
What I am getting at in the unfair part is that this so called "tax" is going to be imposed regardless if you ever downloaded pirated content or not anytime you pay for your ISP services.
Now that's truly unfair.
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True Happiness Must Come From Within |
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Col Klink
join:2001-01-16
Stalag 13
| reply to Cabal
Except, of course, having an educated & literate population does benefit you directly & indirectly. Big difference between having an educated (& employed) population receiving their education from public taxes and having people download music they're too cheap to buy. Music does nothing for me at all.
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Dismissed! |
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Boogeyman
Drive it like you stole it
Premium
join:2002-12-17
Huntsville, AL
| reply to Nightshade
I wonder if the music industry realizes that if it was suddenly legal to download and share all the music you wanted, NO ONE would pay for it. You might find a few special edition boxed sets get sold every once in a while, but why pay $8-20 for a CD that you already can legally download and burn yourself for free? (The key being legally, you can already do this illegaly, but many people dont because of thier morals).
So in essence, that $20b would suddenly become the major revenue stream while actual distrobution of a physical product would barely be worth the cost. Of course not everyone has internet or wants to spend the time to download and burn all the stuff, but I'm sure everyone knows at least one person with broadband and would be willing to get what they wanted for them... for free. |
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W7PSK
Just Me
join:2000-12-04
Everett, WA | reply to Col Klink
I wouldnt call more than 25% of what they churn out now educated |
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kadar
Premium,ExMod 2001-02
join:0000-00-00 | reply to Col Klink
Would it surprise you to find out the DOL wrote the specs for the DOE? |
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fatmanskinny
Premium
join:2004-01-04
Wandering
 ·Comcast Digital Vo..
·Comcast
3 edits | reply to Col Klink
said by Col Klink :Music does nothing for me at all. Speak for yourself! Lol.
I remember some days when I was dating and didn't know how to set the right mood with a lady I was involved with at the time. I would put on a song from Barry White (the R&B singer) or Marvin Gaye and they would say exactly what I wanted to say. It seemed as if their lyrics would just melt the woman's clothes off. 
I had lots of lovin' because of music. Lol! Now I am married. So I have a valid reason for not getting any.
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The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary. |
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jester121
join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL
 ·surpasshosting
·ViaTalk
| reply to Nightshade
said by Nightshade :But you did go to public school at one time right? So you used the services at one time. You pay your local fire department through taxes even though you don't expect, nor want, your house to burn down. What I am getting at in the unfair part is that this so called "tax" is going to be imposed regardless if you ever downloaded pirated content or not anytime you pay for your ISP services. Now that's truly unfair. Errr.. my parents paid propery taxes while I was in school, not me. That whole child labor law thing. However, despite choosing not to bring children into this insane world, I get to pay for my neighbors' kids to get a mediocre education. How is this anything but unfair?
I have no problem paying for the fire department; I'm paying for protection that I hope I never need, just like insurance.
(Technically, around here anyhow, we're paying for firefighters and police to have pensions, which is ok with me -- if they're willing to do that job and all they want is a nice retirement fund, it's a good trade.)
What's really unfair about this crap "downloading" tax (if you're paying it isn't "piracy" any more, now is it?) is that I don't want any of the MPAA's product whether it's free or not, nor do I care about crappy RIAA music. |
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Nightshade
sic semper tyrannis
Premium
join:2002-05-26
Salem, OR
2 edits | said by jester121 :Errr.. my parents paid propery taxes while I was in school, not me. That whole child labor law thing. However, despite choosing not to bring children into this insane world, I get to pay for my neighbors' kids to get a mediocre education. How is this anything but unfair? The implication is that your parents paid for your public education through taxes. I did not say you paid for it. Sorry for the confusion.
Okay consider the alternative then. A mediocre education is better than no education. A majority of students do not attend charter or private schools because of the cost, so the only alternative is public education. If you think society is bad now with the majority of kids with a mediocre education, imagine a society with the majority of kids having a substandard or no education at all. That for me is why I don't mind my property/income taxes going into public education, despite having no kids of my own. Even though I think public education needs to have a serious overhaul if we are going to stay competitive with the global markets.
said by jester121 :What's really unfair about this crap "downloading" tax (if you're paying it isn't "piracy" any more, now is it?) is that I don't want any of the MPAA's product whether it's free or not, nor do I care about crappy RIAA music. True that it isn't a "piracy tax" anymore now that I am paying for it. I really don't care all that much of the music of today. Which is why I could never understand the mentality of since music is crap, I am going to pirate it. Why would I want crap that I can get for free? To me, crap is crap, free or not.
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SSidlov
Other Things On My Mind
Premium
join:2000-03-03
Pompton Lakes, NJ
·Optimum Online
 ·Cingular Wireless
| reply to Nightshade
jUST A QUICK NOTE: They have done this before. It's just a variation on their old copyright protection.
1. cassette tapes had a tax included on them to support artists whose music was supposed to be copied with the 'new tech'
2. CD-R audio has a tax as do regular CD-R's that are not qualified as audio at a lesser rate.
3. They also get $2 for each CD-R recorder.
»www.cb-cda.gc.ca/news/c20032004fs-e.html as an example of one govt agency....
SO, while they collect this type of money for decades now, they have (many people claim) NEVER given anyone a dime of it without a lawsuit.
Now, with cassettes history, and CD-R pretty much the same with DVD, and they may have already struck deals for that media, they haven't been able to tax hard drives and ssd drives. The last thing they can tax is the gateway, and that's the ISP's clients. So they want to add a tax on you for downloading, when they already tax you for burning it, they already tax you for the media you put it on, and maybe they got you to pay for the music too, if you're an honest person.
Seems to me, they already have thier hands in a lot of my pockets.....and they want more... |
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Steve
I'm a PC, so shut up
Consultant
join:2001-03-10
Yorba Linda, CA
| reply to fatmanskinny
said by Col Klink :Music does nothing for me at all. said by fatmanskinny :Speak for yourself! I don't know how you could take his words as speaking for anything but himself. |
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fatmanskinny
Premium
join:2004-01-04
Wandering | I am so tempted to flame you but I will resist. I will just state that I was kidding with him.
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The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary. |
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fireflier
Coffee. . .Need Coffee
Premium
join:2001-05-25
Limbo
·Skype
| reply to Nightshade
"the right to freely download, upload, copy, and share music without restrictions"
Huh? Am I the only one who doesn't believe the RIAA will leave everyone alone if this $5 "tax" gets implemented?
What guarantees are there that they won't still be suing people who "download, upload, copy, and share music without restrictions"? Or suing ISPs who don't implement the aforementioned piracy filters. Which brings up another point. If we're paying a "tax" to share without restrictions then why would piracy filters still be required?
I don't pirate and I have no intentions on starting so I'm not keen on subsidizing media industries with an additional $60/year when said media is already overpriced.
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Wishes: When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams can come true. Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor. --despair.com |
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Noah Vail
Premium
join:2004-12-10
Lorton, VA
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to Col Klink
said by Col Klink :Except, of course, having an educated & literate population does benefit you directly & indirectly. Big difference between having an educated (& employed) population receiving their education from public taxes and having people download music they're too cheap to buy. That's the second point I would have made. Either way you pay. If not for schools, then by prisons, higher cost of goods, security on your home and a limited number of people to commerce with.
Visualize 1930. Imagine it as a permanent condition, but only for the US, as even 4th world basket cases figured out that they need to educate any children they can
Or another scenario;
Imagine community schooling. Once communities hunker down to protect themselves from communities who don't school; we'll wind up with local governments who have interesting and different ideas about what kids need to learn.
If your population is mostly fundamentalist Islam or fundamentalist Christian, what might those community schools teach?
What might America look like after 3 generations of that, while the rest of the world builds armies and decides to expand.
I'm no fan of public schooling, but it's still a mountain of wealth compared to no education at all. It also serves to help bind us all together. If you don't want to pay for that, you can stop reaping the benefits of public schooling. Now.
said by Col Klink : Music does nothing for me at all. Wow. Have you looked at having that treated?
NV
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