4 ms·

I'm confused about the point being made. If you purchase something online across national boundaries, isn't the company you're buying from subject to different

by jonahx 11y ago

I'm confused about the point being made. If you purchase something online across national boundaries, isn't the company you're buying from subject to different taxes and tariffs than when customers from their own country buy? And in the case of Netflix, don't they have to negotiate different contracts with content owners to sell in different countries? It's not like they're just doing it to be dicks. Or am I missing something?

shmerl 11y ago
> It's not like they're just doing it to be dicks. Whether they intended it or not, what they are doing is xenophobic.
- intrasight 11y ago
  Would you say otherwise if "they" where actually separate companies? ie, Netflix US, Netflix CN, Netflix FR
  - shmerl 11y ago
    What difference would it make? I.e. imagine there is Netflix FR, and someone from US tries to access it through VPN, and they get a message "US citizens won't be served". Or the other way around. Same xenophobic garbage IMHO.
    - ryan-c 11y ago
      Netflix is contractually required to discriminate against customers based on where they are by the companies who they licence content from, for many reasons, a common one being the content already having been exclusively licensed for distribution in country X to some other company. Calling this xenophobia is absurd.
      - shmerl 11y ago
        If Netflix is contractually obligated to be xenophobic, it's both their fault for accepting such contracts and fault of those who made such contracts with them (i.e. publishers / content owners). The fact that it's a contract doesn't make it any more moral and it's absurd to think it's an excuse. You can blame the system all you want, but if they participate - they are part of the system. I.e. they aren't forced to make such moral choice, they voluntarily make it.
        intrasight 11y ago
        The term "xenophobic" just isn't applicable here. Almost all media deals are location-based. I expect that Netflix tries harder than anyone else to try to break down those license barriers.
        shmerl 11y ago
        > Almost all media deals are location-based. So? How does it justify xenophobic behavior?
        intrasight 11y ago
        Perhaps you should try looking up the definition of "xenophobic"
        shmerl 11y ago
        Perhaps you shouldn't try excusing such behavior with definition arguments? If you don't like the term xenophobic (which is perfectly appropriate here), call it discrimination of foreigners. It doesn't make it any better and less disgusting.
      - nxzero 11y ago
        Are you saying it is legal to contractually force a party to be racist?
eveningcoffee 11y ago
It depends. For example in EU, if you buy as private person then you are subjected to the same sales tax as the residents of the online seller country of residence. As a seller you can mitigate this by having your company registered in multiple countries (for example Amazon does this). If you buy as a company and can provide a valid sales tax id then the seller can exempt the sales tax at the moment of the purchase in case of exports.

by jonahx 11y ago

shmerl 11y ago

> It's not like they're just doing it to be dicks. Whether they intended it or not, what they are doing is xenophobic.

intrasight 11y ago
Would you say otherwise if "they" where actually separate companies? ie, Netflix US, Netflix CN, Netflix FR
- shmerl 11y ago
  What difference would it make? I.e. imagine there is Netflix FR, and someone from US tries to access it through VPN, and they get a message "US citizens won't be served". Or the other way around. Same xenophobic garbage IMHO.
  - ryan-c 11y ago
    Netflix is contractually required to discriminate against customers based on where they are by the companies who they licence content from, for many reasons, a common one being the content already having been exclusively licensed for distribution in country X to some other company. Calling this xenophobia is absurd.
    - shmerl 11y ago
      If Netflix is contractually obligated to be xenophobic, it's both their fault for accepting such contracts and fault of those who made such contracts with them (i.e. publishers / content owners). The fact that it's a contract doesn't make it any more moral and it's absurd to think it's an excuse. You can blame the system all you want, but if they participate - they are part of the system. I.e. they aren't forced to make such moral choice, they voluntarily make it.
      - intrasight 11y ago
        The term "xenophobic" just isn't applicable here. Almost all media deals are location-based. I expect that Netflix tries harder than anyone else to try to break down those license barriers.
        shmerl 11y ago
        > Almost all media deals are location-based. So? How does it justify xenophobic behavior?
        intrasight 11y ago
        Perhaps you should try looking up the definition of "xenophobic"
        shmerl 11y ago
        Perhaps you shouldn't try excusing such behavior with definition arguments? If you don't like the term xenophobic (which is perfectly appropriate here), call it discrimination of foreigners. It doesn't make it any better and less disgusting.
    - nxzero 11y ago
      Are you saying it is legal to contractually force a party to be racist?

eveningcoffee 11y ago

It depends. For example in EU, if you buy as private person then you are subjected to the same sales tax as the residents of the online seller country of residence. As a seller you can mitigate this by having your company registered in multiple countries (for example Amazon does this). If you buy as a company and can provide a valid sales tax id then the seller can exempt the sales tax at the moment of the purchase in case of exports.