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We have similar 3% in the US on blank media cds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_copying_levy#United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_copying_le
by foob 14y ago
We have similar 3% in the US on blank media cds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_copying_levy#United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_copying_levy#United_Sta...). The Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, the same legislation that put these levies into place, also protected the rights of individuals to make non-commercial copies of copyrighted works. At least that's my read on it, though I am not a lawyer.
All of the comments here seem vehemently opposed to the levy mentioned in the article but if it came with an extension of our rights to non-commercially copy and share works then I think that it would be a very fair trade. I would even be relatively unopposed if this was applied to bandwidth usage. Technologically speaking, there's no reason that a person shouldn't be able to go online and check out almost any song, movie, book, or television show in existence. Many, many people are aware of this and with good reason feel that it should be the case. The barrier to this is in the quagmire of licensing that is exemplified by what we've seen go on with Showtime, HBO, and Netflix.
Imagine if the government would stand up and say that universal access to art, literature, and educational materials is important enough that the laws need to be changed to facilitate it. If non-commercial exchange of copyrighted materials was legalized but in exchange bandwidth was taxed and the money paid out as royalties to rights holders based on torrent activity or something of the sort. To me, that sounds like a better alternative than having a country full of criminals. I'll keep dreaming.
- dalore 14y agoIf I lived in a country where the "pirate" levy was in place I would feel justified in copyright infringement because I would feel I have already paid for it.
- rplnt 14y agoWhat country you do live in? I'm just curious where this doesn't exist. In Slovakia (and also Czech Rep.) you have to pay for empty hard drives, DVDs, ... But pirating movies/music isn't illegal so I guess it evens out?
- macspoofing 14y ago>But pirating movies/music isn't illegal so I guess it evens out? I don't live in Slovakia or the Czech Republic but I'm just going to go ahead and say you're wrong.
- lvh 14y agoIn many countries, downloading (which I assume GP means by "pirating") is fine, redistribution is not. Example: the Netherlands, where the govt. has recently affirmed that not only is it legal, it will remain so: https://torrentfreak.com/dutch-parliament-downloading-movies-and-music-will-stay-legal-111224/ https://torrentfreak.com/dutch-parliament-downloading-movies...
- H4wk_cz 14y agoI do live in Czech Republic and it's not illegal to download music and movies. However, sharing is illegal, so e.g. torrents are illegal.
- dalore 14y agoI live in the UK.
- frooxie 14y agoI doubt that this is a "pirate levy" at all. The fee on storage media is usually supposed to cover media shared with family and close friends, which is legal in many countries and does not count as piracy.
- gcb 14y agoSo when i buy media to back up my own work i have to pay a fee intended as a taxation to people that listen to music or watches movies with their family and friends? mind is full of...
- njharman 14y agoWhy does one very specific industry get government mandated, compulsory tariff? Hint: starts with "lobby" ends with "ists"
- sanswork 14y agoThe way the laws worked out to allow pirate taxes in Canada means that a lot of "piracy" is now legal. Though the media companies are now working on having the tax and making it illegal so we'll see how that goes.
- Mordor 14y agoIt's the laws which create criminals and the law needs to change. Society owns the laws and we have all changed, so the law needs to change with us. Any business which is unable to compete with its customers is out of business - why postpone the inevitable?
- DeepDuh 14y agoWell, your description is more or less how it works where I live (Switzerland). Downloading for yourself is not illegal here (it's in a legal grey zone, there have never been convictions against private downloaders and the government recently explicitly stated that this is how it's going to stay). It's probably only possible because we don't have a very powerful media lobby.
- sp332 14y agoThat only makes sense if the tax money goes to the artists, to offset the income they lose from selling copies.
- SoftwareMaven 14y agoHow could that ever be distributed fairly? How do you determine what percentage the Gaga's get versus the indy artist down the street? Given this would cannibalize sales, you wouldn't be able to use sales figures because there would be no way for a new group to get to the level of sales a Lady Gaga had. If the government starts deciding, you make music a communistic business, which would not be good for music. (For the record, I think the levies as they stand are wrong for the exact same reasons; you just replace the govt with groups like the RIAA.)
- cabalamat 14y ago> How could that ever be distributed fairly? One possibility: http://cabalamat.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/a-broadband-tax-for-the-uk/ http://cabalamat.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/a-broadband-tax-fo...
- kika 14y ago"communistic business" - awesome
- wizzard 14y agoAre you thinking that the money would be distributed to the actual artists? What a crazy notion.
- carlob 14y agoYay for communistic showbiz!! (remember that most European cinema is largely funded by the State)
- crumblan 14y agoThis should not be a tax. The industries involved are already buying unjust laws from Congress, none of us needs Congress giving them more money to do so.
- wizzard 14y agoI keep seeing comments about how the tax is a tradeoff for certain rights. Last I checked, legality is determined by laws, not by paying $5. I don't pay a "freedom of speech tax" or a "suffrage tax" when I protest or vote.