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So France wants to tax Google for indexing newspapers, and as recently as this month there were talks about a tax to "compensate" telecos for delivering YouTube

by yanw 14y ago

So France wants to tax Google for indexing newspapers, and as recently as this month there were talks about a tax to "compensate" telecos for delivering YouTube clips. Now they come up with a "personal data" tax scheme targeted at Google: is it just the case that people who really hate Google were voted into power?

AnthonyMouse 14y ago
>is it just the case that people who really hate Google were voted into power? It really seems that way. I mean how else can you explain that all of their ideas are so stupid. As a general rule, if you're trying to scheme up some way to "get" Google, stop. Think first. The first question you should ask is: What will this do to companies that compete with Google? Will it bankrupt them? Give Google an advantage over them, because its large legal staff can better navigate the law, or take advantage of economies of scale? Because if it does, and your aim is to hurt Google, you've failed. All it does is strengthen their market position and increase their likelihood and ability to diverge from their "don't be evil" roots and embrace the dark side. I mean just think about this tax for two seconds: Never mind the complete inability to administer it (how do you collect the tax from a company with zero business presence in France whose site is still visited by French users? Or do they get a pass, causing websites to flee the country en masse?), what does this do to the incentives of the legislature? Now their tax revenue is based on companies collecting personal information from users. Anything that would stop or even slow that down is now a significant "cost" to the legislature because it reduces the revenue the tax generates, so I hope none of you ever wanted to see any internet privacy regulation again. It really seems like these people don't even think for one second before they open their mouths.
mertd 14y ago
> people who really hate Google I don't think they hate it. They are just incompetent and desperate for reducing deficit. They see that Google has a lot of money and scheme to take some it.

by yanw 14y ago

AnthonyMouse 14y ago

>is it just the case that people who really hate Google were voted into power? It really seems that way. I mean how else can you explain that all of their ideas are so stupid. As a general rule, if you're trying to scheme up some way to "get" Google, stop. Think first. The first question you should ask is: What will this do to companies that compete with Google? Will it bankrupt them? Give Google an advantage over them, because its large legal staff can better navigate the law, or take advantage of economies of scale? Because if it does, and your aim is to hurt Google, you've failed. All it does is strengthen their market position and increase their likelihood and ability to diverge from their "don't be evil" roots and embrace the dark side. I mean just think about this tax for two seconds: Never mind the complete inability to administer it (how do you collect the tax from a company with zero business presence in France whose site is still visited by French users? Or do they get a pass, causing websites to flee the country en masse?), what does this do to the incentives of the legislature? Now their tax revenue is based on companies collecting personal information from users. Anything that would stop or even slow that down is now a significant "cost" to the legislature because it reduces the revenue the tax generates, so I hope none of you ever wanted to see any internet privacy regulation again. It really seems like these people don't even think for one second before they open their mouths.

mertd 14y ago

> people who really hate Google I don't think they hate it. They are just incompetent and desperate for reducing deficit. They see that Google has a lot of money and scheme to take some it.