UK Entertainment Industry Proposes Tax On Broadband Access

[Logan Westbrook]

UK Entertainment Industry Proposes Tax On Broadband Access

The entertainment industry in the UK has approached the government with a plan to compensate them for their loses through piracy by applying a levy to broadband access.

UK Minister for Communication, Lord Carter, who clearly has never heard of perverse incentives [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perverse_incentive], is said to look favorably on the plan, although has stopped short of actually endorsing it due to its potential impact on his vision of universal broadband access by the year 2012.

Previous attempts to tackle piracy in the UK have had very little success, with the BPI, formerly known as the British Phonographers Industry, saying that its industry alone had lost £180 million to piracy in 2008. A recent report also showed that while internet music sales had become a multi-billion dollar industry, legitimate music sales accounted for only 5% of the total downloads last year [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.84456].

But is taxing legitimate users really the answer? Many will resent the price increase in their broadband bills, and there is the risk that it will make piracy seem even more appealing to those who previously have sat on the fence about the issue, as EA saw with Spore. Surely, the goal of anti-piracy measures is to make piracy seem less appealing, not more?

Source: The Telegraph [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/4325892/Ministers-consider-broadband-tax.html]



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[Skrapt]

Yeah... taking MONEY away from almost exclusively LEGITIMATE consumers is a great way to curb piracy... to be honest if they actually implemented this I would instantly start pirating any and all music and films I can get my hands on just out of spite until they take away the tax...

 

[_Nocturnal]

What does spite have to do with it?
It would be your right, you would be paying for it!
Smart people, them.

 

[Bonaggy]

So, Lord Carter feels it is legitimate to tax broadband users who have done nothing wrong to compensate for those who have committed piracy. This is just typical of government in the UK. They know so very little of the realities of the Gaming and Computer industry in general that ridiculous schemes like this even reach consultation in parliament.

I mean, would you accept a tax on your car to recompense car manufacturers who've had cars stolen? Even better, would it be acceptable to tax anyone who buys a legitimate DVD because the makers have suffered piracy?

If a person hasn't committed piracy what makes the UK government believe it is acceptable to force them to stump up cash to reimburse the victim? People in the UK are already seeing their tax money being used to save companies who should have known better than lending to unsafe markets, seeing their pensions being reduced if not axed entirely, and then to have the prospect of paying more money to cover a wrong they didn't commit.

Only in the UK . . .

 

[Zac_Dai]

Its thing like this that make me agree with laissez faire capitalists.

 

[Bagaloo]

I mean, would you accept a tax on your car to recompense car manufacturers who've had cars stolen? Even better, would it be acceptable to tax anyone who buys a legitimate DVD because the makers have suffered piracy?

So very true.
The goverment, rather than really trying to come up with a workable solution, is just going to blanket tax EVERYONE for the hell of it? Useless, the lot of them.

 

[Cousin_IT]

Online music industry = £2.5billion
Losses to piracy = £180million
Piracy = 95% of transactions
...I dont see how that adds up.

I could see a broadband tax happening. But id be very surprised if the moeny went into the BPI's pockets. Industry powerhouses like EMI have shown its their own managerial incompetence as much as piracy thats costing them & their artists money. Alas I wouldnt be surprised if the Industry is represented by people who still think cassettes cost them money because people could record songs off the radio.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Does Lord Carter actually pay for his own broadband?

Has Lord Carter even got a computer?

 

[Skrapt]

Online music industry = £2.5billion
Losses to piracy = £180million
Piracy = 95% of transactions
...I dont see how that adds up.

I could see a broadband tax happening. But id be very surprised if the moeny went into the BPI's pockets. Industry powerhouses like EMI have shown its their own managerial incompetence as much as piracy thats costing them & their artists money. Alas I wouldnt be surprised if the Industry is represented by people who still think cassettes cost them money because people could record songs off the radio.

Just proof that they pull these figures our of their ass.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Canada already has something like this, we have an extra levi on blank cds, dvds etc. for the very same reason.

 

[mattttherman3]

If this happened in Canada I would protest at parliment hill, I didn't do anything when they started to charge us for INCOMING TEXT MESSAGES(well the government didn't but the phone companies did, government didn't stop em), but taxing the internet is going too far!

 

[fix-the-spade]

Isn't this an effective license to pirate?

 

[Skrapt]

What does spite have to do with it?
It would be your right, you would be paying for it!
Smart people, them.

Good point, this would effectively legalize piracy as in effect you are paying for what you download! Flawless logic

 

[Bullfrog1983]

Correct me if I'm wrong but don't you buy a monthly plan for internet access? And from that monthly plan, the taxes go to the government accordingly. I think they should tell the entertainment industry to "jog on" as they say... The pro-illegal users are at fault, not all the people using an internet connection.

 

[John Stalvern]

And Americans are the stupid ones?

 

[DrX_1030]

canada has something similar and it works well for us, i think there is taxes that you pay on every blank cd or dvd or mp3 player (anything thats used for media storage) and because of that piracy in the sence of downloading stuff is legal here. the tax is actually really low it might be as wopping as 5 cents a cd or dvd, and if it finally shuts up mpaa and rcaa its fine in my books. bunch of greedy animals those guys are, you know what i want im gona start demanding money back when movies are shit, cause thats half the reason i download movies, why would i pay for something that is so shitty that im not even willing to watch it all the way through for free.

 

[Doug]

What does spite have to do with it?
It would be your right, you would be paying for it!

Indeed - pirate away if this madness happens.

Smart people, them.

Well, not so much - that 5% would probably drop to 0%

 

[Doug]

Isn't this an effective license to pirate?

In effect, yes, but I would bet my balls that they'll STILL try and sue people for "piracy". Frankly, I'm annoyed - these guys produce poor-quality music and games, +90% of the time, and then don't normally provide any way of seeing before hand (note: only 1 or 2 tracks on a music album are normally played on the radio).

Amazon have the right approach, in my book - online sales without this DRM-poop, and with audio previews. I've bought several ablums off there for less that the stupid arm and leg prices on iTunes, and felt they've got it right.

 

[ellimist337]

Isn't this an effective license to pirate?

In effect, yes, but I would bet my balls that they'll STILL try and sue people for "piracy".

You're right. The companies themselves will still try to sue people, because the tax goes to the government, not those companies; they still aren't getting compensation. Unless that money will get disbursed back to those companies- but how could that be done fairly?

 

[matrix3509]

Well at least the U.S. isn't THIS idiotic. He must think the interwebs is a series of tubes just like everyone else over the age of 50.

However, this does have the upside of effectively legalizing piracy because we pay for it whether we download it or not.