Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Er, no, they already do have such levies. What they are going to look at is whether those levies continue to be justified by new technologies.
Eg, at the moment, a levy is applies to CD-R Audio discs - the type used by HiFi CD recorders. They are about double the cost of normal CD-Rs for that reason.
You seem very cynical about this, Matt; may I ask why?
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I'm not a big fan of the EU butting into business. They took on Microsoft for having an "unfair advantage" (read: being more successful). They had Microsoft make a version of Windows without Media Player, a version that had very poor sales. Then the EU set its sights on Apple over the DRM issue even though it's Apple's perogative to have DRM on the music they sell. The EU acts like consumers have to purchase music and that they have to purchase it from Apple. They seemed to assume the same thing about Windows (and apparently people prefered Windows with Media Player). Now I have discovered that the EU favors levies for private copying materials. I don't know the specifics of what role the EU plays here. Wikipedia only has certain countries listed. However, I consider it ridiculous to put a tax on private copying products because they can be used strictly for personal material. CD-Rs and DVDs don't have to be used for commercial material. Ultimately, it makes products more expensive for consumers and (no matter how small the tax) put more of a financial strain on a company. It's bad economics and the EU is notorious for bad economics. I hate it when any government institution pretends to know what's best for consumers and the EU just seems to be doing this more and more. Frankly, I probably wouldn't care much if the EU hadn't attacked U.S. companies. For instance, I don't agree with your government's plan to nationalize Northern Rock, but it doesn't really affect me.
So, in a nutshell, my cynicism comes from my being hardcore laissez-faire and every time I see press on the EU it's usually about them picking a fight with some company.