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Originally Posted by sanders
This is a tricky issue. Would you say the ISP had to track the actual data they pass through ("This is HTML - okay, no problem... This is an MP3 - add the copyright tax"). There are MP3s available for free, so they would have to have some kind of (huge) database to check for the legal status of each piece of data.
A different implementation would say "We'll add 10 cents of 'copyright tax' for every G you download" - much like the cassette tape tax. However, would that imply a "license" to freely download copyrighted works? Or would that still be illegal and this would be some kind of "statistical fine"?
I am heavily opposed to the latter. I think the cassette tax was like that. "It's illegal to copy music, but we know you'll do it anyway so we've added a precautionary fine."
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Well, considering that paying that "tax" on cassettes, VCR tapes, blank CDs, etc, is exactly what we have been doing for years, and that no one who is aware of it has been particularly troubled or inconvenienced by the practice... I don't see any reason why the practice cannot continue with MP3s and other downloaded works. It remains about as invisible a method of compensation that there is, and it is a proven success. Granted, it's a lot easier getting that compensation to a handful of corporations, as opposed to individual artists, but that could be worked out (somehow)...
Quote:
Originally Posted by sanders
Imagine you would have to pay a few hunderd bucks extra when you buy a car "just in case you break the speed limit and there's no cop around to notice"?
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Bad analogy. In fact, you pay a fee for the car's licence, which permits it to be used on city streets, and for your driver's license, which gives you permission to drive it (properly) on those streets. Then you pay taxes that cover, among other things, maintaining your police service. See? The tax is already there, and so unobtrusive that it doesn't even register as such.
If you get caught speeding, you pay an
additional fine, just as an illegal music distributor would if they were caught.