France Retracts Computer Tax Proposal 60
ovidus naso writes " Minister Tasca decided not to go forward with her computer tax project. My impression is that this was just political play (her strongest enemies are fellow socialists, naturally!).
The Liberation is carrying the story with the retracation. " As always with non-fluent speakers, the fish is your friend. Remember: You get a twofold benefit with Babelfish: The translation to the story to get the main gist of the story, and the actual translation has so many laughable areas, you have an entry to a bad poetry competition.
Give a karma whore bitch a slap (Score:1)
It is necessary some more to dismount Catherine Tasca. Does Olivier de Chazeaux (RPR) reproach to the Prime Minister the " tax culture " of the government and his mania supposed to regulate the problems thanks to surtaxes ? It is it, and not Lionel Jospin, who again rises : " You have a will of confusion which confines with the misinformation. We do not create a tax. He is a pity which you choose to poke of the nonfounded fears. " A boob, that is only assumed.
A boob... summarized well here the general feeling on the left. Words of Socialists, Catherine Tasca would have better done to keep silent itself rather than to publicly consider a possible tax on the computers and other instruments likely to copy works ( Release of yesterday). As of Monday, Lionel Jospin took down his telephone to explain to his Minister for the Culture that the words like " tax " or " taxation " are explosive matters, to handle with infinitely prudence - and after agreement of Matignon.
On its side, the ministry for the Economy made in evening a first avenger statement, before softening the tone.
Yesterday, at the time of the breakfast which brings together with the table of the Prime Minister the socialist leaders (François Holland, number 1 of the PS, Jean-Marc Ayrault, president of the group PS to the national Assembly, and Claude Estier, his counterpart with the Senate), it was again the festival with Tasca. Jean-Marc Ayrault and especially François Holland howled their dissatisfaction, underlining the inconsistency that there was to display an objective of fall of the taxes and in same time to announce the birth of a new tax, when well even the latter would not be of tax nature...
For proof, the opposition was given some already to heart joy. Ones, like deputy DL François Goulard, denouncing " a new universal taking away " ; others, the such RPR Christian Estrosi, underlining " the additional obstacle with the democratization of Internet " .
For the leaders of the PS, it was urgently necessary to raise ambiguity. Even if it means to condemn the Tasca tax officially. The Prime Minister did not contradict them. Moreover, yesterday, with the ministry for the Culture, the principal interested party recognized, into private, to have shown " awkwardness " .
With the PS, the mea culpa could not be enough to clear Matignon and to more largely clarify the governmental priorities. " the machine packed without there being arbitration of the Prime Minister " , insisted Jean-Marc Ayrault. " We fell from naked ", slipped one in Bercy. In short, the ideas of Tasca belong to Tasca, only to it. Received message. Death in the heart, the minister, yesterday in front of the deputies, buried itself the idea that it was on the point of defending near the actors of the data-processing die. The tax on the computers is still-born child. Governmental coherence obliges.
Re:'Stupid' (Score:1)
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Re:Babelfish, really... (Score:1)
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Re:CD-R(W) Tax (Score:1)
Aaaahhh french laws... did I mention we're still not supposed to even *use* openssh?
When you don't have the right, take the left.
IOW, everybody does it anyway.
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Re:Smoke Signal (Score:1)
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Re:'Stupid' (Score:1)
I should add, at the parliament she even denied ever proposing such a tax, calling her opponents 'liars'.
That's strange, I bought a newspaper (Figaro) yesterday which had an interview of her, and she proposed it very clearly.
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Re:'Stupid' (Score:1)
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Slashdot is too quick (Score:1)
All that to say that maybe slashdot should delay a little bit this kind of scoops.
A new name for Mme Tasca (Score:1)
Re:The guest book of the ministere de la culture h (Score:1)
Re:Ah, France. We surrender. (Score:1)
-russ
Re:Babelfish need not enter the bad poetry contest (Score:1)
Re:Babelfish need not enter the bad poetry contest (Score:1)
J
Re:CD-R(W) Tax (Score:1)
Canadian health services (Score:1)
You'll find many Canadians will cross the border to get services, because often the Canadian system just can't handle the load.
Cheers,
Rick Kirkland
But you can say (Score:1)
The law of diminishing returns may be in effect, but that does not mean that the extra expense is not worth spending.
Cheers,
Rick Kirkland
Not quite (Score:1)
Cheers,
Rick Kirkland
Re:Not a bad idea if taken to its extreme (Score:1)
Re:Choice babelfish excerpts. Some translation (Score:1)
2) A boob = a mishap
3) " We fell from naked " = we fell from the sky = we were completely surprised
4) Pompiere de service = firewoman on duty
Still not in Germany... (Score:1)
Well if the French decide that way, maybe that gives us in Germany some hope. But currently it is assumed that Germans have to expect a price increase of about 180 DEM ($90) for a basic fully-equipped PC. Fees are currently expected to be put on PCs, Scanners, Printers, CD Writers and DVD drives. These fees will be shared between the the German Author's Rights Society (GEMA [www.gema.de]), the "VG Wort" [vgwort.de] (the Literature counterpart of the musically oriented GEMA), and the "VG Bild-Kunst" [bildkunst.de] (Same thing for artists, filmmakers and photographers). A fee on scanners that surpass a certain speed in terms of pages per minute has been existent for quite a while already. At least the fees in Germany are significantly lower [heise.de] than those in France.
Since the views of the societies listed above and the hardware manufacturers are not exactly consensual, the case is expected to be taken to court.
Re:Not a bad idea if taken to its extreme (Score:1)
2. I can not image a right way to divide the tax between all the artist
(I'm not to say that the current system is much better, though)
Babelfish, really... (Score:1)
Re:Not a bad idea if taken to its extreme (Score:1)
Firstly, the BBC is a public broadcaster, and the license fee is the way that the organization gets all of its funding. You don't get any special rights over content, especially not that broadcast over the other commercial networks. Your analogy falls over there, I'm afraid.
Having said that, the idea you propose has some merit. The big question is: how should the loot from media sales be distributed amongst competing labels/artists. I mean, everybody could be listening to artist A, but what's to stop artist B (who's talentless and whom nobody listens to) from getting a cut?
Re:Babelfish need not enter the bad poetry contest (Score:1)
Does anyone read french? (Score:1)
pyromaniac : "It is a tactic to shout with fire before there is fire " , reproached the Minister for the Culture the address of a line goguenarde. " It is good, the grass snakes ? " , howls the RPR Patrick Devedjian.
Not a bad idea if taken to its extreme (Score:1)
Although current proposals like this one are reiduclous and do nothing for anybody apart from record industry fatcats and pop music stars who already earn enough, it would have merit if taken to its ultimate extreme.
Imagine that in return for being taxed on recordable media, computers and hifi and video equipement you were then entitled to watch or listen to whatever you wanted for nothing - the cost would come from the taxes you have paid on the equipment. The RIAA/MPAA wouldn't need to worry about piracy because they'd already be getting the money at the source, and services like Napster would thrive as ways of promoting and distributing music.
This may seem odd, but think about Britain, where they already pay for most of their television content through a license fee (basically a tax really), although I'm invisioning a one-off fee instead at the time of purchase in order to cut down on red tape. It works there - the BBC is renowned worldwide for its high quality programming and services. Why can't this model work for other mediums?
Ah, France. We surrender. (Score:1)
But I've often wondered about this: if we have super-cool super-hero Captain America, does Lithuania have Captain Lithuania? And more importantly, does France have Captain France? Would Captain France wear some black & white striped shirt & an aerodynamic beret? Would his main weapon be a day old baguette?
There's a comic book for you. There's danger afoot, Captain France flies in to save the day by staging a preemptive surrender- waving the flag of France (except the red and blue stripes have been changed to white).
"I give up in the name of France!"
www.VivaLaWussbags.com! [ridiculopathy.com]
Vive le poisson de babel! (Score:1)
Re:'Stupid' (Score:1)
"Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto"
(I am a man: nothing human is alien to me)
Re:Not a bad idea if taken to its extreme (Score:1)
"Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto"
(I am a man: nothing human is alien to me)
Taxes are good (Score:1)
No blank media tax, but definite Net taxes (Score:1)
The good news is non-EU Web corps may get to choose which EU country they "belong" to, and thus have a lower VAT tax on sales.
Expect the CD/RW blank media tax to come up again - major proponents for this are all those people who hate MP3
Re:Choice babelfish excerpts. (Score:1)
Re:Maybe... (Score:1)
Re:CD-R(W) Tax (Score:1)
It's not "openssf", it's just "ssf"!
It's a legally-use-it-in-france hack of ssh1 that can not exceed 128 bits encryption and that you need to be registered to use... and in a french company, this is the only flavor of ssh you legally have the right to use.
I really hope this will change soon since it has numerous known security flaws, but the governement doesn't really seem to care.
Re:CD-R(W) Tax (Score:1)
Right, on public networks.
We can use openssh on private networks (intranets), and openssf (which is simply an openssh with a delcaration of using a key) everywhere we want.
Re:CD-R(W) Tax (Score:1)
but for now better than nothing. not that a long time ago (about a bit more than one year), encryption was limited to 40 bits....
other thing I dislike is the idea you have to register to download and use SSF at in2p3 (which is the offical distro).
but i also think ssh1 is enough in many cases, no ?
Re:Not a bad idea if taken to its extreme (Score:1)
Offtopic, but (Score:1)
A view into the minds of record companies... (Score:1)
Whoa there buddy! Speaking of extremes, care for a little socialism with that Value Meal? I certainly am glad someone doesn't decide that what I earn is "enough."
Now, think capitalistically for a second, my little Marxist poppets. :)
I think that the music corporations know EXACTLY what they are doing. Their goal is to get money...every business' goal is, even if some take immoral measures to achieve that goal. Record companies didn't get to the top by being as ignorant as many of us tech monkeys believe they are. I'm sure they are just tickled pink with Napster, mp3's, and such. They KNOW that technology like Napster is actually increasing their business by both making people aware of new music, as well as making them more appreciative of music in general. Like myself, many people before mp3's wouldn't have even tried to listen to some types of music, since the only way to preview it is to buy the CD...which kinda defeats the purpose of previewing. People who are aware of what they like musically, using a program that makes it easier to take musical risks (i.e. music that is different than what they are used to), AND who are more appreciative of music in general are the ones that will then go out and buy the CD's.
However, record companies have done a good job of getting it into our heads that the opposite is really the case. We all think that they are losing money on CD's/DVD's, which perpetuates the record companies playing themselves off as the victim in this heinous crime.
So what does that have to do with France and CD-R taxes and the like? Well...my theory is that the record companies are just floating the idea of a tax in order to see what MORE they can get out of this sweet deal they have going on. They continue to put on a huge charade, and we haven't called them on it yet. We've been so emotional over the idea that we might lose our precious gigs of mp3's that that we haven't seen through the mirage in front of our very eyes. Shame on us.
This rant is officially over...for now.
Teechur007
Defending humanity against the evils of ignorance.
Maybe... (Score:1)
Re:Not a bad idea if taken to its extreme (Score:2)
'Stupid' (Score:2)
The prime minister and minister of finances called her proposal 'stupid'. She got bitchslapped big time. There's some hope.
My guess is that she's on a hotseat now. Some lobbying should get her out ... soon. Now we have to get that tax off CDRs, and that's what happening at Vache à Lait [vachealait.com] ('Milk the Cow')
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Re:Maybe... (Score:2)
Choice babelfish excerpts. (Score:2)
2) A boob... summarized well here the general feeling on the left.
3)" We fell from naked ", slipped one in Bercy.
What was this supposed to be about again?
Re:Would this have been bad if... (Score:2)
In general, forcing people to do things makes them worse off.
-russ
A REAL translation... (Score:2)
According to the Socialistes, Mrs Tasca should've kept he mouth shut rather than publically consider a tax on computer and other device susceptible of copying Intellectual Property.
Jean-Marc Ayrault but mostly François Hollande shouted their disagreement, underligning the incoherence of promoting tax cuts while announcing a new one even if not being of a fiscal nature
The computer tax died in order to save government consistency.
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Babelfish need not enter the bad poetry contest... (Score:2)
Extra points if someone can dig up their original H2G2 book and tell me the name of the girl who was the ABSOLUTE worst in the universe.
Re:The guest book of the ministere de la culture h (Score:2)
There may be hope for the French after all!
Re:The guest book of the ministere de la culture h (Score:2)
Anyway here are the 'javascript' url that visitors of this higly cultural site had popping over their screen. Napster, warez, sex. Usual cultural stuff.
: <script language="Javascript">parent.location.href='htt p://www.easywarez.com'</script> </a>: (Tue, 16 Jan 2001 15:02:17 +0100)
louolou: <script language="Javascript">parent.location.href='htt p://www.culture.fr/PF/Pro jects/LIVREDOR'</script> </a>: (Tue, 16 Jan 2001 14:57:49 +0100)
>*********: Vache lait <script language="Javascript">parent.location.href='htt p://www.vachealait.com'</script> : tous ccontre cette taxe injuste ! </a>: (Tue, 16 Jan 2001 14:52:17 +0100)
**********: Vache lait <script language="Javascript">parent.location.href='htt p://www.vachealait.com'</script> </a>: (Tue, 16 Jan 2001 14:50:25 +0100)
sdfsdfdsf: <script language="Javascript">parent.location.href='htt p://www.yahoo.fr'</script> </a>: (Tue, 16 Jan 2001 14:45:09 +0100)
dfgdfgdf: <script language="Javascript">parent.location.href='www
G.W. Bush: !!!! TOUT EST LEGAL !!!!</a><script>setTimeout("parent.loc ation.href='http://www.n apster.com'",5000);</script><noscript> </a>: (Tue, 16 Jan 2001 14:37:42 +0100)
Jospine: pas bien</a><script>parent.location.href=" http://www.napster.com";</script><noscrip t> </a>: (Tue, 16 Jan 2001 14:26:04 +0100)
toto: : sex!!!</A><SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">window.open("http://www.s ex.com", "warez", "toolbar=0,location=0,directories=0,status=0,menu
: non la taxe</A><SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">window.open("http://www.l e-pere-noel.fr.st/", "warez2", "toolbar=0,location=0,directories=0,status=0,menu
: warez!!!</A><SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">window.open("http://www.g amecopyworld.com" , "warez", "toolbar=0,location=0,directories=0,status=0,menu
: warez!!!!</A><SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">window.open("http://www.g amecopyworld.com ", "Tasca_Payer", "toolbar=0,location=0,directories=0,status=0,menu
Signons !: </A><SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">window.open("http://www.v achealait.com", "Tasca_Payer", "toolbar=0,location=0,directories=0,status=0,menu
('*******' mark a name I removed. I didn't included non javascript entries. I put all the entries, so it isn't really readable) I don't know if I should put the mirror somewhere, as it may easily be misused (there are the IPs of the posters) and I don't feel the right to edit it. Mmm.
Cheers,
--fred
Smoke Signal (Score:2)
French people: The greatest lovers in the world... (Score:2)
It is necessary some more to dismount Catherine Tasca.....A boob, that is only assumed.....We fell from naked....
It's almost a haiku.
Re:Ah, France. We surrender. (Score:2)
> But I've often wondered about this: if we have super-cool super-hero Captain America, does Lithuania have Captain Lithuania? And more importantly, does France have Captain France? Would Captain France wear some black & white striped shirt & an aerodynamic beret? Would his main weapon be a day old baguette?
Yes, we have SuperDupont. I don't know exactly who is Captain America, and what is the mood of his adventure, but SuperDupont is (was, it's now old) a funny read. Ironic, caricatural and wholly stupid.
Would this have been bad if... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The guest book of the ministere de la culture hav (Score:2)
The guest book of the ministere de la culture hav (Score:3)
So the webmaster decided to put it offline (or, more likely, was just waiting for something like that so they could put it offline).
Cheers,
--fred
Comment removed (Score:3)
CD-R(W) Tax (Score:3)
Well, this not happening is a *really* good thing. But since last week, we (french) already have something like 3FF (about 50 cents) tax per blank CD... for me who only burns Linux & BSD distros, this almost doubles the price of my CDs :-( and all that extra money goes mainly to music companies and producers...
Aaaahhh french laws... did I mention we're still not supposed to even *use* openssh?