StealthyRoid - Slashdot User

Submission + - Housing bill requires online transaction reporting (freedomworks.org)

Submitted by

StealthyRoid

on Thursday June 19, 2008 @04:09PM

StealthyRoid writes: "The Senate mortgage bill proposed by Sen. Chris Dodd (who was the recipient of a sweetheart deal on his mortgage from Countrywide, one of the beneficiaries of the bill) includes an attempt to sneak into law a requirement that all electronic payment processors send detailed transaction data to the federal government. From the link:

The proposal requires information reporting on payment card and third party network transactions. Payment settlement entities, including merchant acquiring banks and third party settlement organizations, or third party payment facilitators acting on their behalf, will be required to report the annual gross amount of reportable transactions to the IRS and to the participating payee.
The law contains an exception for people who have less than 200 transactions (or a total valueless than $10,000), but those that cross the threshold will have their personal information (especially if they use their SSN as their tax ID number) sent to Uncle Sam on a regular basis."

Submission + - What's the solution to Intellectual Property? 2

Submitted by

StealthyRoid

on Sunday May 25, 2008 @02:48AM

StealthyRoid writes: "I'm an anarcho-capitalist, and a huge supporter of property rights, both physical and intellectual. At the same time, I find the current trend of increasing penalties for minor violations, criminalizing civil IP matters, anti-consumer technologies like DRM, and abuse of the legal system by the *AA's of the world really disturbing. You'd think that by now, there'd be a reasonable solution to the problem of protecting intellectual property while at the same time maintaining the rights of consumers and protecting individuals from absurd litigation, but I have yet to find one. So, I pose these questions to the /. community:

Do you acknowledge the legitimacy of intellectual property to begin with? That is, do you believe that intellectual property is a valid construct equivalent to physical property, or do you think it's illusory? If not, why?

If so, how would you go about protecting the rights of intellectual property holders in a way that doesn't require unfair usage limitations or resort to predatory abuse of the tort system?

"

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