[governance] France Proposes an Internet Tax

Tue Jan 22 15:18:46 EST 2013

It would not be possible for a measure  to target foreign companies only -
that would breach France's WTO obligations (and that of many other
countries were they to try to do the same thing).

-- 
Regards,

Nick Ashton-Hart
Geneva Representative
Computer & Communications Industry Assocation (CCIA)
Tel: +41 (22) 534 99 45
Fax: : +41 (22) 594-85-44
Mobile: +41 79 595 5468
USA DID: +1 (202) 640-5430

*Need to meet with me? Schedule the time that suits us both here:
http://meetme.so/nashton*

Sent from my one of my handheld thingies, please excuse linguistic mangling.

On 22 Jan 2013, at 17:54, Suresh Ramasubramanian <suresh at hserus.net> wrote:

I think his point is sauce bonne pour l'oie, est bon pour le jars, with
google being the heavily taxed goose and local french internet portals,
news sites etc that carry ads being the gander that, he fears, will go scot
free, if this law is targeted solely at google / fb type foreign sites.

--srs (iPad)

On 22-Jan-2013, at 22:12, "michael gurstein" <gurstein at gmail.com> wrote:

Milton, is it that you don't like this particular tax or that you don't
like taxes in general.

If the former I'ld be interested to know in some more detail what it is
about this particular tax you don't like (apart from the fact that it is a
tax being introduced by the French) and what you would replace it with to
obtain revenues from this emerging sector assuming that you think folks
like Google and their Internet compatriots should pay their fair share as
very many are now insisting.

If it is the latter I would be curious to know how you see responsible
states being able to meet the challenge of reponding to the collective
challenges/responsibilities of the modern state so ably articulated last
evening by your President.

MG

*From:* governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org [
mailto:governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org<governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org>]
*On Behalf Of *Milton L Mueller
*Sent:* Tuesday, January 22, 2013 7:25 AM
*To:* governance at lists.igcaucus.org; Andrea Glorioso
*Subject:* RE: [governance] France Proposes an Internet Tax

The report published Friday said a tax on data collection was justified on
grounds that users of services like Google and Facebook are, in effect,
working for these companies without pay by providing the personal
information that lets them sell advertising.

*[Milton L Mueller] Good deal. In order to compensate and protect us from
“working without pay” we will work for the government of France without pay
as well. Cartesian logic at work.*

*Or perhaps they will use the revenues to subsidize access to Facebook and
Google, since they charge their users so much that…um, well, some of them,
um, can’t afford… oh, never mind.*

*Of course, this is just a tax on the advertisers, in the end. It will
simply increase the costs of Google/Facebook and be recovered from
advertisers. *

*It wouldn’t be France however unless you threw a soupcon of
anti-Americanism and trade protectionism into the pot as well (will the
same tax will be applied to all commercial broadcasters in France, whose
viewers are sold to advertisers “without pay”?) How about French newspapers
with ads – their poor customers even have to pay for the newspaper, and
then are sold to advertisers. Merde!*

*Interestingly, this whole line of argument presumes that the services
users receive in return for their data are worthless. Remember that next
time you hear someone claim that Google and Facebook are “essential
facilities” that no one can live without.*

*It’s sad that governments that just want more money have to strain to come
up with trendy rationalizations. What happened to the good old days when
they just sent in armed thugs to appropriate a bunch of your pigs and cows?*

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