Re: Stallman calls for an end to file sharing war

[Alan Mackenzie]

In gnu.misc.discuss David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org> wrote:
> Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de> writes:

>> In gnu.misc.discuss Hadron <hadronquark@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de> writes:

>>>> How about approach 2A: allow free copying of music and films, but
>>>> instead of paying artists out of taxes, they get paid by a levy on
>>>> high speed internet lines.  A levy of, say $50 a year, or $100 a
>>>> year could provide

>> The fact is, similar levies have worked well in the past, and they
>> could work probably better than the current system now.

> Hm?  What's this about "in the past"?

Radio and television licenses have worked well.

> All countries putting a levy on empty media and copying "contributors"
> (like hard disks, computers and so on) have distributing schemes in
> place based on estimates of circulation.  Germany does, and most EC
> countries likely as well.

> A nuisance for people who buy computing equipment for computing
> purposes, or blank media for backups of their own data.

Last time I bought a pack of DVD+RWs, they cost less than 1 euro per
disk.  The levy on them truly cannot be anything more than a slight
nuisance.

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).