The local entertainment industry organizations (e.g. OSA) already put quite a lot taxes on us here in Czech Republic:
- They charge me for hardware I use for storing my own works and for making backup copies of damaged music CDs which I’ve already paid them for.
- They charge me for media I use for storing my own works and for making backup copies of damaged music CDs which I’ve already paid them for.
- They charge me for copying services I use for making copies of materials having absolutely nothing to do with the entertainment industry.
Their greediness to take money from people for nothing seems to be unlimited. They are already infamous for various ridiculous attempts to dig money anywhere. Now they try to start us charging even for buying mobile phones. I hope they won’t succeed.
Taxes on devices primarily used for recording copyrighted works make sense. Of course it’s good to pay artists for their works we like. There are still problems though, i.e. I guess at least some of the artists I like are not OSA members (honor to them!) so they don’t receive any single cent from my spendings on recording devices.
But charges on things like tools for work and data media? They charge us for buying media regardless we use them for storing our data or copyrighted works of other people. Given that they succeeded in stopping CD lending offices in our country!
Why should I pay for storing my own data and works? And even worse, why should I pay for them to someone whose products are stupid and inferior (actually they should pay to me if I have to listen to them in public places)? I hope a system in which I could pay directly to artists whose works I actually like instead of paying to artists united in organizations charging us for buying computers will establish sometimes.
In the meantime, I suggest to use reusable media, using scanners instead of charged copying services, buying mp3s instead of CDs, etc. whenever possible. It’s considerate to our living environment anyway.
Leave a Reply