Article

2006-10-20 Europe

German states agree phone Internet licence fee

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Posted by anonymous2u 2006-10-20 00:00|| || Front Page|| [7 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Germany's 16 states agreed on Thursday to introduce from January 1 a licence fee of 5.52 euros (3.70 pounds) a month on computers and mobile phones that can access television and radio programmes via the Internet.

The Internet will kill government mandated licensed reception of TV and radio (thank god). There is no way they can collect this.

Posted by phil_b 2006-10-20 02:33|| 2006-10-20 02:33|| Front Page Top

#2 Phil_b - There is a way they can collect the fee, and it's not pretty. Force ALL internet access through government controlled portals. Monitor ALL traffic - if there's more traffic than can be handled, just block it. Or rather, just block that which you don't want reaching the people. How hard would it be for China to collect a fee? In fact in Germany it may be the fee is more like justification for future 'traffic control' than for financial 'compensation.'

Posted by Glenmore">Glenmore 2006-10-20 07:13|| 2006-10-20 07:13|| Front Page Top

#3 Glenmore, gotta disagree. TV and radio license fees are legally mandated and enforced subscriptions. A print media analogy would be everyone who reads being forced to subscribe to the NYT or Time.

On the internet you can only tax the medium not the message. So Germany could try to tax every internet connection and good luck to them. I can't imagine an issue that will mobilize the technerati more than this and generate ways around it. But taxing the device (computer or MPhone) is silly. More SFB cluelessness from bureaucrats. You can't lug a TV around with you but computers and MPhones are designed to be mobile.

The forced subscription scam is dead and this is an attempt to milk it one more time = another tax on ignorance.

Posted by phil_b 2006-10-20 08:53|| 2006-10-20 08:53|| Front Page Top

#4 I look forward to making a killing selling germans mobile phones from outside the coutry to avoid the extortion.

Posted by Bright Pebbles in Blairistan 2006-10-20 10:33|| 2006-10-20 10:33|| Front Page Top

#5 No, they'll just charge the fee to anyone who buys such a phone or has a computer, regardless whether they are used to access tv/radio shows. The same way that residents of Germany have to pay an annual tax for every radio and television they own, whether or not it's ever turned on. It's self-reported, but there are trucks with antennae wandering the landscape to see if someone has lied.

Posted by trailing wife 2006-10-20 15:17|| 2006-10-20 15:17|| Front Page Top

#6 but there are trucks with antennae wandering the landscape to see if someone has lied.

they can pick that up with an antenna??? holy shit!!!

Posted by facta non verba 2006-10-20 16:21|| 2006-10-20 16:21|| Front Page Top

#7 Yeah, it's not too difficult. Basically, since radios and TVs are superhets and have a near-standard first IF, you know where the local oscillator will be tuned, so you can sniff for that. If you find it, pull out your MP41s and search the house.

A TRF radio, or regenerative, would be undetectable. And I wonder if the SA would break down the door to force a child to license his crystal set, if they somehow knew?

Now, a TRF television would be an interesting project. I can't see it happening, except perhaps for just a couple VHF channels (or whatever they use over there).

Posted by Jackal">Jackal 2006-10-20 22:20|| http://home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html]">[http://home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html] 2006-10-20 22:20|| Front Page Top

#8 There has been direct demuxing of HD video with an AMD64 processor in an open source project. Its do-able. Also direct synthesis from DSPs. No IF to spot.

Posted by 3dc 2006-10-20 23:52|| 2006-10-20 23:52|| Front Page Top

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