Unfair Music Tax Challenged By Electronics Industry

[GhostShip]

This should be supported folks as its for the removal of a stealth tax many folks pay.

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?dist=newsfinder&siteid=google&guid=%7BB955614D-4686-4A50-9853-1DA2BDF41D2E%7D&keyword=

Most European countries, Japan and Canada impose private-copying levies, aimed at compensating intellectual property rights holders for "personal copies" made of their material under copyright. Within the 25-nation E.U., only the U.K., Ireland, Luxembourg, Cyprus and Malta don't impose the levies.
These copyright taxes were introduced in most European countries in the 1960s, before the advent of copy-protection technology. Consumers are charged a levy on the purchase price of equipment, such as CD recorders and portable digital music players and media such as blank compact discs. Collection agencies receive the fees and use them to compensate copyright owners for legitimate private copying.
Following the advent of digital downloads, business argues this means consumers pay for permission to copy at the time of download, and are charged again when they purchase devices used to play the content.

This is one of the reasons why the recording industry is so well off, they take this cash under false pretences, in many countries they have lobbied and successfully acheived law changes forbidding the practice of home recording, I personally think they should return the money to the consumers it was fraudulantly obtained from.

[GnarlySnarly]

This should be supported folks as its for the removal of a stealth tax many folks pay.

No, the tax should stay and the payments thereof should be deemed to preclude other collection parctices.  With payment of the taxes, the people then have clear right to make copies with taxed media and devices.

Everyone [in USA?] should buy some of the overpriced 'audioCDs' and burn some copied RIAA files to them.  Keep some empty ones handy for use in a crunch.  It is an excellant defense against charges of music piracy.  If the tax is repealed, then the defense is lost.

[GhostShip]

The problem is Gnarly in many countries they have made the activity or home recording of copyright music impossible or illegal and although Canada is sort of successfully using your defense, they are in fact still extorting money from folks who are not even aware a levy is paid when you buy media, let alone the devices its played on.

In short the defense fails and as such I see no reason for folks to continue to pay a tax that the industry do not honour their side of.