There's something Media License in the State of Denmark

[Winston]

Crazy.

More than anything else, this seems like a good way of creating more dissatisfied customers. Or ex-customers, as the case may be.

[Thue]

How do you define speed of the internet connection? We are 300 people sharing a 30Mb connection, so for now I calculate that as having a 100Kb connection .

That failing, there is also another issue - what if you have a connection which have different max speeds to different parts of the internet? For example connections with lower international than nation speeds are quite normal.

The only sane way to determine if you should pay media license in that case is to measure the speed to the web sites of our license money receivers, DR and TV2.

Now it so happens that I am part of committee who control our gateway server in my kollegium. That is, I am capable of limiting the size of my own internet connection selectively to DR and TV2 to 255Kb .

Winston: try asking you internet provider for a 255Kb (ie not 256Kb) internet connection .

[Dinner]

I have an idea!

Just privatize the state propaganda agency... er, national news service... and then cancel the TV tax. No bloated state propaganda agency to constently squeel for more money without producing results.

A halfway measure would be to open up every aspect of the agency's business to competitive bidding. Break everything down into the different services it performs (producing TV content, maintaining transmitters, etc... right down to janitors cleaning the toilets) then competitively bidding each part of the service. If the state agency can do the same job for equal or lesser money then it gets to keep doing it but if it is to bloated to do the job efficently then it gets outsourced to the lowest qualified bidder. That's a fair way to give the bloated state workers a chance to agree to trim the fat and keep some jobs but if they refuse then they'll lose out to competition.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Thue
How do you define speed of the internet connection? We are 300 people sharing a 30Mb connection, so for now I calculate that as having a 100Kb connection .

Just sign up for one of the satalite internet services and refuse to pay this unfair tax. Denmark doesn't own the satalites and the foreign companies which do probably don't care about Danish tax policies.

[Thue]

The license tax is paid seperately from the internet connection, so having a foreign internet provider would not make any difference. Besider, my current connection at 30Mb for $2/month is hard to beat.

Actually, my impression is that the government run television is way superior to the private TV in the states, so it wouldn't actually bother me much to pay a bit for it over the tax.

What does bother me is that the current tax is effectively a poll tax, and as such is very hard-hitting for a poor student like me. On second thought, it is actually worse than an ordinary poll tax, since it is paid once per family, and I am a student living alone.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
No.

http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/servic...employment.htm

THe link didn't work, but I found this amusing:

Though we are a nation of diverse cultures and backgrounds, we are bound by our shared history, the common civic values set forth in our founding documents, and the English language.

Welcome to the United States is available online in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Russian, Arabic, Tagalog, Portuguese, French, and Haitian Creole. Each translation is available electronically in Adobe PDF format.

[Monk]

Thue is right. I wonder if people like us who live in buildings with shared internet solutions are exempt from the media license if we claim our computers are not connected? Not encouraging anybody to break the law here or anything, just pointing out how the rules open up for all sorts of absurd questions.

If we're supposed to have national media in the first place (and I'm not per definition opposed to the idea since DR does provide some things that private channels don't), I agree completely it should be paid along with the usual taxes that go towards things we don't necessarily use.

Given the fact that we've got a 'no new taxes' policy (with a built-in exception for things that aren't technically taxes, such as the media license), it would constitute political suicide for the government to make the change though.

[Monk]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Just sign up for one of the satalite internet services and refuse to pay this unfair tax. Denmark doesn't own the satalites and the foreign companies which do probably don't care about Danish tax policies.

I think there's a misunderstanding - as Thue said, the way things are, it's not the TV salesmen or internet service providers who are supposed to submit the fact that we have to pay our share. We're expected to do that ourselves.

[Straybow]

Originally posted by Winston
Heh. It's the weather alright. When I met with Ozzy in Washington last summer, I was in an almost liquid state.

Both the times I've visited the U.S., I've mostly had to deal with a climate that is either much hotter, much more humid, or a combination of the two, than what I'm used to from home. And those visits have been to a variety of places, ~15 states total.

Yep, anywhere in the 48 contiguous states can be way too hot in summer. You have to retreat to the mountains or something.

Alaska is great.

[MarkG]

Originally posted by Dr. A. Cula
It could be worse. Here, a few years ago, they made the law diabolically simple: you have electricity, you can power a radio or a TV set. Hence, the license fee is included in the electricity bill.
Of course, the license is only 2 or 3 euros per month.

it's done the same way in greece. if you have electricity, you pay the tv fee (50 euros/year)

[Winston]

Ok, so I'm finally online again after a 23 days, 19 hours, 3 minutes and 21 seconds hiatus.

But as was to be expected, it'll take some getting used to this 160 K connection compared to my old 1 M one.

#%&@?*! damn commies

[Thue]

Originally posted by Winston
Ok, so I'm finally online again after a 23 days, 19 hours, 3 minutes and 21 seconds hiatus.

But as was to be expected, it'll take some getting used to this 160 K connection compared to my old 1 M one.

#%&@?*! damn commies

You are taking the hard way out. My strategy is simple to not allow the inspector to come in of he comes by - he has no right to come in. If he asks if I have a computer then I don't answer.

I am technically breaking the law, but as long as I do not actually watch any TV, then my conscience doesn't have any problems. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience .

[Winston]

Hm, I'd be surprised if there wouldn't be an automatic audit on who's got internet speeds of 256 K or above. I haven't read the regulations that enacted this stupid media license, but I'd say it's a fair bet that domestic ISPs will have to provide information for the licensing authority's use - the same way that dealers in TV sets have had to do for the past decade or so. With the delicate twist that there'd be no need to check if the set is still present and in operation. The information obtained from the ISP will tell all.

So don't worry about having to turn any inspectors away at the door. 'Offenders' will most likely be served by mail, just as if they'd committed a traffic offense. No deniability, no arguments, just cough up, please.

However, this is not what my grievance is about. In fact, that part seems rather ok and straightforward to me.
It's the regulations that force me to downgrade my connection speed just because I've got no interest in watching TV that's got me all worked up.

[Thue]

Well, I only have to pay if I own a computer... The fact that my kollegium provides broadband to everybody doesn't mean that everybody has a computer. Not to mention that being in the network committee on my kollegieum I _am_ my own ISP, and capable of regulating internet access. By the way, I am not going to tell them who has access unless they show up with a court order...

I can see that it may be a bit more difficult to argue about when you specifically ordered an internet connection.

But actually I would think they would not get access to the records of who has an internet connection. I have the impression that we have pretty strict laws against datamining and crosschecking personal information from databases.

Finally, Are you quite sure that you don't have to pay if you have a connection of less than 256Kb? I think I heard someone say that the 256Kb was unofficial.

[Winston]

Originally posted by Thue
But actually I would think they would not get access to the records of who has an internet connection. I have the impression that we have pretty strict laws against datamining and crosschecking personal information from databases.

Finally, Are you quite sure that you don't have to pay if you have a connection of less than 256Kb? I think I heard someone say that the 256Kb was unofficial.

Isn't this is a bit of a pseudo-issue, since you do have a computer and a connection?

Our personal information laws are very strict, yes, but in matters of public authorities obtaining information to enforce laws and regulations, unfortunately (?) they're strict in another sense of the word than the casual observer would think.. Believe me, I've worked within "the system" for far too long to hold any illusions. If Danmarks Radio wants to check whether you've got a license-due connection, they will have the means to do so. But I guess we'll have to wait and see for a while. An unusually low level of information has been made public on how this new law is to be enforced, presumably due to the low number of people directly affected by it.

The 256 K threshold is a "preliminary" cut-off point, as according to Danmarks Radio, in all their unfailing wisdom, this speed is required for viewing television streams of "adequate" quality. -- Pah!