France Propose Internet Tax.....

[MMC]

France Proposes an Internet Tax

By ERIC PFANNER

Published: January 20, 2013

PARIS — France, seeking fresh ways to raise funds and frustrated that American technology companies that dominate its digital economy are largely beyond the reach of French fiscal authorities, has proposed a new levy: an Internet tax on the collection of personal data.
The idea surfaced Friday in a report commissioned by President François Hollande, which described various measures his government was taking to address what the French see as tax avoidance by Internet companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook.

Google generates more than $30 billion a year in advertising revenue, including an estimated €1.5 billion, or $2 billion, in France. Yet, like other American Internet companies, it pays almost no taxes in France. That state of affairs upsets France’s policy makers, as public finances have been stretched thin and French Internet companies struggle to gain traction.

But getting Google and other U.S. technology companies to pay more corporate taxes on their profits in France could take a long time, the report acknowledges, because this will require international cooperation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/21/business/global/21iht-datatax21.html?_r=0

Well don't be surprised to see some of the Democrats start talking about doing the same thing here. France is thinking they can do this over what they call Data Collection.

 

[Fisher]

Works for me. I just wish the US taxed more and disallowed the offshoring of revenue for tax purposes. If you are a US company or do business in the US you need to pay your taxes.

 

[MMC]

Works for me. I just wish the US taxed more and disallowed the offshoring of revenue for tax purposes. If you are a US company or do business in the US you need to pay your taxes.

I can agree with that other than paying more in taxes. If we created the Internet and all others got it from us. Then they all should have to pay us taxes . Not we pay them. Meaning other countries.

 

[PeteEU]

I can agree with that other than paying more in taxes. If we created the Internet and all others got it from us. Then they all should have to pay us taxes . Not we pay them. Meaning other countries.

You did not create the Internet.

 

[Fisher]

I can agree with that other than paying more in taxes. If we created the Internet and all others got it from us. Then they all should have to pay us taxes . Not we pay them. Meaning other countries.

The issue is the companies like Apple and google will put all their intellectual property in the name of a corporation in some low tax place and then claim they do not have to pay taxes on that to the US because it comes from the foreign company and not on their US company even though most of the work has been done in the US.

 

[Republic Now!]

You did not create the Internet.

I think he means the United States created the internet.

 

[PeteEU]

I think he means the United States created the internet.

Yes I know.. and they did not.

 

[Republic Now!]

Yes I know.. and they did not.

Yes they did.

ARPANET

 

[MMC]

Yes I know.. and they did not.

The history of the Internet began with the development of electronic computers in the 1950s. The public was first introduced to the Internet when a message was sent from computer science Professor Leonard Kleinrock's laboratory at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), after the second piece of network equipment was installed at Stanford Research Institute (SRI). This connection not only enabled the first transmission to be made, but is also considered to be the first Internet backbone. This began the point-to-point communication between mainframe computers and terminals, expanded to point-to-point connections between computers and then early research into packet switching.....snip~

History of the Internet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[PeteEU]

Yes they did.

ARPANET

Again not exactly the "internet" as we know it today. That is like saying that the first guy to make a glider invented the airplane...

The Internet we know today is based on HTTP and HTML (and all its versions), which like it or not, was not invented by the US, but by a Brit. And most servers on the Internet run on an OS invented by a Fin and so on and so on.

The idea of linking computers together is also not new, but yes the US military was the first to do it back in 1965.. but it was not until the invention of HTTP and HTML programming language that the Internet as we know it today was born.. and that was not in the US. If it had not been for the Brit and his team making HTTP and HTML, then the Internet would still be an exclusive text based military network occasionally used by scientists.

 

[Republic Now!]

Again not exactly the "internet" as we know it today. That is like saying that the first guy to make a glider invented the airplane...

The Internet we know today is based on HTTP and HTML (and all its versions), which like it or not, was not invented by the US, but by a Brit. And most servers on the Internet run on an OS invented by a Fin and so on and so on.

The idea of linking computers together is also not new, but yes the US military was the first to do it back in 1965.. but it was not until the invention of HTTP and HTML programming language that the Internet as we know it today was born.. and that was not in the US. If it had not been for the Brit and his team making HTTP and HTML, then the Internet would still be an exclusive text based military network occasionally used by scientists.

Incorrect. HTTP is just a way of interpreting data, the internet could easily exist without HTTP, and in a lot of cases, does. One example of non-HTTP internet is flash, and streaming. TCP/IP protocol is the internet.

Another example is an online video game, which uses the internet (and TCP/IP streaming) but does not use HTTP.

 

[Fisher]

The history of the Internet began with the development of electronic computers in the 1950s. The public was first introduced to the Internet when a message was sent from computer science Professor Leonard Kleinrock's laboratory at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), after the second piece of network equipment was installed at Stanford Research Institute (SRI). This connection not only enabled the first transmission to be made, but is also considered to be the first Internet backbone. This began the point-to-point communication between mainframe computers and terminals, expanded to point-to-point connections between computers and then early research into packet switching.....snip~

History of the Internet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Was the first message an ad for a pill to make your thingy bigger?

 

[PeteEU]

As for the OP post about the tax.

I understand the idea behind it, despite the typical American bias in the article, but I am against it. I would rather have that we fixed the tax systems so that an Internet tax would not be needed.

 

[Dittohead not!]

Yes they did.

ARPANET

The telephone was invented in the US, too. Should we be able to tax phone services worldwide?

 

[Republic Now!]

The telephone was invented in the US, too. Should we be able to tax phone services worldwide?

I didn't comment on the tax question. I commented on the incorrect notion that the US did not create the internet.

I don't agree with foreign taxes on electronic goods.

 

[MMC]

The telephone was invented in the US, too. Should we be able to tax phone services worldwide?

Damn Skippy!

 

[Camlon]

France Proposes an Internet Tax

PARIS — France, seeking fresh ways to raise funds and frustrated that American technology companies that dominate its digital economy are largely beyond the reach of French fiscal authorities, has proposed a new levy: an Internet tax on the collection of personal data.
The idea surfaced Friday in a report commissioned by President François Hollande, which described various measures his government was taking to address what the French see as tax avoidance by Internet companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook.

Google generates more than $30 billion a year in advertising revenue, including an estimated €1.5 billion, or $2 billion, in France. Yet, like other American Internet companies, it pays almost no taxes in France. That state of affairs upsets France’s policy makers, as public finances have been stretched thin and French Internet companies struggle to gain traction.

Another stupid proposal from France.

Go ahead France, put a tax on Google, Amazon and Facebook. Then what is France going to do when they refuse to pay, send an angry letter? Or is the French government going to ban Google, Amazon and Facebook in France? I bet that will be popular.

Also, the French Government is spending 1500 billion dollars per year. 1.5 to 2 billion dollars is a drop in the bucket.

 

[PeteEU]

The telephone was invented in the US, too. Should we be able to tax phone services worldwide?

No it was not. It was the first place it was patented.. big ****ing difference.

 

[MMC]

No it was not. It was the first place it was patented.. big ****ing difference.

Who did you say connected those undersea lines?

 

[PeteEU]

Who did you say connected those undersea lines?

The first ones? British.

And the guy that invented the phone.. Italian... but he could not afford to keep up the patent so Bell took it from him and made a prototype. Now there is some historical evidence that Bell was in fact beaten by some British scientists but there is no actual documentation or patent on the subject to back it up. Hence Bell has been for over a century attributed to be the inventor of the telephone.. mostly because most history books were written by Americans.

 

[MMC]

The first ones? British.

And the guy that invented the phone.. Italian... but he could not afford to keep up the patent so Bell took it from him and made a prototype. Now there is some historical evidence that Bell was in fact beaten by some British scientists but there is no actual documentation or patent on the subject to back it up. Hence Bell has been for over a century attributed to be the inventor of the telephone.. mostly because most history books were written by Americans.

Milestones:
1831 Michael Faraday proved that vibrations of metal could be converted to electrical impulses
1861 Johann Philip Reis built a apparatus that changed sound to electricity and back again to sound
1871 Antonio Meucci filed his patent caveat (notice of intention to take out a patent)
1874 A. G. Bell while working on a multiple telegraph, developed the basic ideas for the telephon
1875 Bell files first patent for improved telegraphy
1876 Bell and Watson transmit the first complete sentence
1876 Bell files patent application on February 14,. patent issues March 7
1876 Elisha Gray filed his patent caveat (notice of intention to take out a patent) on February 14,
1877 formed Bell Telephone Company to operate local telephone exchange operation
1877 first city exchange installed in Hartford, Connecticut
1879 irst exchange outside the United States was built in London, England
1880 invented the photophone, which transmits speech by light rays
1882 acquired a controlling interest in the Western Electric Company, Elisha Gray's company
1883 irst exchange linking two major cities was established between New York and Boston

The Story:
Probably no means of communication has revolutionized the daily lives of ordinary people more than the telephone. Simply described, it is a system which converts sound, specifically the human voice, to electrical impulses of various frequencies and then back to a tone that sounds like the original voice. In 1831, Englishman Michael Faraday (1791-1867) proved that vibrations of metal could be converted to electrical impulses. This was the technological basis of the telephone, but no one actually used this system to transmit sound until 1861. In that year, Johann Philip Reis (1834-1874) in Germany is said to have built a simple apparatus that changed sound to electricity and back again to sound. A crude device, it was incapable of transmitting most frequencies, and it was never fully developed.
A practical telephone was actually invented independently by two men working in the United States, Elisha Gray and Scottish-born Alexander Graham Bell. Incredibly, both men filed for a patent on their designs at the New York patent office on February 14, 1876, with Bell beating Gray by only two hours! Although Gray had built the first steel diaphragm / electromagnet receiver in 1874, he wasn’t able to master the design of a workable transmitter until after Bell had. Bell had worked tirelessly, experimenting with various types of mechanisms, while Gray had become discouraged.

According to the famous story, the first fully intelligible telephone call occurred on March 6, 1876, when Bell, in one room, called to his assistant in another room. "Come here, Watson, I want you."

The first telephone system, known as an exchange, which is a practical means of communicating between many people who have telephones, was installed in Hartford, Connecticut in 1877, and the first exchange linking two major cities was established between New York and Boston in 1883. The first exchange outside the United States was built in London in 1879. The exchange involved a group of operators working at a large switchboard. The operators would answer an incoming telephone call and connect it manually to the party being called. The first automatic telephone exchange was patented by Almon Strowger of Kansas City in 1891 and installed in 1892, but manual switchboards remained in common use until the middle of the twentieth century.....snip~

Telephone History - Invention of the Telephone

 

[PeteEU]

Milestones:
1831 Michael Faraday proved that vibrations of metal could be converted to electrical impulses
1861 Johann Philip Reis built a apparatus that changed sound to electricity and back again to sound
1871 Antonio Meucci filed his patent caveat (notice of intention to take out a patent)
1874 A. G. Bell while working on a multiple telegraph, developed the basic ideas for the telephon
1875 Bell files first patent for improved telegraphy
1876 Bell and Watson transmit the first complete sentence
1876 Bell files patent application on February 14,. patent issues March 7
1876 Elisha Gray filed his patent caveat (notice of intention to take out a patent) on February 14,
1877 formed Bell Telephone Company to operate local telephone exchange operation
1877 first city exchange installed in Hartford, Connecticut
1879 irst exchange outside the United States was built in London, England
1880 invented the photophone, which transmits speech by light rays
1882 acquired a controlling interest in the Western Electric Company, Elisha Gray's company
1883 irst exchange linking two major cities was established between New York and Boston

The Story:
Probably no means of communication has revolutionized the daily lives of ordinary people more than the telephone. Simply described, it is a system which converts sound, specifically the human voice, to electrical impulses of various frequencies and then back to a tone that sounds like the original voice. In 1831, Englishman Michael Faraday (1791-1867) proved that vibrations of metal could be converted to electrical impulses. This was the technological basis of the telephone, but no one actually used this system to transmit sound until 1861. In that year, Johann Philip Reis (1834-1874) in Germany is said to have built a simple apparatus that changed sound to electricity and back again to sound. A crude device, it was incapable of transmitting most frequencies, and it was never fully developed.
A practical telephone was actually invented independently by two men working in the United States, Elisha Gray and Scottish-born Alexander Graham Bell. Incredibly, both men filed for a patent on their designs at the New York patent office on February 14, 1876, with Bell beating Gray by only two hours! Although Gray had built the first steel diaphragm / electromagnet receiver in 1874, he wasn’t able to master the design of a workable transmitter until after Bell had. Bell had worked tirelessly, experimenting with various types of mechanisms, while Gray had become discouraged.

According to the famous story, the first fully intelligible telephone call occurred on March 6, 1876, when Bell, in one room, called to his assistant in another room. "Come here, Watson, I want you."

The first telephone system, known as an exchange, which is a practical means of communicating between many people who have telephones, was installed in Hartford, Connecticut in 1877, and the first exchange linking two major cities was established between New York and Boston in 1883. The first exchange outside the United States was built in London in 1879. The exchange involved a group of operators working at a large switchboard. The operators would answer an incoming telephone call and connect it manually to the party being called. The first automatic telephone exchange was patented by Almon Strowger of Kansas City in 1891 and installed in 1892, but manual switchboards remained in common use until the middle of the twentieth century.....snip~

Telephone History - Invention of the Telephone

First off that is not what you asked.

You asked

Who did you say connected those undersea lines

And that was the British.

Submarine communications cable - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As for the telephone bit.

There is no doubt that the telephone idea came from an Italian.

Innocenzo Manzetti - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But Bell was the one that put a patent on it and got the credit.

As for the rest of the list... first telephone switchboard.. invented by a Hungarian.

Tivadar Puskás - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Like it or not, the telephone was at best not solely "invented" by Bell, but it was patented by him first and the idea came from someone else.. when we are talking about voice. The idea of transmitting information via cables... aka the telegraph was invented in Europe long before the phone and was widely used by the British Empire.

My point is, often "we invented this" crap by American's is not always factual. Take the airplane.. yes the Wright Brothers were the first to have flown one.. but it was on the basis of Leonardo Da Vinci they made the bloody thing. Or the car.. I would bet most American's think they invented the car... nope. Or the rocket.. or the computer and so on and so on.. they did not. They did however exploit the inventions and expanded on them.. much like Bell.

 

[American]

Again not exactly the "internet" as we know it today. That is like saying that the first guy to make a glider invented the airplane...

The Internet we know today is based on HTTP and HTML (and all its versions), which like it or not, was not invented by the US, but by a Brit. And most servers on the Internet run on an OS invented by a Fin and so on and so on.

The idea of linking computers together is also not new, but yes the US military was the first to do it back in 1965.. but it was not until the invention of HTTP and HTML programming language that the Internet as we know it today was born.. and that was not in the US. If it had not been for the Brit and his team making HTTP and HTML, then the Internet would still be an exclusive text based military network occasionally used by scientists.

Please, don't lecture us. Anyone with a computer can find out about Tim Berners-Lee, and he sits at MIT now overseeing the protocol development for the Web. He gave away his invention for free, and therefore it should never be taxed.

 

[PeteEU]

Please, don't lecture us. Anyone with a computer can find out about Tim Berners-Lee, and he sits at MIT now overseeing the protocol development for the Web. He gave away his invention for free, and therefore it should never be taxed.

He might be at MIT now, but not then... he was at CERN in Switzerland and he is still British.. and it is Sir Tim Berners-Lee.. And some need a lecturing with the horse**** "we invented everything" attitude coming from the States..

And I agree the internet should not be taxed... but the tax system needs an overhaul to accommodate the internet. In other words goods and services should be taxed where they are sold, not where the company is registered and that is what the French are trying to fix.. in a wrong way in my opinion, but at least they are trying to do something.

 

[Djoop]

Al Gore invented the internet, nuff said.