The costs can amount to hundreds of euros, meaning that in the case of music, the vast swath of bands don't even bother registering, as they'd never recoup the cost. SPA charges mandatory licensing fees from bars, restaurants, discos, and venues of all types, rubbing salt on the wound.
Even though the law targets "private copies," very few businesses can claim exemptions when buying storage, under the argument that the seller cannot predict that said storage won't be used for piracy.
Furthermore, some detractors argue these laws are tantamount to Minority Report pre-crime control , punishing crimes not committed. Some even say they feel morally innocent for piracy, as the price is already paid. Then there's the matter that person-to-person copying of original media isn't even that frequent in the first place.
Finland went as far as completely abolishing its copyright tax in 2015, and there's an EU-wide call for reforming these laws , but for the time being, they're mostly staying in place. With the rise of AI, it's not like anyone's going to buy hard drives or SSDs anytime soon, anyway.
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Bruno Ferreira is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware. He has decades of experience with PC hardware and assorted sundries, alongside a career as a developer. He's obsessed with detail and has a tendency to ramble on the topics he loves. When not doing that, he's usually playing games, or at live music shows and festivals. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-18/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Bruno Ferreira Social Links Navigation Contributor Bruno Ferreira is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware. He has decades of experience with PC hardware and assorted sundries, alongside a career as a developer. He's obsessed with detail and has a tendency to ramble on the topics he loves. When not doing that, he's usually playing games, or at live music shows and festivals.
heffeque How is this news. It's been that way for literal decades in Spain, and most likely other countries too. The good thing about that tax is that you are already paying for pirating music and movies, so you don't have to worry about lobbies asking for money, you can just ignore them. Reply
GenericUser2001 heffeque said: How is this news. It's been that way for literal decades in Spain, and most likely other countries too. The good thing about that tax is that you are already paying for pirating music and movies, so you don't have to worry about lobbies asking for money, you can just ignore them. The bad thing is that you end up being forced to fund media that you may grossly disagree with, or just think is really bad. I haven't even pirated a TV show or movie in years due to lack of content I think is worth the time of doing so. Reply
ezst036 Normally corporations just eat the taxes and don't tell you about it. Strange that they put this one out there to have visibility especially when its like only 2 bucks. What do they want to make a statement about this for? Reply
Pierce2623 ezst036 said: Normally corporations just eat the taxes and don't tell you about it. Strange that they put this one out there to have visibility especially when its like only 2 bucks. What do they want to make a statement about this for? Why wouldn’t they put a line item in your invoice for appropriate taxes? The whole point of the invoice is to see where all the money went. Reply
JamesJones44 Wow, this is why a politician should be required to pass a litmus test before they can serve. Who thought this was a great idea and didn't have the basic understanding of "computer" storage to foresee growth issues in the 90s? 70s sure, but by the 90s the trend path was pretty well defined. Reply
Notton JamesJones44 said: Who thought this was a great idea and didn't have the basic understanding of "computer" storage to foresee growth issues in the 90s? 70s sure, but by the 90s the trend path was pretty well defined. You say this, but in the Sci-Fi film "Johnny Mnemonic", released 1995, set in the year 2021, the plot circled around Johnny carrying 320GB of data in his head, when the normal amount was 80GB. I'm sure there are other examples, but that's the only one I could remember, and boy were they wrong about how much data could be crammed into a fingernail by 2021. Reply
Findecanor MacBook Neo costs about $100 more in EU, before taxes, than in the US anyway. The copyright fee is still only a fraction of that. Here in Sweden, the tariff to CopySwede is 1 SEK per GB, max 75 SEK… which means 75 SEK = €7 for each computer. Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/storage/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/storage/macbook-neo-costs-more-in-portugal-due-to-copyright-levy-for-piracy-compensation-taxes-storage-costs-extra-in-multiple-countries-thanks-to-draconian-laws-that-pre-punish-buyers#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.