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by sparknlaunch12 5173 days ago
Pretty scary some of the proposed legislation being thrown around in the UK.

On large companies... If individuals have issues with large companies they can simply go to an alternative. However government should intervene to ensure "internet" companies comply with the same laws as "non internet".
2 comments
gaius 5173 days ago
Google's elaborate tax-avoidance schemes mean they forfeit the right to an opinion on what the UK government does.
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jessriedel 5173 days ago
If I maintain a free, US-based, ad-supported website which caters to Iranians (and so pay no Iranian taxes), do I forfeit the right to an opinion on filtering by the Iranian government?
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lukeschlather 5173 days ago
Google has datacenters in the UK, so I think that's one fault in your argument. Also, Google sells ads, search services, email, office tools, and other things. Yours and my personal use of the service may cost us nothing, but I'm sure that Google sells millions of dollars worth of services to customers in the UK.
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sparknlaunch12 5173 days ago
Avoidance or evasion?

If a company is compliant then it is up to government to intervene and change laws. However law change should apply to all entities, on or off line.

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jessriedel 5173 days ago
Actually, "Tax evasion" generally denotes something illegal. "Avoidance" is the correct term here.
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gaius 5173 days ago
Indeed. But Eric Schmidt doesn't get to whine about e.g. education in the UK, without ponying up the cash.
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jessriedel 5173 days ago
There's a pretty important distinction between a government-provided service and the government's infringement of a (negative) right, especially when it comes to who gets to complain based on the amount of taxes they pay. The government doesn't pay money to not censor the internet.
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mjwalshe 5173 days ago
Which is part of what the proposed laws are ie extending the traffic analysis they can already do on phonecalls to the internet (ok they are asking for a lot more but that may be a negotiating ploy)

Though after the scandel with the Met and News International maybe it RIPA sould be amended so that the Police dont have access without a warrent and leave just the SS and SIS.

Oh and remove any ability of local govenment from RIPA

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