Control and levies on electronic transmissions
Control and levies on electronic transmissions
How long will it be before some enterprising government will see the Internet as a lucrative source of revenue?For the moment international agencies are opposed to setting such tariffs, but there are obviously going to be some difficulties in providing the technology to either improve tariffs or, indeed, in preventing them being imposed on a worldwide basis. The European Union has already announced that it would recommend that the Internet should stay customs-free, in a report to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Similar proposals from the US have specified that all levies on electronic transmissions should formally be legislated against. A recent press report suggests that if the WTO were to agree to legislature it would head off moves by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to police the Internet and impose restrictions on electronic sales and the delivery of goods and services. It was the ITU that estimated that the annual expenditure on the Internet is now some $8 billion worldwide and that it may well rise to$300 billion within five years.
One of the main problems appears to be that some governments believe they could police the net more effectively by levying tariffs on audio and video products delivered over the Web, along with such services as advertising, consulting and accounting. As the Web replaces so many of the traditional ways of communicating and consequently affects the way in which taxes are gathered it is inevitable that tariffs will be imposed in some way on Internet services or facilities. Already many countries are seeking to control Internet usage by placing regulations on the server companies.
The European Union decision does,however, seem to support the US current position. Meetings are planned and a ministerial conference is scheduled later this year. Other problems will also be discussed including the complex issue of domain name registration.
There is little doubt in the minds of cyberneticians and systemists that the Internet will not continue for ever in its current free form. The ITU figures for Internet expenditure are regarded by many as being too conservative, and as more realistic ones become available the need to change its status from a custom free zone will become inevitable. The present views on the "freedom" of the net are already changing, and it will inevitably have some regulatory elements in future years.
