Black Phoenix
07-13-2006, 10:13 PM
All I have to do today is open the paper to the business section, and I'll find all about private business I ever wanted to know... and how it's being dominated by government!
I could post at least two threads a day on this!
http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2006-07-14-voa1.cfm
In today's Oregonian, it appears first up (though I can't find it on their site for some reason), Bill Gates is being sued... again. This time, once again, not by any software users or producers, but by a political agency... okay, so EU is not the American government, in fact, it's not even close... so why isn't our government protecting our citizen? He's being sued for protecting the codes for his newest version of Windows. It's his freaking product, he has every right to copywright it! But now, foreign governments appearently can force our citizens to stand trial. They say it's all in the interest of fairness, since his products dominate the market... what about fairness to Gates himself? It's his product and for crying out loud and he doesn't even live in Europe!
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/115267114119750.xml&coll=7
Yesterday, it was a story about how phone companies are charged francise fees. Ordinarily I might even have a problem with the existence of such fees, but since no one is said to own the actual phone lines, it kinda makes sense to have them regulated. (Course... with modern tech, is that really necessary anymore?) My problem is, the fancise fees are not made to a set rate, but instead, Portland City assesses how much a company makes, and then adjusts how much their charged accordingly. This is making them a killing off those companies! Even supposing we grant that the government can rent phone lines to companies, when is the last rent system you heard of, that literally stuck its nose into its customer's business and decided how much he should pay based on how much he earns? I'm so glad my landlord can't do this (probably illegal, but breaking their own rules has never stopped the government before)!
I could post at least two threads a day on this!
http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2006-07-14-voa1.cfm
In today's Oregonian, it appears first up (though I can't find it on their site for some reason), Bill Gates is being sued... again. This time, once again, not by any software users or producers, but by a political agency... okay, so EU is not the American government, in fact, it's not even close... so why isn't our government protecting our citizen? He's being sued for protecting the codes for his newest version of Windows. It's his freaking product, he has every right to copywright it! But now, foreign governments appearently can force our citizens to stand trial. They say it's all in the interest of fairness, since his products dominate the market... what about fairness to Gates himself? It's his product and for crying out loud and he doesn't even live in Europe!
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/115267114119750.xml&coll=7
Yesterday, it was a story about how phone companies are charged francise fees. Ordinarily I might even have a problem with the existence of such fees, but since no one is said to own the actual phone lines, it kinda makes sense to have them regulated. (Course... with modern tech, is that really necessary anymore?) My problem is, the fancise fees are not made to a set rate, but instead, Portland City assesses how much a company makes, and then adjusts how much their charged accordingly. This is making them a killing off those companies! Even supposing we grant that the government can rent phone lines to companies, when is the last rent system you heard of, that literally stuck its nose into its customer's business and decided how much he should pay based on how much he earns? I'm so glad my landlord can't do this (probably illegal, but breaking their own rules has never stopped the government before)!