iPod purchasers to be punished for illegal downloaders? "iPod Tax" Could Combat Piracy Losses.

So lemme get this straight. If you're going to buy a new iPod or other MP3 player, you might have to pay a tax - which will then be used to pay royalties on copyrights to artists and writers. The assumption is that at least "some" of the music played on portable MP3 players was obtainer - or will be - illegally.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is only coming up in the Netherlands, which doesn't really affect too many of us over here in the USA.

And never mind the idea that there are actually some honest people out there who might actually use LEGAL music or some other form of audio on their portable players, this whole thing smacks of some 'big brother' anti-Libertarian snuff stuff. I know this story only talks about the Netherlands, but if it works there, you know that it's going to come up on the radar screen elsewhere. If the RIAA likes the idea, there's no doubt it will get floated through the halls of Washington by highly paid music industry lobbyists.

Yeah, it was shot down in Canada. What did you expect, the Canucks to let this happen there? Good for them.