This kind of reminds me of Canada charging a royalty tax on blank audio tapes and CDRs. In Canada the money goes to the top selling Canadian artists.

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: Over the past several years Belgian music rights group SABAM has
: pressured Internet providers to take responsibility for online
: piracy. An attempt to force ISPs to monitor and filter
: copyrighted material found itself stranded in the European
: Court, but the group has not given up. This week SABAM sued the
: Belgian ISPs Belgacom, Telenet and Voo, claiming a 3.4% cut of
: Internet subscriber fees as compensation for the rampant piracy
: they enable through their networks.
:
: SABAM argues that authors should be paid for any " public
: broadcast " of a song. Pirated downloads and streams on the
: Internet are such public broadcasts according to the group, and
: they are therefore entitled to proper compensation. " The
: ISPs make profits by offering Internet subscriptions through
: which movies and music can be downloaded and thus need to pay
: royalties ," SABAM states in a comment on the case.
:
: The proposed " pirate tax " would not make it legal
: for consumers to download from unauthorized sources.
:
: For their part the ISPs criticize SABAM's demands, which would
: effectively require all customers to pay a " tax "
: while only a small minority download or stream unauthorized
: music. " What SABAM wants is tantamount to imposing a
: linear tax ," says a Belgacom spokesman. The ISP further
: points at European legislation under which they are not liable
: for the traffic of their consumers. " A postman doesn't
: open letters he delivers. We are also just transporting data,
: and we are not responsible for the contents ," Belgacom
: says.
:
: Telenet responds with a similar claim, pointing out that they
: cannot be held liable for pirating consumers. " Providing
: Internet access is a 'mere conduit principle': Forwarding
: information without any intervention also means that an Internet
: provider can not and should not be liable for the content
: distributed over the Internet ," the ISP says.
:
: Aside from the question of whether the law provides for an
: Internet licensing fee on ISP subscriptions, the 3.4% figure
: seems unfair as only a minority of Internet users transfer
: unauthorized music.
:
: ISPA, the professional association of Internet providers, agrees
: with this assessment. The group further points out that those
: who already pay for their music will be required to pay twice if
: SABAM has its way. " The so-called license fee on Internet
: access comes down to a tax that will hurt all consumers,
: including people who do not use their Internet to download music
: or movies. Those who download legally will be punished by
: SABAM's proposal, as they will pay twice ," ISPA writes in
: a press release.
:
: Internet access will certainly become more expensive in Belgium
: if Sabam is successful. And it may be just the beginning, as the
: movie, book, software, gaming, photography and other industries
: may also try to claim their share of the booty.
:
: A ruling in the case is expected to be handed down next year.
:
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