I don`t know who is the Uganda dictator (or maybe it`s a democratic government),but this is a pretty interesting idea.I really hate social media,but I have to use it,because everyone else is using it,it just wastes
my time and I don`t get any sufficient benefit from it.What if social media isn`t free anymore?This might improve the quality of content posted on social media platform.Who knows?
Topic: Uganda Bans VPNs To Prevent Users From Dodging Its Absurd New Social Media Tax - page 2. (Read 249 times)
July 07, 2018, 07:22:05 AM
July 07, 2018, 06:42:13 AM
I really don't understand why people are turning to VPNs.
If that picture is right, the monthly cost for access is 6000 Ushs , that's 1.5$, there is no way you're getting a real VPN for that money, more like an add invested piece of ...
And since I doubt they are using BTC to pay for it, how do they even pay for VPNs is a country with almost no credit cards? This is pretty weird.
A tax like that has led to massive protests in Hungary and the project was abandoned.
I'm not aware of anything like that happening in Uganda, more like a dozen students protesting at most, as angry tweeting is equal to 0.
They've voted this moron five times to lead the country, now deal with it.
If that picture is right, the monthly cost for access is 6000 Ushs , that's 1.5$, there is no way you're getting a real VPN for that money, more like an add invested piece of ...
And since I doubt they are using BTC to pay for it, how do they even pay for VPNs is a country with almost no credit cards? This is pretty weird.
A tax like that has led to massive protests in Hungary and the project was abandoned.
I'm not aware of anything like that happening in Uganda, more like a dozen students protesting at most, as angry tweeting is equal to 0.
They've voted this moron five times to lead the country, now deal with it.
July 06, 2018, 08:38:45 PM
Thats totally crazy enable them to collect more tax they implemented taxation for social media users.Then because of it the people of Uganda uses VPN because having more tax is already a burden but still the government wants to ban or banned already VPN network.I think the government isnt up to citizens security and privacy but they only wanted to corrupt more.Here in my country VPN is also famous because it is less expensive than using a regular load or paying internet connections.I am a VPN user long time ago when I havent joined yet in this organization but now I am no longer using VPN because its not allowed here.Using VPN is more convenient because here in my country the internet is very expensive and yet so slow.Thats why I feel sorry to those people of Uganda that just wanna save money but because of corrupt government they are force to pay tax for using social media.
July 06, 2018, 08:01:00 PM
Quote
Countries around the world continue to wage their not so subtle war on the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) and encryption. In Russia, the government has all but banned the use of VPNs by layering all manner of obnoxious restrictions and caveats on VPN operators. The goal, as we've seen in China and countless other countries, is to ban VPN use without making it explicitly clear you're banning VPN use. The deeper goal is always the same: less privacy and online freedom for users who use such tools to dodge surveillance or other, even dumber government policies.
Case in point: Uganda recently decided it would be a great idea to impose a new 200 Uganda shilling ($0.05) tax on the use of social networking websites. President Yoweri Museveni pushed for the changes to combat what he calls "gossip," and now users have to pay the 200 shilling fee each day just to access websites and services like Facebook, Whatsapp, and Twitter. $20 more per year is not an insubstantial sum in a country where the average income is around $600, and the average Ugandan survives on usually less than a dollar per day.
The tax is, not surprisingly, not being received well:
The nation's wireless carriers were quick to comply, informing users they should use mobile payment services to pay the government tax:
Shockingly, VPN use has soared in the country as users try to dodge the new tax. Predicting this, Uganda's government has doubled down on bad ideas, and has been pressuring ISPs to ban VPN use. In a statement posted at Facebook (200 Uganda shillings, please), the Ugandan government tries to deter VPN use by trying to claim using VPNs will cost more than the cost of bandwidth and the social media tax, since VPN encryption utilizes slightly more bandwidth and most user connections have caps and overage fees:
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180702/12431840157/uganda-bans-vpns-to-prevent-users-dodging-absurd-new-social-media-tax.shtml
Case in point: Uganda recently decided it would be a great idea to impose a new 200 Uganda shilling ($0.05) tax on the use of social networking websites. President Yoweri Museveni pushed for the changes to combat what he calls "gossip," and now users have to pay the 200 shilling fee each day just to access websites and services like Facebook, Whatsapp, and Twitter. $20 more per year is not an insubstantial sum in a country where the average income is around $600, and the average Ugandan survives on usually less than a dollar per day.
The tax is, not surprisingly, not being received well:
The nation's wireless carriers were quick to comply, informing users they should use mobile payment services to pay the government tax:
Shockingly, VPN use has soared in the country as users try to dodge the new tax. Predicting this, Uganda's government has doubled down on bad ideas, and has been pressuring ISPs to ban VPN use. In a statement posted at Facebook (200 Uganda shillings, please), the Ugandan government tries to deter VPN use by trying to claim using VPNs will cost more than the cost of bandwidth and the social media tax, since VPN encryption utilizes slightly more bandwidth and most user connections have caps and overage fees:
Quote
"...if you think it is cheaper to use VPN than paying Shs 200/day, I think it is very unwise to think that because the data consumption under VPN is very high, I think you’re aware of that. We have technology that will block the VPN services so that no one dodges the taxes. Different VPN systems continue to come with more advanced features to circumvent government crackdowns but governments around the world have continued to block them."
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180702/12431840157/uganda-bans-vpns-to-prevent-users-dodging-absurd-new-social-media-tax.shtml
Interesting story developing here.
Uganda is attempting to tax its people for using social media platforms like facebook or twitter. Ugandans are using VPN's to avoid the tax. The ugandan government is pressuring ISPs to crackdown on VPNs and other things utilized by ugandans to enable tax evasion.
This raises many questions. Is it valid economic policy for a state like uganda to tax its people for using services like facebook or twitter which the ugandan government does not provide? How effective / ineffective is taxation policy, not only in uganda but around the world?
There could be certain parallels between uganda's gov pursuing tax hikes, which have a negative effect upon economics and job markets, whereby politicians in every country around the world are blindly following similar lines of thought.
At what point do taxes cease being a benefit to society and instead become the opposite?
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