We have been talking for months about a drop in the price of storage units, especially SSDs. There is a glut of memory chips for SSDs compounded by low demand, and to supply them, they are lowering prices. But in Spain soon we will pay more for SSDs and mechanical hard drives, since it has been revised upwards the digital canon.
If you do not know what the digital canon is, it is a political measure created years ago to “combat” piracy. This canon establishes that different types of products and devices have an added tax for piracy. When we talk about piracy, we talk about illegal downloading of content such as series or movies.
You will pay more for SSD, laptops, computers or smartphones
Currently, piracy has dropped dramatically thanks to content streaming platforms. Netflix, HBO or Spotify, make many users pay to watch series, movies or listen to music. Downloading these contents is somewhat tedious and is no longer as “easy” as before.
This tax began apply in 2007, not without great controversy. The norm that established the canon was taken to the National Court, who decreed the nullity of the norm in 2011. After this legal setback, the rule was repealed. But, in 2017 the Royal Decree-Law 12/2017which established a new digital fee.
Now the government is preparing a revision of this tax that, quite possibly, will come into effect shortly. The list of affected products is extended, which it goes from 40 to a total of 104 products. As is logical, we will be the users who will pay for this increase in costs. As has been known, these are the products and the tax charge:
- Smartphone (regardless of prices): €3.25
- Tablets: €3.75
- Smart watch: €2.50
- External SSD of 1TB or more: €6.45
- Desktop or laptop computers: €5.33
- Printer (in general): €4
- Audio player: €3.15
- Electronic books: €3.15
- Scanners: €3.00
- microSD or USB memory cards: €0.24
- DVD/Blu-Ray: €0.21
This tax is intended for intellectual property management agencies, such as the SGAE, CEDRO and the like. And we also assume that in order to subsidize films by film directors who do not see films and whose films are seen by practically no one.
The presumption of innocence does not apply
This canon, supposedly, is intended for those who downloaded illegal content and stored it. But, there is a problem, how do we know who is downloading content and storing it? As this cannot be known, since it would imply a violation of the user’s privacy, the “all equally” is applied.
This rule assumes that we all commit the illegal act of downloading copyrighted content. So the presumption of innocence is annulled in this specific case.
Note that you can request a refund of this charge, but only in very specific cases. Only if it is intended for a work activity, you can request a refund of the amount paid. But, there are very few who actually request a return, since it takes a long time and it is not easy at all. Many dismiss requesting it because of the time it takes, due to ignorance of the process or, due to ignorance that a refund can be requested.
A measure, on the other hand, that comes at a time when hardware is more expensive than ever. The economy is not doing well either, with brutal inflation making shopping for food, for many families, a dramatic situation. Adding a new charge or increasing the existing one for goods that are so necessary today is regrettable, to say the least.
