Microsoft calls for a digital Geneva Convention, Disney and YouTube drop PewDiePie and whether DLC for games is a good thing or a rip-off.
Using a Screen Reader? Click here
Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
Follow us on Soundcloud.
A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!
Hi Tom
I am writing concerning the proposal of Mr Smith. This can be looked at a few different ways.
1. What are legitimate targets? Power, transport and communications are normally high on any list of targets when there is a war and so how are the internet, Power stations, transport networks are all legitimate targets in a time of war. If they are what part of say Microsoft left that shouldn’t be targeted?
2. This also shows a thinking that tech companies are not citizens of the countries they reside. That they somehow above all the duties of being a part of a community but seek to reap only the benefits. For example silicon valley benefits from US trade deals, government funding directly and through educational institutions, infrastructure, etc. but go out of their way not to pay taxes or act in the best interests of their country. I understand that tax minimisation has been occurring forever but the levels of tax minimisation that is currently causing concern in governments are lead by tech companies. Previous large companies like US Steel had large workforces and so they were firmly embedded into their community but for a lot of high cap tech companies there is a much smaller workforce and so the same level of connectedness to their community just doesn’t exist. The lead indicator for this is the scale of the tax minimisation that tech companies has spearheaded has been to such a scale that it is now the norm. This has allowed traditional companies such as starbucks to use the same techniques to minimise their taxes. It isn’t like the techniques wasn’t available to them previously, the tax rules haven’t changed, but they feel they can get away with it while previously they couldn’t.
There needs to be a bigger debate on them paying their way properly rather than being free riders in the economic sense.
Kind Regards
Matthew Yu