Indonesia Proposes Law To Review & Tax Every Internet Application

from the that's-not-how-innovation-works dept

Wed, Oct 20th 2010 9:28pm — Mike Masnick

As has been discussed multiple times, one of the reasons why the internet has thrived (or even why the software industry has thrived) is that the barriers to entry are low. You don't need to build a factory or get all kinds of approvals. You can just create something and go. But, perhaps not in Indonesia any more. Glyn Moody points us to a report on a proposed law in Indonesia that would first seek to tax all technology/software firms above and beyond existing taxes and (even more worrying) require anyone creating an application to get permission from the government before any application can be released. Apparently, this will apply to any application "which uses the internet to transmit voice, images, data, content based services, e-commerce, as well as other services provided through applications." Yeah, pretty broad.

Developers in Indonesia are reasonably up in arms over this, claiming that it will devastate the industry if they have to get government permission for every app or web service they put up. The government's defense of the law in the face of such criticism is hardly convincing:

Ministry spokesman Gatot Dewa Broto defended the proposed law in public statements, claiming it is there to ensure the laws aren't going to be left behind once the industry takes off.

Well, yes, I guess if you put in place laws that pretty much guarantee that the industry will never take off, then, the laws won't get left behind. But that hardly seems like a practical solution.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: indonesia, innovation, taxes, technology

20 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Rose M. Welch (profile), 20 Oct 2010 @ 8:34pm

Typo alert.
You forgot the /sarcasm at the end of this post.

Because... this post is really a joke, right?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
:Lobo Santo (profile), 20 Oct 2010 @ 9:32pm

Re: Typo alert.
I agree, April 1st was awhile ago--the Indonesians must do it on some other day.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jay (profile), 20 Oct 2010 @ 9:35pm

*My head hurts*
I... really? How in the world do they expect to make any money if they destroy their own internet infrastructure?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Oct 2010 @ 9:41pm

"Apparently, this will apply to any application "which uses the internet to transmit voice, images, data, content based services, e-commerce, as well as other services provided through applications." Yeah, pretty broad. "

and redundant...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Oct 2010 @ 10:10pm

Good Trial Baloon!
What they really need is a tax to review blog accuracy, completeness, and grammar. Such a tax should cost around $100M yearly, and have a limited number of complementary licenses given away by the elected administration. Satirical outfits like Fox News and Sarah PAC would be exempt of the license requirement.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Oct 2010 @ 11:22pm

Based on my knowledge of SimCity 2000, this is a bad idea. You're supposed to lower taxes on high-tech industries; they're environmentally cleaner and more profitable than low-tech industry, so you want to attract as much of that type of business as you can.

I guess nobody involved with any government plays SimCity. Otherwise, whenever there was a shortage of fresh water, they'd just build a desalinization plant.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Oct 2010 @ 11:31pm

Re:
If they're in government, it's likely that they can barely turn on a computer without help.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Christopher (profile), 20 Oct 2010 @ 11:41pm

Re: Re:
Ah Ah Ah..... I know quite a few people in government who are VERY intelligent. It's only when you get past the LOCAL (town) government level that you start to see increasing numbers of the braindead walking show up in government.

Even then, it is a wide brush that doesn't fit everyone that you are using there.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Michael Lockyear, 21 Oct 2010 @ 2:13am

Field experience
Clearly a way for the Indonesian government to protect its agricultural industry...(soon to be) unemployed programmers can now get some field experience.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Oct 2010 @ 5:19am

title shuld read
Indonesia will goto sleep technologically with new law
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Oct 2010 @ 5:20am

haha
so now you dont develop in indonesia and do it elsewhere and let people download via encryption
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Oct 2010 @ 5:41am

The Right to Read
For some reason, this reminds me of the classic short story:

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
[ link to this | view in thread ]
abc gum, 21 Oct 2010 @ 6:01am

Does this mean companies in Indonesia will be outsourcing their software needs ?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Oct 2010 @ 6:14am

Great... one more country heading towards global welfare. When their own tech industry fails, the world (mostly US) will bail them out too...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Sean T Henry (profile), 21 Oct 2010 @ 6:57am

Easy solution
One company should create a program that is used as a pass through for "to transmit voice, images, data, content based services, e-commerce, as well as other services provided through applications."

Get that application and have all other programs send there data to and through that, leaving the part of the program that the law applies to out of the program.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Pixelation, 21 Oct 2010 @ 7:46am

Brilliant idea
Now they will have so much work for reviewers the entire country will be employed. They may even need to start outsourcing to india...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Oct 2010 @ 8:06am

Re: Re: Re:
I always heard that the higher up you go in the hierarchy of a company, the dumber people get. Also works for government.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Oct 2010 @ 8:15am

Easiest way to not break a law is to not need the law.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Markku Pesonen, 21 Oct 2010 @ 8:23am

Aren't their ISP's already charging for traffic?
Telematics is a very broad term: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telematics

Seems pretty awkward to charge/tax for something which, usually, already is payed for, namely traffic. And what will the approval of software entail? Does it mean that the software code has to be inspected and checked to assure that it follows some standard? And what about existing bugs and other kinds of malicious code? Will all that become a task for a governmental department?

I don't see the point here unless some other explanation emerges for what is scaring the pants of the Indonesian government.

I don't think they will get much money out of it since the industry and investors will probably go elsewhere. Then how will this mainly jurisdictional apparatus benefit the taxpayers?

I don't get the point unless there's something like halal coding or is inspired by ACTA.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Oct 2010 @ 8:41pm

More Basket Case
Indonesia is already a basket case economically, due to widespread criminality, including corruption by officials. The last thing they need is yet more laws which will allow yet more corruption. They need a lot more effort put to cleaning up the existing mess, not making the mess bigger.
[ link to this | view in thread ]