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Uproar as Uganda telecom companies implement mobile money, social media taxes

monitor.co.ug

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Re: Uproar as Uganda telecom companies implement mobile money, social media taxes

#21

Post by cf498 »

mc32 wrote: post #18
hartator wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> reach some conclusions which are lacking. This is strong premise. I don't think we need more data when you have studies that show that social media as the same effect as cocaine. We specially don't need another tax.

If aspects of it have the same addictive effects as cocaine, why not tax it like other vices but in this case use the revenue to address the problems which surface. I’m saying if they are going to do this, let’s do it again n a fashion such that we might glean useful information which could benefit all users.

>why not tax it like other vices but in this case use the revenue to address the problems which surface.

What problem?

Re: Uproar as Uganda telecom companies implement mobile money, social media taxes

#23

Post by kalleboo »

hartator wrote: post #17
mc32 wrote: post #15

Depending on how they did this, this could be an interesting experiment on the possibility of kerbing people's "screen" addiction. At least it looks like they are whitelisting some "social value add" sites, but taxing other less necessary sites. If let's say they allowed X-time free after which you had to pay this tax and that climbed such that it served as a deterrent against too much unproductive screen time, it mi…

> reach some conclusions which are lacking. This is strong premise. I don't think we need more data when you have studies that show that social media as the same effect as cocaine. We specially don't need another tax.

There are also studies that say the same thing about Oreos

Re: Uproar as Uganda telecom companies implement mobile money, social media taxes

#26

Post by dmach »

kodablah wrote: post #14

To bring it back to the anglosphere, I predict mass anger towards the hobbling of social media companies by Western governments if it occurs. We have all these conversations amongst ourselves about the evils of these communication facilitating companies, often with good reason. But we should be cognizant that only the squeaky wheels are squeaking and the general public is happy with their communication platforms. Tak…

Uganda would be considered within the Anglosphere but not "core Anglosphere". It may not of been the most common use of the word before but Breixteers are trying to convince people that these countries will replace the trade they are stopping with the rest of Europe so will take as many as they can. I not sure if follow but you mention that the general public is happy and that is surely the issue. If the populous were made aware of the implications of what they agree to on most of these sites/messaging services, owned and controlled by "elites", there would be action. It's difficult to explain to people so that they are convinced. The general assumption is that if it is as bad as is being reported it would not of been allowed in the first place.

Re: Uproar as Uganda telecom companies implement mobile money, social media taxes

#27

Post by yekepa »

lord_ring_111 wrote: post #9

If all governments do that, it will instantly raise humanity’s iq and eq up a notch and help govt get money too.

I agree. Kids at school using social media in class should be fined. I have since many years been out of FB, Instagram and Twitter. I don’t miss it a second. My kids is growing up without FB. I block it and other social media sites on a DNS-level.

Re: Uproar as Uganda telecom companies implement mobile money, social media taxes

#28

Post by HenryBemis »

My key takes on this article are:

1) Gov needed more $$$. They could either reform/progress the state and let the economy generate freely the extra $$$ in 2-5-10 years OR impose a new tax "on those slackers who spend all day in social media". They chose the latter as they can create a narrative to convince the masses on the validity of this new tax. Edit/addition: And the fact that reforming the state requires change, disrupting cliques, reduce corruption, reduce bureaucracy, so instead they thrash anything modern they cannot control and doesn't serve the "old ideas".

2) "Sample" of 2700 and then calling it "National IT Survey" in a 20.7m population is a joke/travesty. It looks like they shared some A4 pages in a couple of ministries, asked the employees to get their kids to fill them up and called it a day.

Apologies for over simplifying things.

Re: Uproar as Uganda telecom companies implement mobile money, social media taxes

#29

Post by kodablah »

dmach wrote: post #26
kodablah wrote: post #14

To bring it back to the anglosphere, I predict mass anger towards the hobbling of social media companies by Western governments if it occurs. We have all these conversations amongst ourselves about the evils of these communication facilitating companies, often with good reason. But we should be cognizant that only the squeaky wheels are squeaking and the general public is happy with their communication platforms. Tak…

Uganda would be considered within the Anglosphere but not "core Anglosphere". It may not of been the most common use of the word before but Breixteers are trying to convince people that these countries will replace the trade they are stopping with the rest of Europe so will take as many as they can. I not sure if follow but you mention that the general public is happy and that is surely the issue. If the populous wer…

> you mention that the general public is happy and that is surely the issue

An issue to you maybe, but some people just don't value their privacy as much.

> The general assumption is that if it is as bad as is being reported it would not of been allowed in the first place

I don't think this is true as is evident by the lack of public outcry/exodus. We shouldn't confuse the media narrative or the scandals as public outcry.

Many people just don't care that much. It's not your job to convince them because the opinion is ideological/subjective. It seems that many here think that if people don't see these often-voluntarily-provided privacy incursions as problematic, it is wrong and due to not being convinced properly or lack of education or whatever. In reality, people probably don't care (can't say for sure, I'm not one) because in the grand scheme of things, these problems are minimal.

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