21–30 of 92 posts
public means public, if something is paid for by tax money, it should be licensed for public use
I was about to call that the Rundfunkbeitrag is not legally a tax (Steuer), but a tax (Beitrag). For some reason that difference does not seem to exist in English and it translates to the same word??
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are possibly illegal or at least against the law's spirit, which is ironic, because Heise is a relatively well respected publisher among German IT professionals.
I think they are legal because the requirement is that you have an option to "deny all" which they provide. That you must subscribe to the "Pur-Abo" to use this option doesn't matter.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are possibly illegal or at least against the law's spirit, which is ironic, because Heise is a relatively well respected publisher among German IT professionals.
I think they are legal because the requirement is that you have an option to "deny all" which they provide. That you must subscribe to the "Pur-Abo" to use this option doesn't matter.
EDIT: Looks like it is only broken for me in FireFox...
Why was the original title changed? They aren't open sourcing anything today. They are planning to develop new tech which they might open source. But all this still has to be approved by the regulator and the government. That said, I have seen some of the tech from the inside ~10 years ago. The ARD player was developed by a third party and there was no budget to bring this in house. Things might have changed but redo…
ca. 2003, I'm getting rid of my tv-card which has been free until now, or else I have to pay a fee...
ca. 2010, They've got a website now, if you have a computer or phone, you gotta pay the fee...
great... now I have to pay the fee because I have a github... or what
ca. 2000s, I'm getting rid of my TV because if you have one in Germany, you have to pay the fee... ca. 2003, I'm getting rid of my tv-card which has been free until now, or else I have to pay a fee... ca. 2010, They've got a website now, if you have a computer or phone, you gotta pay the fee... great... now I have to pay the fee because I have a github... or what
ca. 2000s, I'm getting rid of my TV because if you have one in Germany, you have to pay the fee... ca. 2003, I'm getting rid of my tv-card which has been free until now, or else I have to pay a fee... ca. 2010, They've got a website now, if you have a computer or phone, you gotta pay the fee... great... now I have to pay the fee because I have a github... or what
ca. 2015, you have to pay it anyway, with no exemptions
ca. 2020, they start randomly sending out delay penalties, even if you are late by days, without ever notifying you of the due dates
ca. 2022, they sneakily shift the 3-months fee forward, first you can pay it at the end of the period, then in the middle month, then soon at the beginning
meanwhile, the programming gets worse and worse every year. Then they get surprised if people vote for parties which promise to abolish it.
Not exactly the most ambitious project, is it. Besides the fact that both ARD and ZDF majorly struggle with the content itself in terms of quality and availability (it's not an archive, everything disappears quickly). One day they'll figure out this internet neuland thing ;)