Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Around 100,000 Hungarians rally for democracy as internet tax hits nerve...

About 100,000 Hungarians rallied on Tuesday night to protest at a planned tax on data traffic and the broader course of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government they saw as undermining democracy and relations with European Union peers.

It was by far the largest protest since his center-right government took power in 2010 and pursued moves to redefine many walks of life, drawing accusations of creeping authoritarianism, although it was re-elected by a landslide this year.

Orban's government has imposed special taxes on the banking, retail, energy and telecommunications sectors to keep the budget deficit in check, jeopardizing profits in some parts of the economy and unnerving international investors.

The Internet data levy idea was first floated in the 2015 tax code submitted to the Central European country's parliament last week, triggering objections from Internet service providers and users who felt it was anti-democratic. Full story...

Related posts:
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  2. Hungary looks to levy big tax on internet use...
  3. How the govt’s shadow Internet kills yours...
  4. Web Magna Carta: WWW inventor Tim Berners-Lee calls for ‘online bill of rights’
  5. How the web lost its way – and its founding principles...
  6. John Oliver's Net neutrality response swamps FCC...

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