Monday, October 27, 2014

Hungarian protesters urge PM Orban to scrap Internet tax...

More than 10,000 people marched in Budapest on Sunday to demand the scrapping of a proposed tax on Internet usage that critics of Prime Minister Viktor Orban call his latest anti-democratic measure.

"There will be no Internet tax... we will block it," organiser Balazs Gulyas told the crowd to cheers.

"If the tax is not scrapped within 48 hours, we will be back again," he said.

The crowd held smartphone torches aloft outside the economy ministry in an echo of recent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, and held signs with slogans such as "Free Wifi! Free Internet! Free Hungary!"

Announcing the levy last Tuesday, Economy Minister Mihaly Varga said the tax -- 150 forints (0.50 euros, $0.61) on each transferred gigabyte of data -- was needed to help shore up the 2015 budget of one of the EU's most indebted nations. Full story...

Related posts:
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  4. How the web lost its way – and its founding principles...
  5. John Oliver's Net neutrality response swamps FCC...

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