Acro.net – Technology Rants & Raves by Acroplex®

Just four days ago I wrote about how a controversial new indirect taxation would affect thousands of .GR domains and their cash-starved operators; most of them Greek entrepreneurs operating portals, news web sites and forums.

That indirect taxation – called “aggeliosimo” – was meant to be an extension of the current taxation implemented onto press (magazine, newspapers) radio and television advertising.

The good news is, that by some unexplained reasoning that particular article was removed from the massive law up for voting this week at the Greek parliament.

Therefore, aggeliosimo no longer applies to Internet advertising.

Surely the backlash was enough for the law-drafting pencil pushers to realize that the introduction of the aggeliosimo tax was not only unethical, but also impractical to collect: Good luck with collecting that 21.5% aggeliosimo from Google Adwords advertisers.

It’s unfortunate that a lot of things in Greece are done under pressure and without much planning, when it comes down to technological progress. This is a lesson in provisioning laws according to their impact to society and business, not simply to collect a few “drachmas” here and there.

On occasion, I stray away from domains and technology, to comment on society and politics. And the recent gathering of world leaders in London for the G20 summit is one such occasion that I’d like to comment on.

The other day, I was reading random historic facts on Wikipedia. It’s fascinating to follow link upon link of events that occurred hundreds of years ago, following not a linear time-line, but a relationship of events amongst nations: wars, truces, invasions, occupations, abandonment of lands and strongholds.

And then, I take a look at the group photos of world leaders at the G20 summit – among them German, French, Italian, British, American, Turkish and Greek – all smiling at the cameras and at each other, cracking jokes and sharing lunch – like schoolkids at recess.

I can’t help it, and I wonder – what on earth is wrong with the human race?

We slit each other’s throats, we bombard each other’s homes, we leave the children orphaned and we destroy the hard-earned life of our fellow humans. And yet, as if nothing had happened, we can negotiate, we can discuss, we can party, we can touch, hug and kiss one another.

It’s this sensation of pseudo-euphoria that concerns me the most, as it’s almost always a prelude to major social and political unrest and eventually to war.

And those that do not learn from history, tend to repeat it.