Stop exploiting Internet users

Internet is today a commodity that many people cannot even imagine a day without having access to. It has become something like electricity. 

The government knows this very well. It also knows that Internet usage is not very flexible with the price of the privilege. In that sense it is like cigarettes or gasoline - no matter how high the price, there will always be people to use them. That is why whenever there is a need to increase funds, governments increase the tax burden on the Internet. 

Just yesterday the Turkish government issued a statement saying it was its intention to increase taxes by 1 percent on Internet access, cell phones and natural gas in order to fund local municipality budgets. The statement underlines the need to create 40 billion Turkish Liras worth of new funds for the debts of municipalities. 

As Serhat Ayan from TKNLJ.COM has written, it is bad enough that the government is once again punishing people for their need to be connected. But in reality it is much worse, as it is being done to pay municipality debts. 

Municipalities in Turkey have often hindered technological progress. As technology journalists we know many stories where municipalities have not allowed companies to lay fiber cables, or worse they have asked telecommunication companies to use the construction companies that they themselves have assigned, at higher prices than usual. 

Many municipalities have torn down cell phone bases just to ask for higher rents from telecommunication firms, and only a handful of municipalities use e-government services properly. Frankly, I don’t think any of them deserve more money from Internet or cell phone usage. 

The government must come to see technology as an area that it should promote, not as an industry from which it can earn quick cash. In countries like South Korea, the Internet has come to be seen as a human right and the state provides everyone with free Internet. 

There are millions of municipalities all over the world that promote Internet usage with free wi-fi spots. 
But I am very sorry to report that instead of trying to making the Internet cheaper, we in Turkey are finding ways to make it even more expensive. 

I guess our leaders think we deserve a mediocre level of Internet connectivity for the highest prices in the world. 

I urge our government to re-think this move to increase taxes on the Internet. It has become something like electricity. 

The government knows this very well. It also knows that Internet usage is not very flexible with the price of the privilege. In that sense it is like cigarettes or gasoline - no matter how high the price, there will always be people to use them. That is why whenever there is a need to increase funds, governments increase the tax burden on the Internet. 

Just yesterday the Turkish government issued a statement saying it was its intention to increase taxes by 1 percent on Internet access, cell phones and natural gas in order to fund local municipality budgets. The statement underlines the need to create 40 billion Turkish Liras worth of new funds for the debts of municipalities. 

As Serhat Ayan from TKNLJ.COM has written, it is bad enough that the government is once again punishing people for their need to be connected. But in reality it is much worse, as it is being done to pay municipality debts. 

Municipalities in Turkey have often hindered technological progress. As technology journalists we know many stories where municipalities have not allowed companies to lay fiber cables, or worse they have asked telecommunication companies to use the construction companies that they themselves have assigned, at higher prices than usual. 

Many municipalities have torn down cell phone bases just to ask for higher rents from telecommunication firms, and only a handful of municipalities use e-government services properly. Frankly, I don’t think any of them deserve more money from Internet or cell phone usage. 

The government must come to see technology as an area that it should promote, not as an industry from which it can earn quick cash. In countries like South Korea, the Internet has come to be seen as a human right and the state provides everyone with free Internet. 

There are millions of municipalities all over the world that promote Internet usage with free wi-fi spots. 
But I am very sorry to report that instead of trying to making the Internet cheaper, we in Turkey are finding ways to make it even more expensive. 

I guess our leaders think we deserve a mediocre level of Internet connectivity for the highest prices in the world. 

I urge our government to re-think this move to increase taxes on the Internet.