taxes

Editors' note: This is a guest post. See Michael Songer's bio below.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, we have seen a number of well-known legal disputes: legality of peer-to-peer services such as Napster and Grokster, cybersquatting, laws (trying) to regulate porn, even "veejay" Adam Curry trying to use the MTV domain name.

As we head into 2010 and beyond, here are some legal issues that are likely to careen through cyberspace in the next few years.

1. Lawsuits related to stupid/silly conduct shown on the Internet. The assimilation of broadband brought with it those "viral videos": … Read more

An Oklahoma City man who allegedly threatened on Twitter to turn a tax protest into a massacre has been arrested on suspicion of making interstate threats in what is believed to be the first federal prosecution based on posts made to the micro-blogging site.

The FBI arrested Daniel Knight Hayden, 52, after agents identified him as Twitter user CitizenQuasar. Using the micro-blogging site, Hayden allegedly threatened to start a "war" against the government at the Oklahoma City Capitol where a "Tea Party" tax protest was planned.

"START THE KILLING NOW! I am willing to be … Read more

Microsoft's latest anti-Apple campaign continues to draw fire, a sure sign that the company has finally at least gotten in the game.

The latest critique comes from BusinessWeek's Arik Hesseldahl. Hessedahl points out that the sticker price of the laptop is just the start of the comparison and suggests it is the Windows computer, rather than the Mac, that is loaded with hidden costs.

Microsoft, of course, made the opposite claim with it's "Apple Tax" return, which argued that owning a pair of Macs costs thousands more than two PCs over their lifetime.

And although … Read more

If a little-known but influential alliance of state politicians, large retailers, and tax collectors have their way, the days of tax-free Internet shopping may be nearly over.

A bill expected to be introduced in the U.S. Congress as early as Monday would rewrite the ground rules for mail order and Internet sales by eliminating what its supporters view as a "loophole" that, in many cases, allows Americans to shop over the Internet without paying sales taxes.

Currently, Americans who shop over the Internet from out-of-state vendors aren't always required to pay sales taxes at the time … Read more

Because of quirks in many state laws, sales taxes may be levied on CDs sold in storefronts but not on iTunes and other digital downloads. It's a situation that recession-weary, tax-hungry politicians are hoping to change.

A growing number of states are considering laws to tax digital goods, such as iTunes songs, Amazon MP3s, or electronic books. Yet at a time when governments say they want to encourage broadband adoption and the development of a low-carbon economy, opponents say taxing digital goods sends exactly the wrong message.

Mississippi is one of the latest states to write into law a … Read more

Open a new text message, enter your Social Security number and a security code sent to you by mail, and zip it off to the Department of the Treasury. Your income taxes are now filed.

Sound like a dream? It's not.

This is how lots of Swedish people will file their income taxes in May, as they have for the last five years. So what's the downside?

What Swedes actually do with their cell phone is sign a tax declaration that has already been prepared by the country's tax authority, officially called Skatteverket. It already knows everything … Read more

CNET News' Declan McCullagh explains the patchwork of statutes governing the tax treatment of digital downloads as well as the online purchase of goods and services. The long and short of it: make sure you know what to do before mailing in that envelope.

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Microsoft and technology analyst Roger Kay have made a couple of changes to their charts outlining the "Apple Tax," but the update does little to address broader critiques of their math.

On Monday, Microsoft noted that it has updated both Kay's white paper and the accompanying blog post and chart to reflect the fact that both failed to take into account Apple's latest hardware specifications. The new paper and chart use slightly different models on the PC side.

However, the main points I (and others) made last week regarding Microsoft's bad math haven't changed. … Read more

Two things to remember as you prepare to file your taxes: If you get an e-mail from the IRS, it's probably a scam. And don't forget the stamp.

As the April 15 tax filing date nears, online tax-related scams tend to ratchet up, experts say. If you're not careful, you could lose a lot more than just the refund.

"Filing your taxes online is extremely convenient, however if you want to maintain the privacy of your data, you need to ensure that you are connecting to the proper Web site, that the connection is using encryption, … Read more