Hungary proposes a tax on internet usage

On Sunday night, tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest against a proposed internet tax that they say would limit freedom of expression and cripple online companies.

A bill was submitted to the Hungarian parliament that calls for a tax of 150 forint ($US$0.62} on every gigabyte of data.

A spokesman for a Facebook group said the proposed tax would undermine technological development and hurt internet providers. Tens of thousands of protesters turn out in Budapest in response.

One of the companies that would be adversely affected would be the Wigner Research Centre for Physics in Budapest. It acts as the main extension data center for CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, since 2012. CERN’s data center processes about one petabyte of data every day.

The main party that proposed the tax tried to modify the proposal. It planned to put forward a motion on Monday to cap the tax at 700 forints (US$2.88) per month which would only be paid by ISPs and not by subscribers.

There will be another protest tomorrow.