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Thread ID: 116890	2011-03-24 19:13:00	What? No 'War brides'?	SurferJoe46 (51)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1189059	2011-03-24 19:13:00	In a 'bring the boys home' push to recall the many companies that found foreign shores more green or golden, the US is testing the waters on a new tax-incentive: A 'TAX HOLIDAY', as they call it:: (with necessary credits and licensing per: GMSV) SiliconValley . com Good Morning Silicon Valley Next on list of Woe is Google: antitrust By Levi Sumagaysay It’s only Thursday, but it’s been a tough week for Google . The big news was the huge setback for its quest to create a massive digital library by scanning in millions of books, some of which raise issues of copyright . In a look at what’s next for Google Books, the New York Times’ Claire Cain Miller reports that among the options is taking the fight to Congress to push for a law for access to “orphan works,” or books whose copyright owners cannot be found . In ruling against Google’s hard-fought settlement with publishers, which would have let the company resume work on the project, the judge also brought up antitrust concerns . The antitrust drumbeat is getting louder . Bloomberg reported last night that Ohio and Wisconsin may be looking into opening antitrust investigations of Google to examine whether the Behemoth of Search and More is using its might to harm competition . The article also points out that Texas — which led off the scrutiny of and eventual federal antitrust case against Microsoft nearly 15 years ago — is questioning Google about its business practices as well . Bloomberg’s unidentified sources say there is currently no federal antitrust inquiry into Google . In November, the European Union opened an antitrust investigation of Google, prompted by accusations that Google is favoring its own services over competitors’ when it returns online search rankings . Google has other troubles in Europe: This week, France fined Google for what the company calls inadvertent collection of personal data picked up by its Street View vehicles over unsecured WiFi connections from 2007 to 2010 . The first-ever fine for Google’s privacy headache amounts to less than $150,000, which is pocket change for the company . But with about 30 countries complaining about the issue, the fine may not be the last . QUOTED: “(Zynga) let us know there is no way in the world that they can go public and pay payroll tax on all their employee stock options . They mostly just dropped that in our laps and suggested we fix it pronto or watch them drive away south . ” — An unnamed San Francisco official . . . . . . . . . on Zynga asking the city for the same tax break that is being considered for Twitter . Gerry Shih (sic?) of the Bay Citizen reports that despite having a seven-year lease on its current offices, the 1,200-person online social games startup has joined other companies that have approached San Francisco with their hands out as the city weighs waiving payroll and stock-options taxes for Twitter and other companies located in a certain zone . If approved — over the objections of community and union groups — the Twitter deal would give about $57 million in tax breaks over six years to the microblogging company, according to the San Francisco Bay Guardian . Privately held Zynga, which according to a recent Wall Street Journal article is valued at up to $10 billion, could file for its IPO next year, the New York Times’ DealBook recently reported . Twitter has also yet to go public; it is reportedly valued at $7 . 7 billion . The tech push for a tax holiday to ‘Win America ( . newsletters . siliconvalley . com/hwqnbcfghhnzwpqmzsrwqzlgjlzndrjwdscrpdcfbmqcnc_iby" target="_blank">click1 . newsletters . siliconvalley . com bcvmbhdhd . html)’: Not as sexy as tablets, we know, but here’s more talk about tax breaks . American corporations are stepping up the push for repatriation — a one-time tax reduction on up to $1 trillion earned by companies overseas — saying they would spend their tax savings to help boost the U . S . economy . Among the supporters of the tax holiday are Silicon Valley biggies: Adobe Systems, Apple, Cisco Systems, Google, Oracle . TechNet — whose members include eBay, Facebook, Intel, Netflix and Yahoo — also is behind the push . The repatriation crowd borrows from President Obama’s State of the Union speech in January, in which he challenged Americans to “win the future”; its new website is called Win America . We talked a little bit about the repatriation push last year, when prominent Silicon Valley execs such as Cisco’s John Chambers were talking it up . (See Double Irish and Dutch Sandwich might sound delicious, but they’re taxing . Just ask Google ( . newsletters . siliconvalley . com/hwsnbcfghhnzwpqmzsrwqzlgjlzndrjwdscrpdcfbmqcnh_iby" target="_blank">click1 . newsletters . siliconvalley . com bcvmbhdhd . html) . )	SurferJoe46 (51)
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