Laws in cyberspace (civil law) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Laws in cyberspace (civil law) - Essay Example However, the past 15 years have clearly shown that any activity carried-out on the internet is not only subject to rules, but these rules are stricter and more heavily enforced than those of the physical world. One needs only to look at the process of establishing and maintaining an online presence (website), the mediating efforts deployed by online shopping sites like eBay, the internet censorship imposed by certain countries and the direct transfer and strict application of copyright rules from the physical world to the internet. The mainstay of web presence for individuals and corporations alike has always been the website. John Barlow claimed that â€Å"We are creating a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity† (Barlow, 1996). It can be said that websites are the real estate of cyberspace, and although accessible to everyone, the process to obtain a website (from the domai n name to server space and bandwidth) is underpinned by a number of legally binding agreements between the user and the service provider. The scope of these agreements is to ensure i) compliance of the user with content and usage rules and ii) consent by the user to the recourses and sole authority of the service provider in case of a breach of content or usage rules. Indeed, because the internet relies on i) a physical infrastructure administered and maintained by service providers and ii) the preservation of goodwill of these service providers, the internet content hosted and transmitted by each individual service provider directly affects their goodwill. Therefore, websites with objectionable content ranging from child pornography to the promotion of hate crimes are routinely and rapidly removed from circulation by service providers in a sustained effort to avoid negative publicity, as was illustrated by Rackspace when they removed the website of Reverend Terry Jones promoting an ti-Islamic views last fall (Shaer, 2010). Therefore, John Barlow’s statement that freedom of expression is absolute on the internet is clearly wrong, as legally-binding agreements endow service providers with the authority to only allow conformal and non-offensive views to persist in cyberspace for any length of time. One of the internet-spawned phenomena which has rapidly evolved into an online shopping mainstay is eBay. John Barlow claimed that â€Å"Your legal concepts of property, (†¦) do not apply to us† (Barlow, 1996). eBay exists only to facilitate the transfer of ownership of material property between individuals, sometimes separated by great distances and located in distinct jurisdiction. Although typical eBay transactions usually take place without incident, there are a number of instances where eBay is asked by either party to mediate the resolution of a conflict regarding the property itself or the payment. The â€Å"Resolution Center† eBay empl oys is a court of sorts where both parties are invited to present their case and acknowledge eBay’s ultimate authority to rule on the transaction (â€Å"Resolving Transaction Problems in the Resolution Center†, n.d.). As our physical world encroaches more and more onto the internet with each passing day, John Barlow’s statements about the inapplicability of the traditional concept of property to

Accounting for Income Tax Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Accounting for Income Tax - Essay Example In the same way, the recognition of deferred tax liabilities and assets in combination of an entity has implications on the extent of goodwill that is realised in the recognised bargain purchase gain or in such an entity combination. Other areas that are dealt with by this standard include the recognition of differed tax assets that are generated from unused tax credits or unused tax losses, and the disclosure of income taxes information and the presentation of income taxes in the financial statements (EFRAG, 2011). According to IAS 12, the way, a liability is settled or the way an asset is recovered can have implications on either the item’s tax base or the relevant tax rate, or both. For example, if a vehicle is sold, indexation can be applied on it, in addition to tax deductions against the proceeds of its original cost. In other words, the tax base of the vehicle would act as the vehicle’s indexed cost. On the other hand, if the vehicle is used to run business with the purpose of making taxable profits, corporation tax allowances are not provided, and in that note, its tax base would be zero. It is, however, essential to know that the tax rates applied on use of an item or on sales differ from one jurisdiction to the other (EFRAG, 2011). Difficulties of applying and understanding IAS12 and provide examples. The standards are perceived by the users of financial statements as complex, incomplete and non-standardised. In particular, the information regarding the deferred tax is considered, by users, to be to be insufficient to an extent that it is difficult to forecast the future tax cash flows, accurately. Incidentally, it would have been much helpful if the users are able to understand the strategy applied by an entity, which should be coupled with clear clarifications on the treatment of tax expenses because users do not have the technical accounting knowledge to understand accounting irregularities and complex tax issues that characterise the financial statements. These limitations originate from lack of reflection of the economics of transactions by the accounting method, and from the current standard’s exceptions to the principles - IAS 12 requirements to recognise deferred tax on assets estimated at fair value, and long leasehold investment assets does not reveal the economic implications of recovering the property (EFRAG, 2011). In some jurisdictions, the seller is prohibited from deducting the cost of the property against the income following its use. In such a situation, the fair value of the property will show the present value of future cash flows minus the payments of future tax. Although the current provisions by IAS12 may not reveal the economic impacts of getting back the carrying amount in such situations, when the property is valued at fair value, the deferred tax liability reproduces a tax impact that is perhaps already featured in