UK government looking to take control of the online arena
We recently covered a report by the Office of Fair Trading into information farmed from the Internet by various UK retail sites. In some cases this information, which has been collected anonymously, has been used to try and predict customer requirements, customer activity and also to pitch items and services at "acceptable prices". In essence, many Internet users are having their activity recorded and analysed to try and increase the profitability of many UK online companies.
The report by the Office of Fair Trading suggested that there is concern within the government and the regulatory arena as to whether this information is being used correctly and stored securely. This would appear to be step one of a major increase in government activity and government involvement in the online arena which has the potential to dwarf the traditional UK tax income streams in the future.
We have already seen the UK government attempt to get more involved in the online gambling arena where the potential taxing income is enormous. This new investigation into the retail sector may well be a cynical attempt to reach a compromise agreement between the government, regulators and UK retailers to give the government its "fair share" of taxation.
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