Foreign Trade

About a week ago I sold some shoes on Ebay to a very kind fellow in Norway. Aside from it being my first transaction on the site, it wasn't the easiest because shipping to other countries comes with all kinds of rules that are specific to each nation's customs' policy. In Norway, if the package is marked a gift and valued around $60, customs can charge up to $145 in taxes and fees (of course that would be converted to the Krone). That's just a general price range, but taxes can get pretty high if you don't know the little tricks to getting around them (such as keeping the price value low on the package). What really caught my interest, however, were the importation regulations (what a cool phrase!) found on the USPS website. It's pretty much a given that firearms, alcohol, etc etc are going to pop up on nearly every country's list, but I found it strange that, in Norway, they listed these as prohibited:

Importation of radio and telecommunications equipment (equipment like radio remote controls or other wireless systems including walkie-talkies, remote controls, and wireless telephones) is prohibited without the authorization of the Norwegian Telecommunication Regulatory Authority, Olso. Ordinary TV and radio receivers are exempt from the regulation. Any imported dutiable equipment must be reported to the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation by the importer.

Ugh, I'm still getting used to blogger again, so I can't figure out how to reformat this into a regular post and not a "quote." Looks like the rest of this post will be indented. Things like this really get under my skin, but moving on...

SO, not to sound as tweaked out as this lady (god, I love her...), but what up Norway? What do you know that I don't? Because I'd really like to swap notes...

Most people are already aware of China's strict monitoring of social media, blocking sites such as Twitter and Facebook in an attempt to mold public discourse, discouraging the likes of cyber bulling to cyber warfare. Last year, according to the New York Times, China implemented another regulation on micro-blogging: users had to use their real names and actual biographical information so the government could keep a veerrrry watchful eye amongst who was saying what. The government claimed that this was only to follow trends in public opinion, but couldn't that still be done if the users remained anonymous, anyway? I mean, I get paranoid enough using my real name on the internet and I'm under a pretty damn liberal jurisdiction. My irrational fear is that Red China will track me down and hide me in some prison cell just for this sardonic post. Eek.

This was a bit of a tangent, but as far as radio equipment in Norway is concerned, all I really could find was a post that discussed Norway's aid to Sri Lankan gorilla groups in broadcasting underground militant radio. Again, just another highlighted incident of information being treated like smuggled cocaine.