Police Raids Crackdown on Pirate DVDs

DVD shops are everywhere in Bali, literally. There always seems to be a new shop opening up every day selling pirated copies of the latest movies and music to suit all tastes, and, tourists are buying up big.

A friend of mine in Bali last year bought over 300 pirated movies!. I was astounded. Okay, so they are copied but do we ever think about copyright laws on the films or those musicians who slaved away compiling an album only to see their royalties disappear?. Probably not as you happily hand your carefully crafted list of movies you desire over to the shopkeeper.

I must admit I have bought one or two of these pirated movies and the bloody things haven't worked. That’s karma I guess. But for the price you pay they are good value if you can get over the obvious mistakes in the pirate production.

It hasn't happened in Bali, yet, but no doubt it is coming and I am talking about a major crackdown on pirated DVD films and music. An article in the JP explained just that when the police in Jakarta, as part of their commitment to eradicating piracy, confiscated 418,000 pirated compact discs, video compact discs and digital video discs from stores and warehouses across Greater Jakarta in a 13 day operation beginning June 10.

The police arrested seven suspected pirated disc makers and confiscated 14 replicating machines and six boxes of DVD covers and seized one replicating machine comprising a DVD player and nine CD writers which can make about 30,000 copies a day. About two million pirated discs circulate in the country every day with an average sale price of Rp 5,000 to 8,000 each compared to the price of an original disc which ranges between Rp 45,000 and Rp 200,000.

The prevailing laws on movies and intellectual property rights as well as the Criminal Code stipulate that a person found guilty of piracy could face up to three years jail. However, weak law enforcement has allowed the production and sales of pirated discs to flourish.