Vietnam destroys discs, books in piracy purge
HANOI - Nearly 36,000 music, video and computer discs, 60,000 print advertisements
and 15,668 books have been destroyed in the Vietnamese capital in a purge
against piracy and "cultural pollution", officials said.
Over 450 calendars and 1,097 advertising banners were also incinerated on
Thursday in the third crackdown of the year in Hanoi against unlicensed and
pirated goods.
"We destroyed these products mainly because they were fake or unauthorised
copies rather than because they contained poisonous material," an official from
the city's culture and information department said.
However, he added that some of VCDs contained pornography.
The majority of the books that were set alight were illegal copies of best-sellers,
but there were also some with "superstitious" content, the official said.
Vietnam's communist government still remains suspicious about pagan and other
traditional beliefs, fearing they could undermine its grip on power.
This year, departmental inspectors have imposed more than 709 million dong
(46,340 dollars) against shopkeepers in fines and confiscated 105,093 discs and
33,586 books, the official said.
However, the total number of discs destroyed is likely to be a drop in the ocean
compared to the real number produced and sold on an annual basis.
Most bootlegged discs are smuggled in from abroad, particularly Cambodia and
China, and are often sold by shops who have paid off local police to turn a blind
eye.
The Business Software Alliance, a global software watchdog, ranked Vietnam as
its worst offender for 2001, saying 94 percent of all computer programs in use in
the country were pirated.
Piracy is a flourishing industry in Vietnam, with everything from make-up to
designer luggage available for sale.
Agence France Presse - November 22, 2002.
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