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.
By Barrie | Permalink
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Comments
I’m sure that most of us have been happy to buy CDs and DVDs in Bali at bargain prices. This is not, in almost all cases, robbing the copyright owners and other legitimate commercial interests, because we wouldn’t be buying these items at the usual exorbitant prices anyway. What it is doing is enabling some poor Balinese or Javanese small business people to earn enough money to put rice on the family table.
If their businesses are closed down by govt action, what other options do they have to earn a meagre living?
While holidaying in bali at the end of March this year, all of the dvd shops had closed up. When I asked around, I found out that the Indonesian Police had come to Bali to crack down on dvd piracy. They stayed shut for a couple of days and later timidly sought customers by partially opening their doors and seeking out customers off the streets. I thought it was funny. Kind of like the 3 little pigs story. If I don’t open the door, you can’t arrest me scenario.
Buying pirated dvds in Bali is cheap and part of the holiday, but it’s really a lot more about going to Bali, a great place.
As for DVD’s, most people I know who buy pirated dvd’s also have a large number of legitimate ones, myself included. I am in no way condoning crime. If it were my movie being copied I would be devasted.
And as for the social issue about living, existing and crime, I’m Australian. Our white colonization was based on convicts stealing food to eat. If we had dvd burners back then, we would still be in England.
I really fail to see the point in watching a Rp 5000 DVD on an entertainment system costing close to $50,000.
Hi chris yes i agree with you why put a 5.000rp dvd on a $50.000 sound system you can well and truly buy the legitimate ones unfortunatly there is a lot of people out in the real world that can not do that ,i am luckey enough to be able to go to bali every year for our holidays and yes i am guilty of buying many dvd so as long as these shops are still operating we can rest assure these balanese familys have enough money to put food on the table. UMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmm
What if you are found to be in possession of copied DVD, can you get into trouble for this in Indonesia, are there any known cases???