Other Crap

"Bootlegs flood foreign market" ... U.S. music, software, and movie companies struggle

• Here is something I didn't know: "In Bolivia, vendors of pirated media have formed unions, and they held a trade convention last July to plan their defense against government crackdowns."
• Bolivian vendors get most of their illegal DVDs and music CDs from Peru, often months before the titles are officially released. Pirated copies of King Kong arrived in Bolivia two months before the film debuted in 56 countries, including the United States, on Dec. 14."
• When I worked in Peru, I was fascinated by the stores. Virtually every product on every shelf looks just like a U.S. or European brand, but few of them are. The piracy is not restricted to just a few industries, but runs as deep as (for example) baby shampoo by "Johnsin and Johnsin" - in a bottle absolutely indistinguishable from the original except for that one letter.
• In Egypt, several shop keepers told me that they were selling legal, authorized CD's, even though I could see that the artists' names were misspelled!