Cheap Chinese Hardware Drives Pakistani Piracy

The US government may have removed Pakistan from its global pirates watch list but optical disc piracy is thriving in the country, ushering in a new age of technology-driven entertainment.

Initially VHS was all the rage, followed by the hugely popular VCD. Now, for pirates and consumers alike, the format of choice is DVD or digital video disc.

VCDs and even VHS tapes are still being traded but the engine driving the illegal recording business is clearly the DVD.

“Cheap DVD drives and Chinese DVD players have facilitated the switch to the new technology, coupled with the abundance of films available on DVD at affordable rates,” Zafar Ali, a recording maestro, explained. “You can buy a DVD which holds four or even six films for just Rs80 and the same can be rented for Rs15,” he said.

With customs authorities under strict orders to be on the lookout for any consignment leaving the country, it appears that DVD production is now geared solely towards domestic consumption.

This is a far cry from the situation a year ago when a sudden spike in optical grade polycarbonate shipments to Pakistan at the end of 2004 alerted the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Pakistan was subsequently charged with counterfeit optical disc production for export purposes, prompting the Federal Investigation Agency to shut down manufacturing plants and assembly lines in all major cities.

According to officials, the ICE attaché in Pakistan also pressed local authorities to take punitive action against the exporters of pirated optical discs such as DVDs, VCDs and audio CDs.

Shipments to Pakistan of optical grade polycarbonate were said to have jumped by about 30 per cent. An estimated 230 million optical discs were then being produced in the country, including 205 million for export.

This blatant disregard for international law led to a petition by US copyright protection groups asking the American administration to suspend Pakistan from the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) because the country had become a global hub of audio and video piracy.

As a result, Pakistan’s Ministry of Commerce went into overdrive to discourage the export of optical discs.

Some 140 developing countries reportedly export nearly 3,500 products to the US under the GSP without having to pay customs duties. Pakistan’s exports to the US under this programme stood at roughly $94 million in 2004.

Prior to President George Bush’s meeting with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in January this year, the US Trade Representative’s office dropped an imminent threat to cut off trade benefits for Pakistan.

The US authorities reportedly relented in light of steps taken by the country to crack down on piracy involving American music, movies and software.

Once the commercial threat had been averted, leniency crept in. Amazingly not a single optical disc retail outlet at Rainbow Centre closed down, giving credence to the view that piracy was down for a while but by no means out.

“We also deal in imported pirated DVDs besides locally produced discs,” said a video dealer.

Local banks, which provided the cash for the huge initial investment in optical disc manufacturing plants, are puzzled over the seizure of such factories.

Story source: thepeninsulaqatar.com.