An article on Suntimes.com learns us that also professional piracy of music is getting more populair. Because of cheaper equipment it's easy to copy the CDs and while CDs are way to expensive there is a big market for pirated CDs.
Rip-off recordings have been around since Elvis and his hound dog. But where once a pirate needed considerable space and equipment for pressing vinyl records, today's technology can turn a kitchen into a printing plant, said Frank Creighton, director of anti-piracy for the RIAA. |
A pirate in the '70s, for example, duplicating Led Zeppelin's "Houses of the Holy" for sale on counterfeit cassettes, would have needed about $200,000 worth of equipment and factory space, Creighton said.
Now, the necessary equipment can be had for $2,000 or so.
"In the cassette days, you might have a couple dozen [pirates] in a major city. Now, you've got 40 or 50 smaller operations'' in major metro areas, he said.
The counterfeit CDs end up for sale at gas stations, festivals and flea markets, and on the Internet. An investigation in late January by Gurnee police, acting on a tip from Sony Music, busted the operator of a kiosk at Gurnee Mills mall for selling pirated compilation CDs that included hits by R&B artist Destiny's Child and rapper Memphis Bleek, Detective Jesse Gonzalez said.
While professional copiers are actually thieves and their job can't be justified, I think the main public won't put them at the same level as 'normal' thieves. As far as I know most people have even sympathy for them, oh oh RIAA when will you wake up ?
Source: Suntimes.com
