Fighting piracy
Mum..mum.. look! That’s Superman! I want Superman..I love Superman..Little J was so thrilled and excited when he saw that full-page colored advertisement on the most awaited superhero movie Superman Returns in theStar yesterday. The picture of a guy flying around in a blue spandex suit, a red cape and a pair of red underwear flashed at me. Being a Superhero known to every living being, Superman has been one of the most successful Superhero ever. We headed for the big silver screen in Golden Screen Cinema, USJ Summit today, our favorite cinema, to let my two Js experience their first Superman movie.
At the entrance, we were surprised to see an unusually long queue. What a good response, I was thinking. As we approached the entrance, I realized the reason for the long queue as the staff kindly told me that it was a procedure to check the bags of the cinema’s patrons for video cam! Even ladies’ handbags were not spared!
Malaysia is one of the countries to have an early release of Superman Returns, premiered on 29th June. Just before the movie started, the lights were on, and a staff actually made an announcement that their staffs will make their patrols throughout the movie in case someone decided to "duplicate" the movie.
Piracy in VCD is nothing new in Malaysia. How many of us have not bought a pirated VCD or DVD before? Do you know that buying a pirated VCD or DVD is equivalent to stealing, committing a crime? Stealing intellectual rights, that is. While our government is doing their best to curb piracy with the on-going raids, unless we, the public (tax payers!) are educated on how the piracy will affect us, piracy will be there to stay. Supply is based on demand. Just imagine how much funds are wasted to curb piracy when those funds can be chanelled to health care, education, public amenities, etc. Who suffers? We, the tax payers!
Well, people, isn’t that worth a thought the next time a mobile VCD vendors approach you?
