Anyway, enough awards, I want some piracy news. So here goes. Authorities in Malaysia have been accused of failing to act on evidence that licensed CD factories in the country are producing pirated music, films and software. The Recording Industry Association of Malaysia says that, while the government there has made efforts to close down the illegal factories which helped make the country one of the world's largest exporters of pirated discs, they are ignoring evidence that suggests at least 12 of the 44 licensed CD manufacturers are also producing pirated goods.
The industry association says that forensic tests undertaken by the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry in the UK have proven that pirated CDs exported from Malaysia have come from licensed operations rather than one of the illegal set ups that the authorities have been proactively targeting. The association's chief executive, Tan Ngiap Foo, told reporters: "What we are concerned about is that the CD plants are still operating despite our complaints, so we do not know what form of action the government has taken. The forensic tests... [are] equivalent to DNA tests so we are able to trace the source of the manufacturer."