Hong Kong: Intellectual Property Piracy and the Internet
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb025882 |
| Pages | 185-189 |
| Date | 01 April 1998 |
| Published date | 01 April 1998 |
| Author | David Fitzpatrick |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
Journal
of
Financial Crime
—
Vol.
6
No.
2 —
International
Hong Kong: Intellectual Property Piracy and
the
Internet
David Fitzpatrick
HONG KONG TAKES
TO
THE INTERNET
It
is to be
expected that Hong Kong's population
would take strongly
to the
Internet,
if
only because
there
are few
competing attractions
in the
Special
Administration Region. Local television
is
dis-
tinctly low-brow
and the
great outdoors
are
poiso-
nously polluted. According
to the
Office
of the
Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) there
are
presently about 300,000 Internet users
in
Hong
Kong (population
6.2
million)
and the
volume
of
traffic
has
increased from
30
million minutes
in
April
1996 to 1.1
billion minutes
in the
corres-
ponding month
in
1997.1
Copyright piracy
The Internet's potential
to
facilitate legitimate
business
is
still
a
matter
of
wild speculation,
but
regional commentators suggest
a
massive impact
upon
all
channels
of
commerce.2
It is
certain that
Hong Kong will realise
any
potential
to the
full.
It
is also likely that
the
same entrepreneurial flair
for
which
the
Cantonese
are
famed will also
be
dem-
onstrated
by
those
who
take part
in the
illegitimate
trade. Hong Kong's criminal element have
led the
way
in the
past: gangsters
and
prostitutes were
among
the
first
to
exploit electronic pagers
and
Hong Kong
was at the
centre
of the
international
trade
in
fake Apple
IIs in the
early 1980s. Despite
vigorous countermeasures from
the
authorities
and
strong support from
the
courts there
is a
massive
market
in
Hong Kong selling fake
CDs
incorporat-
ing sound recordings, software
and a
wide range
of
newly released films.3
Daddy, what was your first
hit on the
Internet?
Even when
the
wires, hype
and
lawyers have been
pushed aside
it is
plain
to all
that there
is a
revolu-
tion
in
progress.
The
Internet,
at
present
or in the
very near future, will support:
(i) world-wide, real time dissemination
of
sound
recordings, moving pictures
and
databases;
(ii) electronic delivery world-wide
of
any product
that
can be
digitised
and
downloaded, that
is,
software, sound
and
video recordings, books
and magazines;
(iii)
the
direct provision
of
services, both legit-
imate
and
illegitimate: financial services,
insurance, legal
and
medical advice, travel
and
holiday arrangements; escort agencies, gam-
bling
and
pornography;
(iv) international advertising
and the
offer
for
sale
Page
185
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