It is rapidly becoming a major new threat, the industry's copyright watchdog warned on Wednesday. Piracy has become a huge black market industry that crosses continents and is backed by organized crime, said Adrian Strain of IFPI, the organization that represents the industry and seeks to pressure governments to get tough with the pirates. Wired News delivered to your inbox or hand-held device. Sponsored by Ericsson phones and accessories . Strain pointed the main finger of blame at Ukraine, Hong Kong, Poland, and Southeast Asian countries as the prime black market producers.
Pirates know no frontiers.
There has been an influx of CDs over the past year from Southeast Asia into Latin America. The IFPI reckoned that the worldwide CD market had climbed 20 percent in a year to a total of 400 million units. He stressed this was not some backstreet operation with small-time entrepreneurs. The European Community is currently debating new rules for getting tough with the pirates. We estimate there are up to 100 million illegal tracks on the Internet at one time.