FRIDAY, MARCH 08, 2002
Vietnam cracks down on pornography
AP
HANOI, Vietnam: Vietnam is launching a nationwide crackdown on pirated and pornographic videotapes, compact discs, VCDs and DVDs, an official said on Friday.
Tan Lai Khieu, chief inspector of the Ministry of Culture and Information, said the ministry has instructed its branches in all 61 cities and provinces
to launch the campaign on Saturday.
Inspection teams will target video rental shops, markets and places which are notorious for piracy in the crackdown, which is expected to last until the end of this month, he said.
Khieu said the intensified crackdown was triggered by local media reports that pornographic videotapes and VCDs are sold openly in some places in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the country's southern commercial centre.
Pirated copies of the latest Hollywood movies and music albums are widely available in major Vietnamese cities, with CDs selling for as little as 10,000 dong (65 cents).
The pirated copies are smuggled from China and also produced in Vietnam.
The Communist Party newspaper Nhan Dan (People) reported on Friday that authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have confiscated nearly 80,000 CDs and VCDs and more than 3,000 videotapes in raids over the past two months.
Vietnam and the United States signed a trade agreement last year which requires Vietnam to observe intellectual copyrights in exchange for lower US tariffs on Vietnamese goods.
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