Monday, December 15, 2008

Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs: A Guide for Librarians and Archivists


Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs: A Guide for Librarians and Archivists

by Fred R. Byers

October 2003

Copublished by Council on Library and Information Resources and National Institute of Standards and Technology

Contents

National Institute of Standards and Technology
About the Author
Author's Acknowledgments
Quick Reference Guide

1. Introduction

1.1 Scope of This Guide
1.2 Use of Terms: Information, Content, and Data
1.3 Comparative Stability of Optical Discs and Other Media
1.4 CDs and DVDs: Operation and Variety

2. Ensuring That Your Digital Content Remains Available

3. Disc Structure

3.1 Polycarbonate (Plastic) Substrate Layer
3.2 Data Layer
3.2.1 Data Layer in ROM Discs
3.2.2 Data Layer in R Discs
3.2.3 Data Layer in RW and RAM discs
3.3 Metal (Reflective) Layer
3.3.1 Metal Layer in RW, ROM, and RAM Discs
3.3.2 Metal Layer in R Discs
3.3.3 Metal Layers in Double-Layer DVD-ROM Discs
3.4 Lacquer (Metal Protective) Layer (CDs)
3.5 Optional Surface Layer

4. How Long Can You Store CDs and DVDs and Use Them Again?

4.1 CD-ROM, DVD-ROM Discs
4.2 CD-R, DVD-R, DVD+R Discs
4.3 CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM Discs

5. Conditions That Affect CDs and DVDs

5.1 Environmental Conditions
5.1.1 Temperature and Relative Humidity
5.1.2 Light Exposure
5.1.3 Moisture
5.1.4 Organic Solvents
5.1.5 Magnetism, X-rays, Microwaves, and Radiation
5.1.6 Individual Disc Storage
5.2 Surface-Handling Effects
5.2.1 Scratches on the Laser-Reading Side of CDs and DVDs
5.2.2 Scratches on the Label Side of CDs
5.2.3 Scratches on the Label Side of Single-Sided DVDs
5.2.4 Fingerprints, Smudges, Dirt, and Dust
5.2.5 Marking
5.2.6 Flexing
5.2.7 Application of Adhesive Labels
5.2.8 Disc Surface Printing
5.3 Wear from Disc Play

6. Cleaning

Appendix 1: Commercially Available CD/DVD Disc Types
Appendix 2: Optical Media Drive Types and How They Handle Different Disc Types

Glossary
Bibliography

Tables

Table 1: Disc type, read/record type, data layer, and metal layer
Table 2: Dye type and color appearance—CD-R discs (recordable discs)
Table 3: Recommended storage parameters from different sources

Figures

Figure 1: User-removable storage-media timeline
Figures 2, 3: Layers that make up ROM discs
Figures 4, 5: Layers that make up R discs
Figures 6, 7: Layers that make up RW and RAM discs
Figures 8, 9: Two types of double-layer, single-sided DVD-ROM construction
Figures 10, 11: Two types of double-sided DVD-ROM construction
Figure 12: Printable or markable areas of the disc

Source: http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub121/contents.html

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Join Me in Making History ...from Michael Moore

Mon, Sep 22, 2008 at 3:37 PM

Friends,

This is it. The time has arrived! At midnight tonight, you can be one of the first people ever to legally download, for FREE, a brand new, feature-length film. It's my new movie, "Slacker Uprising," and I'm giving it to you as a gift of thanks for coming to my films over the 20 years I've been a filmmaker.

It's also one of my contributions to help get out the vote November 4th. That's why I'm giving you my blanket permission to not only download it, but also to email it, burn it, and share it with anyone and everyone (in the U.S. and Canada only). I want you to use "Slacker Uprising" in any way you see fit to help with the election or to do the work that you do in your community. You can show my film in your local theater, your high school classroom, your college auditorium, your church, union hall or community center. You can have your friends and neighbors over to the house for a viewing. You can broadcast it on TV, on cable access, on regular channels or on the web. It's completely free -- I don't want to see a dime from this. And if you want, you can charge admission or ask for a donation if it's to raise money for a candidate, a voter drive, or for any non-profit or educational purpose. In other words -- it's yours!

"Slacker Uprising" chronicles the 62-city tour I did leading up to the 2004 election. It is electrifying to see the tens of thousands of young people who were ready then for the uprising -- and who, this year, are actually making it happen. This is my concert film tribute to the young voters who are going to save this country from four more years of Republican rule.

There are a number of ways, beginning at midnight tonight, that you can download or stream "Slacker Uprising" thanks to our distributor, Brave New Films:

1) Blip.tv will provide standard resolution streaming, free of commercials and advertising.
2) Amazon Video on Demand will provide a high quality version of the above stream.
3) iTunes will make it easy for you to download "Slacker Uprising" on your iTunes, iPod, or Apple TV, and view it there or transmit it to your television. This way, the film can be portable as well as for home viewing.
4) Hypernia is providing bandwidth, servers and management to host "Slacker Uprising" online, so you can download the film and view it at any time or burn it onto a DVD.

I am fortunate to have all these great people bringing you my movie for free. There will be no ads and they have all agreed to supply their services free of charge. All of them wanted to be part of this historic moment when the first major feature-length movie is being released for free on the internet.

(For those of you who don't download, there will be a low-cost DVD available.)

This past Thursday we held the world premiere of "Slacker Uprising" in Ann Arbor (you can read about it here). The response was incredible and I want to encourage you to screen this movie with large groups. I believe it will inspire our get-out-the-vote efforts at a time when we need to get millions registered in the next two weeks.

Thanks again for all your support over the years. I hope you'll like my new film. It's all yours, anytime after midnight tonight. Enjoy!

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
SlackerUprising.com
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. I'll be doing a live chat, tonight at 11:00 PM ET, on Daily Kos, in the hour countdown leading up to the internet release of my film. Hope to see you online!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Stop The Cycle Now!


SToP THe CycLE Now!
CDs, DVDs, and the Reduction of Optical Media Waste


Rationale:

Electronic waste products count among those toxic materials and hard-to-recycle plastics. The 21st century’s mind-boggling technological obsolescence issue and voluminous amount of electronic production pose additional problems to our currently ill managed waste disposal system. This IEC material seeks to address this issue by providing alternatives in production and disposal of one of the most common electronic media – the optical discs.

Green Living Tips (2008) notes that “CDs and DVDs are made from various lacquers and aluminum and sometimes gold; but by far most of their weight is the polycarbonate plastic - yet another plastic made from crude oil.” For this reason, they are incredibly challenging to recycle. It is said that they don't break down readily and over time can release Bisphenol A, a toxic chemical which has health implications (Green Living Tips 2008).

Being a popular data storage format, CDs and DVDs proliferate almost everywhere. Music, video, data discs and increasing amounts of advertising material nowadays come on CD and DVD media. Furthermore, with the high level of poverty in the Philippines, the selling of cheap pirated CDs and DVDs has become an alternative livelihood to those who want to cash-in extra income. Thus amassing CDs and DVDs has been more popular to most Filipinos than renting these.

This IEC material seeks to inform the general CD/DVD buying/using public of the alternatives of reducing the production of CDs and DVDs thus contributing to waste disposal management of these electronic wastes. Moreover, as the IEC material provides insights on CD and DVD waste reduction, it also partially seeks to address the growing concern over media piracy in Metro Manila.

References:

Eco Geek Blog. (2007). Where Do CDs Go to Die? Retrieved 20 August 2008 from
http://ecogeekblog.greenoptions.com/2007/06/28/ask-the-ecogeek-where-do-cds-go-to-die/

Green Living Tips. (2008). DVD and CD Recycling. Retrieved 23 August 2008 from http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/245/1/DVD-and-CD-Recycling.html

Mid Sussex District Council. (2008). Top Tips for Reducing Your Waste and Recycling. Retrieved 23 August 2008 from http://www.midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pageID=6150

Novey, Levi. (2008). Pirated DVDs Sold in Peru Will Pollute the Country for a Long Time. Retrieved 20 August 2008 from http://ecoworldly.com/2008/07/28/pirated-dvds-sold-in-peru-will-pollute-the-country-for-a-long-time/

Wikipedia. (2008). Bisphenol A. Retrieved 26 August 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A

27 August 2008
ESS535M

Monday, August 25, 2008

Where to Buy Your DVDs: Post Good Earth Fire

The DVD retailers from the Good Earth Plaza are now dispersed in Quiapo and adjacent areas. Here are some text msgs from the DVD girls of Good Earth Plaza:

5 Sep 2008

"mga suki my mga bgo kming dvd blue ray,c malou 2?lumipat na kmi sa emerald second floor stall N7."

30 Aug 2008

"Mga suki c malou 2 ung suki nyo sa dvd,lumipat na kmi sa shoppers gold,hrap nang good earth.second floor stall N 7.d2 nlng kyo pumunta,marmi kmi bgong blue ray,slamat"

30 Aug 2008

"ngbkaz n kmi sh0opersgold... jehan 2"

27 Aug 2008

"Hi kuya god pm musta c lyn poh e2 lumipat n poh kame sa NBI dhil sunug na ung robnson"

08 Aug 2007

"Kuya dun kmi li2pat odeon mall kz nasunog ang g0odearth.."

Thursday, August 21, 2008

BitThief

BitThief
A Free Riding BitTorrent Client

BitThief is an ongoing project of the Distributed Computing Group at ETH Zurich.

The project deals with incentive problems in peer-to-peer filesharing systems. The lack of incentives to upload potentially results in a total collapse of the network, implying that it is essential for a completely decentralized system to incorporate protocols that ensure a fair sharing of resources. We developed a BitTorrent client that free rides on BitTorrent, that is, it downloads from BitTorrent swarms without contributing any resources itself which illustrated that the BitTorrent protocol currently fails to prevent uncooperative behavior as it does not provide any countermeasures against free riding clients.

We argue that the BitTorrent protocol has to be modified in order to effectively prevent selfishness.

Our proof-of-concept client BitThief is a byproduct of our HotNets-V paper "Free Riding in BitTorrent is Cheap".

Note that, as it is a scientific project, we require measurements of the performance of our exploits. For that purpose, the client occasionally transmits data to our webserver. The transmitted data merely contains information about the time required to download files of any size. In particular, only a hash of the info hash is transmitted, which means that it is not feasible to determine what has actually been downloaded which is not of our concern. However, we advice all testers not to download any copyrighted material.

http://dcg.ethz.ch/projects/bitthief/index.php

Download your BitThief here:

http://dcg.ethz.ch/projects/bitthief/download.php

Friday, August 8, 2008

Good Earth Plaza: After the Fire

I'm re-posting Senor Enrique's blog on Good Earth Plaza Fire here. You can view more photos of the building at http://senorenrique.blogspot.com/2008/08/good-earth-plaza-after-fire_08.html


Those who grew up in Manila during the '60s will remember that Good Earth at the corner of Avenida Rizal and Bustos Street was the largest and first department store along Avenida that boasted having escalators in the building.

My brothers, cousins and I used to go to its coffee shop for a late morning merienda after attending mass at the nearby Sta. Cruz Church. I always ordered the shrimp salad sandwich served on toasted white bread.

However, I don't remember having bought anything at Good Earth. Ready-to-wear clothing was not popular back then as they are now; the trousers and button-down polo shirts I had were custom-tailored with fabrics purchased separately at Central Market. Also, my eldest sister who was then studying in Chicago used to send me Banlon and other knit shirts.

The building that was once Good Earth is now Good Earth Plaza which houses several establishments, including a motel on the sixth floor; unlike when it originally opened as just one huge department store. And at dawn last Monday, it was gutted by a fire.

According to a PDI article, it took firefighters nearly 22 hours to put out the blaze; finally extinguishing it at 3:00 am, Tuesday. The arson investigation division of the Manila Fire Department suspected the fire stemmed from pieces of rubber in the first floor of the building. Chief Inspector Myra Bico roughly estimated damages to property at P26 million.

The fire destroyed several stores inside the building, including Robinsons Supermarket and several stalls selling electronic items, cell phone accessories, pirated DVDs, and jewelry.

Although only the ground floor and basement of the eight-story building were damaged in the fire, thick smoke and intermittent rains made it difficult for firemen to battle the blaze. The fact that most of the stalls inside the building were closed made the job even more arduous.

The building's close proximity to the LRT's Carriedo Station forced the LRT 1 that runs above Avenida to suspend operations, then cut in half. Full operations only resumed the following morning, Tuesday.

Meanwhile, according to a GMA News report, the office of DOTC Undersecretary Guiling Mamondiong is considering filing a P700,000 damage suit against the owner of the Good Earth Plaza building. The P700,000, Mamondiong said, represents the amount of lost income for the disruption of the Light Rail Transit Line 1's operations.

On Tueday afternoon when these photographs were taken, many stall owners were in the vicinity to ask the authorities when they could possibly enter the building to collect whatever undamaged property and inventory they might have left. And sadly, many who used to work in the building also milled around to learn about the status of their employment.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Good Earth Plaza Fire

Mall fire disrupts LRT

Update: I received a text from one of the DVD maninindas this morning. "Kuya dun kmi li2pat odeon mall kz nasunog ang g0odearth.." The DVD retailers will be moving to Odeon Mall (formerly Odeon Theater) near LRT2 Recto Station. I was informed that it would take around one week to set-up their stalls at Odeon Mall.


Philippine Star - Tuesday, August 5The big blaze that hit a shopping mall in Sta. Cruz, Manila near the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 station disrupted rail line operations yesterday, causing inconvenience for thousands of passengers and revenue loss anew for the LRT Authority (LRTA).

The fire of still undetermined origin razed the eight-story Good Earth Emporium building, which housed the Robinson's Supermarket and the Paradiso Hotel located at the corner of Bustos street and Rizal Avenue.

The building, now owned by Colony Investors Inc., was built in the '60s and was once a famous landmark in the Sta. Cruz district. It had undergone several renovations, but old-timers still refers to it as the Good Earth building.

The fire, which reached the fifth alarm, started at the ground floor at around 5:22 a.m.

Melquiades "Mel" Robles, LRTA administrator, said they were forced to bypass the Carriedo station in the middle of LRT Line 1's morning operations at 9 a.m. when thick black smoke billowing from the burning mall made the loading and unloading of passengers impossible at the said station.

Robles said that the situation worsened at around 10:30 a.m., forcing them to implement "half-line" operations at the rail line.

The implementation had LRT operating only at the southern end of the line running from the Baclaran station in ParaƱaque to the Central station in Manila and back. The Monumento to Carriedo line was closed.

"In times like this, the safety of our passengers, as well as rolling stock - our trains - is of paramount consideration," Robles said.

As of 1 p.m., Robles estimated the revenue loss for the rail line disruption to be at P.7 million.

"We expect it to go higher since it seems that the fire will not be controlled any time soon," he said.

The rail line also suffered revenue losses when a fire hit the Puregold shopping mall near the LRT Line 1 Libertad station in Pasay City last July 17.

Robles called on the owners of buildings and establishments near LRT stations, to look into their electrical wirings and other potential fire hazards to avoid such incidents.

"We urge them to attend to fire prevention measures in their respective establishments so we can avoid such unfortunate incidents. It is also for their own good," Robles said. - Rainier Allan Ronda With Nestor Etolle/Philstar

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Quiapo DVD Map

Here are some Quaipo DVD maps uploaded to our eGroups a few years back. These maps may be outdated but i'm sure these would be of help to Quiapo newbies.



Monday, July 28, 2008

Best Version: Middle-classness and Consumption of Pirated DVDs

EASA Conference 2008 Experiencing Diversity and Mutuality
Performing copyright: the politics of creative practice and the poetics of technology
Date and Time, 28th August, 2008 at 09:00

"Best Version": performing middle-classness through the consumption of pirated DVDs

Trina Joyce Sajo Agena
Third World Studies Center


Short Summary

Taking further the claim that DVD piracy is a simulation of middle-classness, I draw on theories of performativity to analyze the consumption fake DVDs in the Philippines.

Abstract

Amidst the staggering poverty, mass-market consumption reeks everywhere in the Philippines. Malls loom large in urban landscapes and modernizing provincial areas. And then there are alternative sites of counterfeit commerce in street corners, rundown buildings, and overpasses, where fashion, food, music and electronics are sold at cheaper prices and with supposedly lesser quality compared to those in malls and licensed shops.

The globalizing commercial landscape is no less a testimony to Filipinos' penchant for buying. This paper takes special interest on an alternative form of consumption. Despite the government's crackdown on piracy, Filipinos continue to patronize bootlegged goods. Among these are DVDs. How can the popularity of such low quality—and least of all prohibited—form of entertainment be explained?

Noted Filipino scholar Roland Tolentino interprets DVD piracy consumption as the simulation of middle-classness. Most Filipinos desire to have the "fineries" of the good life, but only a few have gainful access. Pirated goods are representations of the desired middle-class life, but they are "as real as the real itself."

Taking Tolentino's claim further, this paper considers the consumption of fake DVDs as performance. I draw on theories of performativity to analyze the consumption of pirated DVDs in the Philippines.

http://www.nomadit.co.uk/easa/easa08/panels.php5?PanelID=322

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

TWSC: Consumption of Digital Piracy

Here's a letter that i received for being a really good pirata hahaha

Dear respondent,

The Third World Studies Center of the University of the Philippines-Diliman, with research funding from the Southeast Asian Studies Regional Exchange Program (SEASREP), is conducting preliminary research on the consumption of digital piracy. The aim is to develop a full-blown proposal on globalization, digital piracy and everyday life in the Philippines and Indonesia.

For this purpose, we are inviting you to participate as a respondent in this research project. We would like to ask you to share your knowledge and experience as a consumer of digital materials in the Philippines. Since this project deals with everyday life, the interview will be done through pakikipagkwentuhan or storytelling, with questions to guide our conversation. (The questions are attached below).

The interview will be at your most convenient time and place. Trina Joyce Sajo Agena will be in touch to arrange and conduct the interview. Or you can contact through email at consumingpiracy@gmail.com or at telephone number (02) 920-5428.

Thank you very much for helping us to explore this topic, 'consuming piracy', in relation to globalization.

Sincerely,


Maria F. Mangahas, PhD
Project Leader and Case Study Researcher-Writer

Trina Joyce Sajo Agena
Case Study Researcher-Writer

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Pirated DVDs Sold in Peru Will Pollute the Country for a Long Time

Pirated DVDs Sold in Peru Will Pollute the Country for a Long Time
Levi Novey


One of the great things about living in a developing country like Peru is that you can buy DVDs of new movies for a very low price. For instance, if you want a DVD of The Dark Knight, the new Batman movie, you can already buy it here. Not too shabby, eh?

Of course, you cannot be a stickler for quality with such DVDs, or you will be sorely disappointed. But if you like laughing along with audiences, wearing a hearing aid while watching movies, or pride yourself in your non-humble ability to tell people to sit down and shut up in the theater, then I’ve got a Kungfu Panda DVD that will be perfect for you.

It will probably come as no surprise to you that these kinds of DVDs are made by pirating businesses who use digital cameras to record new movies in theaters. They then distribute them quickly to the masses for profit. Peru, as well as many other developing countries where pirated DVDs are sold will unquestionably suffer over time from the pollution these DVDs will cause. To better understand why the environmental effect of DVDs will be proportionally greater in Peru than in a country like the United States, read on.

In Peru, it’s virtually impossible to rent a DVD. Why?

It’s the economy, stupid!

As there is a high level of poverty in Peru, the only way vendors of movies can make some cash is by selling DVDs that are cheap. The current rate in Peru is about 3 nuevos soles per a DVD. The exchange rate is currently 2.8 soles/$1 US. You do the math.

It almost becomes ridiculous to think how much Americans will pay to own new DVDs. I myself don’t care to own DVDs, as I generally don’t plan to watch movies more than once, with a few exceptions. So I would almost always prefer to rent movies than buy them. In Peru I have little choice though, because renting movies is virtually impossible given the low cost of pirated DVDs.

There are only a handful of stores where you can rent movies in Peru, and there is also not a DVD rental company that uses mail like Netflix. Believe or not, after coming to Peru I have begun to understand that stores that rent movies in the U.S. and other countries actually play a big role in environmental protection Say it ain’t so!

Think about it for a moment. How often do DVD rental stores lease out a single DVD copy to customers? Probably each disc is viewed anywhere from 50-100 times. In essence this means that there is at least some reuse going on. None of this kind of reuse happens in a country like Peru– and this is a terrible thing. Why?

Materials that are used to make DVDs and CDs are incredibly challenging to recycle and are quite bad for the environment.

DVDs and CDs are made from a stew of metals like aluminum and nickel, along with plastics, dyes, and other substances. For this reason, they are incredibly challenging to recycle. After being tossed in the garbage, they can pollute water sources as their components break down and leach gradually into the earth. Needless to say, any kind of pollution generally affects animals, plants, and people badly. The Daily Green recently published an excellent article summarizing the negative environmental effects caused by CDs and DVDs. The article also discusses some potential alternatives that might help alleviate the problem in the future, such as growth in digital downloads of movies.

http://ecoworldly.com/2008/07/28/pirated-dvds-sold-in-peru-will-pollute-the-country-for-a-long-time/

Monday, May 12, 2008

Re: "Quiapo's Illegal DVD Trade Is Dying"

Here's a reply on "Quiapo's Illegal DVD Trade Is Dying" posted at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/quiapo_dvd/

Re: "Quiapo's Illegal DVD Trade Is Dying"

Post Reference: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/quiapo_dvd/message/23695

Hi Guys,

I think it's more like the Quiapo DVD market is changing. The buyer profile is now more C and D whereas before you had B and even A market crowds.

What has changed? The main factor is internet downloads. PLDT and Globe reports a 60% increase in their broadband market in 2007 and this market is expected to grow at least 35% per annum up to 2010. People that used to buy a few pDVDs a week (the bulk of the AB market) are now downloading them instead of going to Quiapo or, say, Greenhills. Additionally, the availability of original DVDs at P150 to P199 also contributed to the decline of pDVD sales. Finally, there is a reactionary market effect wherein sellers are pushing more inferior pDVD stocks because the market demanding clear quality copies have diminished greatly.

In other words the opportunity cost of acquiring pDVDs have gone up since the marginal cost of substitutes have gone down.

Will the pDVD market die out? Not yet! The C & D markets are still around. Buying and watching pDVDs are still cheaper than going to the movies for them. However, since they have lower purchasing power, the market has effectively shrunk and the good old days are long gone for our friends from Marawi.

What can we expect? Market consolidation and perhaps natural monopolies arising from the retail side of the business. Additionally, pDVD quality will likely continue to deteriorate.

Yes, I am idle today.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Quiapo's Illegal DVD Trade is Dying

Quiapo's Illegal DVD Trade is Dying

Angelo Gutierrez
abs-cbnNEWS.com

Despite the brazen display of fake movies in Quiapo district, anti-piracy agencies of the government believe the illegal DVD trade in the notorious district of Manila is steadily declining.

“Ngayon pa lang we already know. We can see in the inventories that the amount of discs is getting fewer,” Eduardo Manzano, Optical Media Board (OMB) chairman, told abs-cbnNEWS.com.

Last May 2, or a week after the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released its Special 301 Report, which specifically mentioned Quiapo's notoriety for selling counterfeit and pirated merchandize, abs-cbnNEWS.com visited this bustling area of Manila.

The intersection of inner streets of Bautista and Hidalgo, across from Quiapo Church, is where dozens of retail stores of pirated movies and music, in the form of DVD and VCD, are concentrated.

At least a dozen stalls are lined up on the streets, and hundreds more stalls are cramped in at least three two-story buildings on Bautista and Hidalgo streets.

At the end of Bautista street, or a few meters away from the fake DVD, VCD stores that are mostly selling pornographic movies, is a police community precinct.

Told of the scene in Quiapo, Manzano said the pirated DVDs being sold in Quiapo today are mostly old titles or have low audio and visual quality.

This, he said, is because of the government's success in blocking the resources of the illegal traders by conducting hundreds of raids in 2007.

Based on OMB records, a total of 2,526 operations in 2007 resulted in the confiscation of 4.8 million units of fake optical discs and the filing of 22 criminal complaints with the public prosecutor.

Manzano said that while fake optical discs is not the Philippine National Police's (PNP) responsibility, it can arrest fake DVD traders for selling pornographic materials.

The OMB chief cited corruption as one of the reasons for some erring policemen's inaction against pornographic materials in the country.

"There will always be corruption. With illegal money, there will always be corruption. So that's one of the problem," Manzano said.

Manzano, however, clarified that the PNP has been an active partner of the OMB, in fighting optical media piracy in the country. He said policemen usually tag along during OMB raids.

Aside from Quiapo, the USTR mentioned Greenhills in San Juan City; Metrowalk Mall in Mandaluyong City, Makati Cinema Square in Makati City, and Binondo district in Manila as the havens of counterfeit products.

Technology killing pirated CD business

The Philippines maintained its spot, along with 35 developed and developing countries, on the ordinary watchlist of the USTR.

The status quo standing is being treated by the Intellectual Property (IP) Philippines as "another benchmark" for the country's campaign against all forms of product piracy.

IPP is the lead coordinating agency of the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR), where OMB and the PNP are members. It was created in 2005.

"Another benchmark to measure the progress of the Philippines' anti-piracy campaign is its status on the Special 301 Report. For three consecutive years now, the country has been on the ordinary watch list. The country was removed from the Priority Watch List in 2006," IPP Director General Adrian Cristobal Jr. said.

Cristobal agrees with Manzano that optical media piracy is nearing its end in the Philippines. Cristobal said a concerted effort of concerned agencies and the Filipino consumers "can really solve the piracy problem."

Manzano's opinion, however, was a little more creative.

"Eventually with the computer, there will be less need for physical products (DVD, VCD) on the streets because again, all you have to do is access the Internet," he said.

However, Manzano said the rapidly developing technology has also weakened the Optical Media Act of 2003, which he said needs to be amended to become "proactive" to be able to "run parallel with the technology development."

He said the OMB and the IPP are pushing for the amendments to the law to "plug holes that the syndicates are trying to create."

"We have a technical working group putting together amendments. We have asked the House and the Senate. When the optical media law was being created, we did not foresee how technology will develop. The law became obsolete with the technology development," Manzano said.

Internet downloading

Manzano said movie and music downloading through the Internet is the "new frontier" of piracy. He said with Internet downloading, "everybody has the capacity and the potential to become a pirate."

An Internet pirate only needs a computer, a fast broadband connection and a DVD burner. With the absence of a law, home-based Internet piracy is allowed "if you don't intend to gain from it financially by virtue of retail."

Manzano said Internet downloading can also phase out the trade of fake DVDs in the country. He said that based on the fora hosted by OMB, movie lovers prefer to download clearer copies from the Internet instead of going to the congested Quiapo district.

"In the future, that will be the National Telecommunication's problem," he said, explaining that a product of Internet downloading becomes the OMB's responsibility only after it is burned to a DVD.

In 2007, 1.2 billion movies were downloaded for free in the United States through the Internet, Manzano said. Internet users also download free games, e-books, and music, he added.

Cristobal said the Philippines doesn't have the capability or infrastructure to control piracy on the net, because of the absence of a law against Internet piracy.

He said the IPP is now pushing for the amendments of certain provisions of the Intellectual Property Code, "which would make our laws more responsive to the current needs of the Filipinos."

Among the bills, he said, is the Internet Treaties that was ratified by Senate in 2002.

"The important provisions of the Internet Treaties, particularly on digital rights management, are now in the process of being incorporated into the Copyright Law, which will result in the criminalization of copyright infringement on the Internet," he said.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=117753

Friday, May 2, 2008

USTR 2008 Special 301 Report

United States Trade Representative (USTR) cites Quiapo's notoriety for selling counterfeit and pirated merchandise in page 8 of its 2008 Special 301 Report. The report doesn't mention anything specific on illegal optical media trade in the Philippines in relation to the Quiapo DVD market.

Read the whole report here:

http://www.ustr.gov/assets/Document_Library/Reports_Publications/2008/2008_Special_301_Report/asset_upload_file553_14869.pdf

Page 7, Notorius Markets...

Notorious Markets

Global piracy and counterfeiting continue to thrive, due in part to large marketplaces that deal in infringing goods. This year’s Special 301 Report notes the following virtual and physical markets as examples of marketplaces that have been the subject of enforcement action, or may merit further investigation for possible IPR infringements, or both. The list represents a selective summary of information reviewed during the Special 301 process; it is not a finding of violations of law. The United States encourages the responsible authorities to step up efforts to combat piracy and counterfeiting in these and similar markets.

Virtual Markets

Allofmp3 (Russia). Industry reports that allofmp3 was formerly the world’s largest serverbased pirate music website. Although the site’s commercial operations appear to have been disabled in 2007 and a criminal prosecution is pending, other Russian-based websites are reportedly continuing operations with similar infringing content.

Baidu (China). Industry has identified Baidu as the largest China-based “MP3 search engine” offering deep links to copyright-protected music files for unauthorized downloads or streaming. Baidu is the target of ongoing infringement actions.

Business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) websites (China). A large number of these Chinese websites, such as Alibaba and Taobao, have been cited by industry as offering infringing products to consumers and businesses. The Internet traders who use these online markets to offer counterfeit goods are difficult to investigate, and contribute to the growth of global counterfeiting.

PirateBay (Sweden). Industry reports that PirateBay is one of the world’s largest BitTorrent tracker sites and a major global conduit for the unauthorized exchange of copyright-protected film and music files. PirateBay was raided by Swedish police in 2006, and the government initiated the prosecution of four Swedes associated with the site in January 2008, but the site has continued to operate, reportedly relying on servers located outside of Sweden.

Physical Markets

Silk Street Market (Beijing, China). Industry has cited Beijing’s Silk Street Market as “perhaps the single biggest symbol of China’s IP enforcement problems.” In 2005, authorities began to pressure the landlords of Silk Street Market and other major retail and wholesale markets in Beijing to improve compliance with IPR laws. In 2006, right holders prevailed in several court actions related to the market, and executed a Memorandum of Understanding with the landlords in June 2006. A January 2007 industry survey of the market reportedly showed that counterfeiting has worsened, with apparent violations in 65 percent of all outlets. More recent industry reports indicate that counterfeiting at Silk Street Market remains at critical levels.

China Small Commodities Market (Yiwu, China). The China Small Commodities Market in Yiwu reportedly sells approximately 410,000 different items, mostly small consumer goods. Industry has cited the market as a center for wholesaling of infringing goods. Officials in Yiwu have met repeatedly with U.S. Government officials and stressed their work to improve IPR enforcement. Industry confirms that enforcement in Yiwu has improved. Continued improvement is needed, particularly in the area of criminal enforcement.

Gorbushka, Rubin Trade Center, and Tsaritsino Markets (Moscow, Russia). Industry representatives report that piracy problems persist in these markets, though the situation has improved at the Gorbushka and Rubin Trade Center.

Tri-Border Region (Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil). The Tri-Border Region of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil has a longstanding reputation as a hotbed of piracy and counterfeiting of many products. The U.S. Government is funding a training project through which U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials will train prosecutors, police, and customs officials from the Tri-Border Region to combat intellectual property crime. Although Ciudad del Este remains the hub for pirate activities in Paraguay, industry reports that trade there has declined and that commercial concentrations are shifting to other cities. Through a revised Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Paraguay on IPR enforcement, the United States will be encouraging Paraguay to increase enforcement action with respect to a number of specifically-identified markets in that country.

Tepito, Plaza Meave, Eje Central, Lomas Verdes, and Pericoapa Bazaar (Mexico City); Simitrio-La Cuchilla (Puebla, Mexico); San Juan de Dios (Guadalajara, Mexico); and Pulgas Mitras and La Ranita (Monterrey). An estimated 50,000 vendors sell IPR products in Mexico’s ubiquitous, unregulated street markets. Past police raids on such markets have sometimes been met with violent resistance, requiring large contingents of security personnel.

Czech Border Markets (Czech Republic). Hundreds of open air market stalls are notorious for selling pirated and counterfeit products near the Czech border, including at the notorious Asia Dragon Bazaar in Cheb City. Many of these markets are highly organized, and even advertise on the Internet.

La Salada (Buenos Aires, Argentina). This is the largest of more than 40 large, wellestablished markets in Buenos Aires that have been cited as being heavily involved in the sale of 9 counterfeit goods. An estimated 6,000 vendors sell to 20,000 customers daily. The market is reputed to be a haven for organized criminal gangs that operate from within it, resulting in little to no IPR enforcement.

Neighborhood of Quiapo (Manila, Philippines). Street stalls in this neighborhood are notorious for selling counterfeit and pirated merchandise. Other notorious markets in Manila include Binondo, Greenhills, Makati Cinema Square, and Metrowalk.

Harco Glodok (Jakarta, Indonesia). This is reported to be one of the largest markets for counterfeit and pirated goods in Indonesia, particularly well-known for pirated optical discs. Enforcement officials are reportedly reluctant to conduct regular enforcement actions because of the presence of organized criminal gangs.

Panthip Plaza, Mah Boon Krong (MBK) Center, Klong Thom, Patpong, and Sukhumvit Road (Bangkok, Thailand). These locations are notorious for openly selling pirated and counterfeit goods. They are all designated as “red zones” by Thai authorities, which indicates that they are places where infringing products are most readily available.

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PHILIPPINES

The Philippines will remain on the Watch List in 2008. The United States is concerned about U.S. industry reports of an apparent increase in piracy in the Philippines, particularly in the areas of book piracy, illegal downloads using mobile devices, piracy on the Internet, and the illegal camcording of films in theaters. The United States urges the Philippines to take steps to reverse these trends and strengthen its enforcement regime against piracy and counterfeiting. Specifically, the Philippines should pursue final determinations in outstanding IPR cases, including those related to cable piracy, with imposition and implementation of deterrent-level penalties. The Philippines also should strengthen the Optical Media Board and provide it with adequate resources to expand and improve the effectiveness of its activities; strengthen the Customs IP unit; ensure that its patent regime complies with the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights; enforce copyright protection of printed material; and seek to obtain amendments to the Copyright Act to implement the WIPO Internet treaties. The United States will continue to work with the Philippine Government under the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement to strengthen the Philippines IPR regime.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Republic Act 9239: Optical Media Act of 2003

Full Text of RA 9239 at http://www.chanrobles.com/republicactno9239.html

IV. PENAL PROVISIONS

Section 19. Offenses and Penalties. -

(a) Imprisonment of at least three (3) years but not more than six (6) years, and a fine of not less than Five Hundred thousand pesos (Php 500,000.00) but not exceeding One Million five hundred thousand pesos (Php 1,500,000.00), at the discretion of the Court, shall be imposed on any person, natural or juridical, who shall:

(1) Engage in the importation, exportation, acquisition, sale or distribution of, or possess or operate manufacturing equipment, parts and accessories without the necessary licenses from the OMB;

(2) Engage in the mastering, manufacture, replication, importation or exportation of optical media without the necessary license from the OMB;

(3) By himself, or through another, cause the mastering, manufacture or replication of any intellectual property in optical media intended for commercial profit or pecuniary gain without authority or consent of the owner thereof;

(4) Engage in the Mastering, manufacture, or replication of optical media without affixing or installing in the resulting products the SID Code, and/or such other codes prescribed, assigned and authorized by the OMB. The absence of the codes prescribed, assigned and authorized by the OMB in any optical media shall be prima facie evidence that said optical media are in violation of this Act;

(5) Engage in the mastering, manufacture, or replication of optical media using, affixing or installing in the resulting products false SID or other codes. The presence of false or unauthorized codes shall be prima facie evidence that said optical media are in violation of this act;

(6) Engage in the mastering, manufacture, or replication of optical media using, affixing or installing in the resulting products false SID or other codes that have been assigned by the OMB to another person, or, having been assigned and authorized said codes by the OMB, allow or authorize another person, establishment or entity to use, affix or install such codes in the latter's products;

(b) Imprisonment of at least one year but not more than three years and a fine not less than one hundred thousand pesos, but not exceeding five hundred thousand pesos, at the discretion of the court, for the following offenses:

(1) Engaging in the importation, exportation, sale or distribution of, or possess or acquire in commercial quantities manufacturing materials used or intended for use in the mastering, manufacture or replication of optical media without the necessary licenses from the OMB;

(2) Knowingly performing or rendering the service of mastering, manufacture or replication of optical media, after having been licensed by the OMB, to any person, in respect of any intellectual property, who does not have the consent by the owner of the intellectual property or his representatives or assigns;

For this purpose, any person, establishment or entity that is licensed by the OMB to engage in the above mentioned activities shall be considered to have acted in good faith in respect of any transaction entered into by him in respect to the preceding paragraph, if he notifies the OMB of such transaction within five working days from receipt of the order, furnishing to the OMB all material information thereof;

(3) Refusing to submit to inspection by the OMB, or surrender for preventive custody any optical media, equipment, manufacturing materials, including parts, accessories and paraphernalia found during inspection operations to be in violation of the provisions of this Act;

For purposes of this subsection, violators who will employ armed resistance against agents of the OMB shall be penalized under other applicable laws in addition to those provide in this Act:

(a) Imprisonment of at least 30 days but not more than 90 days or a fine of not less than 25,000.00 pesos but not exceeding fifty thousand pesos at the discretion of the court:

(1) Knowingly possess items of the same content or title, produced in violation of this Act, and used for the purpose with the intent to profit;

(2) Engaging in the sale, rental, distribution, importation, exportation of, or any other commercial activity involving optical media that are in violation of this Act.

(b) For subsequent offenses in Section 19(a), uniform imprisonment of six (6) years but not more than nine (9) years and a fine of not less than One Million five hundred thousand pesos (Php 1,500,000.00) but not exceeding Three million pesos (Php 3,000,000.00) at the discretion of the Court, shall be imposed.

(c) For subsequent offenses in Section 19(b), uniform imprisonment of three (3) years but not more than six (6) years and a fine of not less than Five hundred thousand pesos (Php 500,000.00) but not exceeding One million five hundred pesos (PHp 1,500,000.00) at the discretion of the Court, shall be imposed.

The offenses listed under this section shall be punished without prejudice to the application of appropriate penalties or sanctions provided under Section 216 and such other appropriate sections of the IP Code or Republic Act No. 8792 also known as the Electronic Commerce Act, the Revised Penal Code or other applicable laws.

Section 20. Determination of Penalties - In determining the number of years of imprisonment, or amount of fine to be imposed, the court shall consider the size of the operations of the offender, the value of the articles involved in the violation, and the period of violation. In imposing administrative penalties, the OMB shall likewise consider the said circumstances.

Section 21. Persons Liable. - If the offender is an alien, the person shall immediately be deported after serving his sentence, and shall, thereafter, be refused entry into the country.

If the offender is a government official or employee, he shall suffer perpetual disqualification from public office and forfeiture of his right to vote and participate in any public election for ten (10) years.

Should the offense be committed by the juridical person, the stockholder, chairperson, president, officer, director, trustee, partner or manager responsible for such violation shall be liable.

Section 22. Enforcement - The OMB may solicit the direct assistance of other agencies, the managing authorities in the economic zones and instrumentalities of the national and local governments, and may deputize for a limited period the heads or personnel of agencies to perform enforcement functions for the OMB, insofar as such functions are concerned shall be subject to the direction and supervision of the OMB.

Section 23. Disposal of Seized Materials. - Any optical media, equipment or materials found to be in violation of the provisions of this Act, any books, records, or paraphernalia providing evidence of any violation committed by any person, establishment or entity, shall be confiscated and forfeited in the favor of the government and shall be disposed in accordance with pertinent laws and regulations: Provided, That confiscated optical media may, pending consideration of the case, be immediately destroyed upon final determination by the OMB in an administrative case, or by a court in a civil or criminal case, that are the same are in violations of this Act: Provided, further, That a sufficient representative sample shall be retained for evidentiary purposes.

The retained representative sample shall remain in custodia legis until the final resolution of proceedings thereon.

Equipment and materials imported of this Act shall be subject to seizure and immediate disposal by the Bureau of Customs.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Sikat na Actor Parokyano ng Pirated DVDs

Sikat na actor parokyano ng pirated DVDs
Nitz Miralles

Nakita ng isang reporter ang isang sikat na actor na bumibili ng pirated DVDs na inilalako sa Tomas Morato, Quezon City.

Disappointed ang reporter sa actor dahil 'pag guest sa TV tuwing may pelikulang ipalalabas, laging nagpapaalala sa viewers na 'wag bumili ng pirated, pero hayun siya at sa maraming tao pa bumibili ng ipinagbabawal.

Kahit sabihin pang foreign movies ang pirated copies na binili ng actor, hindi pa rin magandang tingnan na makita siyang nagpa-patronize noon.

Sana pumasok siya sa kanyang sasakyan o kaya'y sa naglipanang coffee shops at du'n namili at bumili.

* * *

PAGKATAPOS ng Zaido at bago ang Marimar ang time slot ng Kamandag at panghuli ang La Vendetta.

Kahit sinasabing sure hit ito, ninenerbyos pa rin si Richard Gutierrez dahil hindi alam kung magugustuhan ng tao ang bago niyang serye.

Basta, pinaghihirapan nilang lahat na mapaganda ang serye at mapapanood na nakikipaglaro sa mga ahas si Richard.

Mabuti't 'di siya takot sa ahas dahil may mga eksenang 10 ahas ang kasama niya at ang dalawa'y gumagapang sa loob ng kanyang T-shirt.

First time makatrabaho ni Richard sina Jewel Mische at Maxene Magalona, how is it working with them?

"Kaya love ko ang trabaho kong ito't I get to work with different talents. How I wish walang network war para mas marami pang new talents akong makasama. Okey sina Jewel at Maxene, masaya silang katrabaho. "

Tinanong pala namin si Direk Mark Reyes kung ang Kamandag ang bagong Encantadia?

"I'd like to think so, since same energy at nagkaiba lang sa challenge. We're working with the Encantadia team at kung hindi sa kanila, hindi namin ito magagawa ni Topel (Lee, the other director). Ibinabalita ko palang may DVD na ang Enca, 'di pa lang nare-release. "

Source: People's Tonight