On Genova Street in downtown Mexico City, illegally copied CDs of music by top U.S. artists sell for 20 pesos, just under $2 a piece, in tiny booths between tables overflowing with batteries, stuffed animals and cheap knockoff sunglasses. That’s about one-tenth the price in nearby stores.
Music is even cheaper a few hundred yards away, inside the Internet cafes surrounding the pedestrian plaza of the Glorieta Insurgentes. At eMilios, about 20 customers a day fill virgin discs with illegally downloaded songs for about $1.60, according to the clerk, Luis Arturo Guerrero, and whether or not they pay legitimate Internet sites for the tunes is not his concern.
“We can’t really be responsible for what people see or download,” says Guerrero, who sells blank CD-Rs for 8 pesos, or about 70 cents, and charges 9 pesos, about 80 cents, for an hour of computer time. Most use the free file-sharing programs Limewire or Morpheus, he said.
Unauthorized downloads are a global challenge for the music industry, but the problem is becoming particularly serious in Mexico, where intellectual property laws don’t punish file-sharing and an increasing number of people are getting the broadband Internet connections that make it easier to download content at high speeds.
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So I don’t get it. How come I’M responsible if someone comes over my house and uses my computer to download files illegally and THIS guy CHARGES people to use his computers and he’s NOT responsible? Is it because he’s in Mexico? Or maybe it’s the fact that he’s a buisness just “selling” computer time? I think I’ll start charging my kids’ friends–and even my kids themselves–when they use my computer. Will that put me off the hook?
Its beacuse hes in Mexico theyre so corupt its sad in TJ they sell illegal knockoffs evrywhere……its a different way of life down there lived there 4 like 2 years its pretty crazy…..