MPAA anti-piracy dogs now face 'chemical weapons'

posted by soulxtc in movies // 615 days 5 hours 26 minutes ago

The war on the MPAA's Malaysian CD sniffing dogs heats up as "Lucky" and "Flo" now face chemical sprays designed to mask polycarbonates.

I mentioned last week how Lucky and Flo, the MPAA's Malaysian anti-piracy disc sniffing dogs,were the new target of "syndicate bosses" after having been so successful in assisting with the recent seizure of almost $3 million USD worth of pirated DVDs and VCDs.

Well, now it seems that since the dogs have gone into hiding, being shuttled to a variety of different safe houses to keep them out of the reach of people looking to collect the bounty on their heads, movie bootleggers have begun starting to use a chemical spray on their pirated DVDs to thwart the super-sniffing Labrador duo.

Lucky and Flo have been trained to detect the polycarbonate chemicals used in manufacturing DVDs, but Malaysian officials received a tip that pirates are now using chemical sprays to mask the scent, said Fahmi Kassim, the Domestic Trade Ministry's enforcement chief in southern Johor state.

"The pirates are believed to be desperate because the dogs were so successful," Fahmi told The Associated Press.

After the March 19th raid on an office complex in which 1 million pirated DVDs, and CDs worth $2.8 million were seized, the disc-sniffing dogs were subsequently targeted for death by "syndicate bosses" and promptly moved to a safe house by authorities for their protection.

The dogs have apparently not taken part in any anti-piracy raids since last week's effort, and there is no word on whether or when they will resume their hunt for pirated discs.

The two are on loan for at least a month from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), so how much longer they have to remain is unclear. Their first reported work began on March 13th, so they presumably have at least a few more weeks "in country."