What is the current situation of pirated optical discs retailing in Hong Kong?
Under Customs persistent and focused raiding operations, the number of retail outlets of pirated optical discs dropped from 1000 in 1998 to below 70 in 2005. The circulation of pirated optical discs in the market also decreased from some five million to below 5000 in 2005, representing a reduction of 99.9%.@@Pirates are driven to adopt stealthy modus operandi, such as self-service at unmanned stalls and pre-order sale (i.e. customers pay first at the shops and collect the discs later at other locations by presenting their receipts) to sell small quantities of discs. Besides, these illicit outlets can only operate at short and irregular hours displaying a minimum quantity of discs on the premises to minimize loss.
