China Putting Piracy Heat on Net Cafes

Whasai!* Chinese officials are cracking down on Internet cafes that let customers download illegal copies of movies.

Beijing courts are levying bigger fines for copyright infringers as part of an overall campaign against piracy. According to The Hollywood Reporter, a third of China’s Internet users use Internet cafes, where, evidently, most of them watch movies. Internet cafes are breaking intellectual property laws either by downloading illicit copies of movies and offering them up, or signing deals with movie providers that don’t have the rights to the films.

*Chinese for “Wowzers”

Image from Flickr user Gemma Kate Thorpe.