Obstacles in Formalizing the Optical Media Trade

What is it about?

The legal and bureaucratic obstacles constitute another force why informal media traders and firms prefer to operate informally and illegally in the optical media business in the Philippines and Vietnam. This chapter examines the regulatory burdens in formalizing optical media business, the weak state mechanism in enforcing these burdens, as well the difficulty of regulating existing technologies used in media piracy in the Philippines and Vietnam as some of the major obstacles in fully legalizing this type of trade. It also examines how these obstacles drive people into the informal and illegal sector of optical disc piracy. Using documentary and ethnographic data, it argues that optical disc traders prefer to go informal as it is easier, more convenient, and cheaper to maintain their business enterprise than going legal in the Philippines and Vietnam. It starts by describing the general cultural and business regulatory environment of these two countries and proceeds to point out some of the more serious legal and bureaucratic burdens and obstacles in formalizing the trade as well as regulating the technologies used for the piracy trade.

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Photo by Bobby on Unsplash

Photo by Bobby on Unsplash