Bangkok

Bangkok, (in Thai ??????? ?, ?????????????, or Krung Thep, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, IPA: {{IPA|}}), population 8,538,610 (1990), is the capital and largest city of Thailand. The city is located on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River, near the Gulf of Thailand. Bangkok is located at {{coor_dm|13|45|N|100|31|E|type:city}}. http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/cntry_files.html

Current issues

Air pollution is a major problem in Bangkok, blamed on the city's massive traffic jams. The recent construction of elevated second-level expressways has eased the problem a little.

Related Topics:
Air pollution - Traffic jam

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The sale of illegally copied copyright material (mostly software and DVD movies) is widespread in Bangkok. One of the most popular locations in Bangkok for purchasing pirated software is Pantip Plaza. Although many attempts have been made at cracking down on illegal copying by raiding Pantip and other venues over the years, these have been ineffective and illegal copying of copyrighted material is still a booming business. The BSA, an American software copying prevention group believes that it could extract 80 million USD from Thailand if all of illegally copied software there was stopped http://www.bbcworld.com/content/clickonline_archive_46_2003.asp?pageid=666&co_pageid=2. Due to heavy, long term pressurehttp://www.ustr.gov/html/1995_thailand.html from groups such as the BSA and the Recording Industry Association of America, which threatened difficulties for trade agreements for Thailand http://www.riaa.com/news/newsletter/033004_2.asp, the Thai government has now started to crack down heavily on the unauthorised copying by its citizens including the introduction of "one of the most aggressive legislative schemes for the protection of intellectual property rights in any developing nation"http://members.tripod.com/asialaw/articles/takingcopyright.html. However, these measures have not yet halted the appetite of Thai citizens for unauthorised copies, the sale of unauthorised discs continues and the raids have been called "half hearted". The BSA states, however, that reduction of illegal copying is a long term goal http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3227622.stm and that the aim now is more to re-educate the Thais towards the BSA's own views.

Related Topics:
Illegally copied copyright material - DVD - Pantip Plaza - BSA

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