Boy scouts hunt pirates
The young do-gooders will be asked to turn online policeman and trawl Internet chat sites for anyone uploading copyrighted material onto the web and then turn them in to authorities.
The plan is part of the so-called "Youth Ambassadors Against Internet Piracy Scheme" launched by the Cutsoms and Excise department to crack down on a scourge that record and movie industries say is losing them billions of dollars.
The government said in a statement it hoped to enlist 200,000 youngsters. They will be primarily aimed at battling file shares that use the popular BitTorrent network.
Lawmakers have criticised the scheme, saying they were uneasy about minors becoming involved in law enforcement. But Customs and Excise department superintendent Tam Yiu-keung stressed there was nothing to worry about.
"We are not trying to manipulate youths and get them into the spy profession – what we are just trying to do is arouse a civic conscience to report crimes to the authorities," Tam was quoted as telling the New York Times.
Music industry watchdogs blame online and CD piracy for revenue losses of more than one billion Hong Kong (129 million US) dollars annually and a 20 percent drop in the number of people working in the music business.
It’s estimated that the United States loses 250 billion dollars annually to piracy.
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