NEW DELHI: When a computer software costing over a thousand rupees is available in its pirated avatar for a few hundred rupees, the customer does not complain. No surprises. Police say action cannot be taken on the issue because they don't receive any complaint.
Again, no surprises!
Welcome to Delhi's Nehru Place, one of India's biggest hubs of computers and related goods. There is something for everyone here, right from pirated softwares and optical media to branded laptops and other goods Riyaz, 24, used to sell pirated CDs of popular softwares and games in a south Delhi market till a few years ago. The business was so good that he now owns his own shop and the business continues to be "zabardast" (terrific).
"I have everything here, printers, laptops and pirated softwares. If I don't have it I'll arrange it in a couple of hours," Riyaz told a IANS correspondent sitting in his small basement shop.
Seated in front of three laptops connected to external hard disks, Riyaz was busy copying the cracked versions of various softwares and games on to the pendrives of the various customers who crowded the small room.
"This market is known for hardware shopping. But now softwares have taken over, especially for smaller players like us, as they are easy to deal in," Riyaz said as he copied an Adobe photoshop lightroom 3 software on to a pen drive.
To avoid trouble with police, regular customers are advised to bring along their pen drives or hard disks on to which the desired software is copied, he added.
According to sources, people like Riyaz, Rajesh, a "fielder" keeping a watch on police movements, and several others involved in piracy have rented rooms in nearby places like Lajpat Nagar, Amar Colony and Srinivaspuri.
Their rooms are full of laptops with Wi-Fi internet connections and dozens of CD writers.
Cracked versions of softwares are downloaded from the net and within minutes copied on to hundreds of discs, which are then brought to the market.
All this right under the nose of police, who have erected a number of pickets in the market and could be seen strolling around the place seemingly unaware of the illegal activities taking place around them.
"We pay haftas (weekly bribes) to the local policemen so they don't threaten us. The problem arises when some 'outsider' policeman comes here," said Anwar.
Again, no surprises!
Welcome to Delhi's Nehru Place, one of India's biggest hubs of computers and related goods. There is something for everyone here, right from pirated softwares and optical media to branded laptops and other goods Riyaz, 24, used to sell pirated CDs of popular softwares and games in a south Delhi market till a few years ago. The business was so good that he now owns his own shop and the business continues to be "zabardast" (terrific).
"I have everything here, printers, laptops and pirated softwares. If I don't have it I'll arrange it in a couple of hours," Riyaz told a IANS correspondent sitting in his small basement shop.
Seated in front of three laptops connected to external hard disks, Riyaz was busy copying the cracked versions of various softwares and games on to the pendrives of the various customers who crowded the small room.
"This market is known for hardware shopping. But now softwares have taken over, especially for smaller players like us, as they are easy to deal in," Riyaz said as he copied an Adobe photoshop lightroom 3 software on to a pen drive.
To avoid trouble with police, regular customers are advised to bring along their pen drives or hard disks on to which the desired software is copied, he added.
According to sources, people like Riyaz, Rajesh, a "fielder" keeping a watch on police movements, and several others involved in piracy have rented rooms in nearby places like Lajpat Nagar, Amar Colony and Srinivaspuri.
Their rooms are full of laptops with Wi-Fi internet connections and dozens of CD writers.
Cracked versions of softwares are downloaded from the net and within minutes copied on to hundreds of discs, which are then brought to the market.
All this right under the nose of police, who have erected a number of pickets in the market and could be seen strolling around the place seemingly unaware of the illegal activities taking place around them.
"We pay haftas (weekly bribes) to the local policemen so they don't threaten us. The problem arises when some 'outsider' policeman comes here," said Anwar.
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