Caution's...!!! - Download at your own risk

Now, If you download material illegally from the Internet, be prepared to fork out a minimum fine of RM250,000 and the maximum was a whopping RM500,000.. This is the warning from the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry to Malaysians who continue to illegally download songs, videos and the like.

Although this penalty was legislated more than 10 years ago under the Copyright Act, it has yet to be fully enforced. This was because the Government was still focusing on “physical enforcement”, encompassing continuous efforts to weed out pirated DVDs, VCDs and CDs sold on the streets and their operators.

On advancements made by the country in this area, various amendments to the law and the instalment of an Intellectual Property Court recently was testament to this. The Malaysian government urged Malaysians to be responsible consumers and realise the damage they caused to the various industries that painstakingly produced music, videos and movies only to find their work being used for free.

Malaysian government must also, urged that products be reasonably priced so consumers would not consider cheaper alternatives, such as pirated or illegally downloaded products.