Libya: Pirating

Pirating in the States is fairly easy. If you have a computer, internet connection and a dream you can get pretty much anything. Even if you lack technology you can hunt around any major metropolitan city and find some pirated movies on a street corner. It is not uncommon, but it's usually a practice take care of from the privacy of one's home.

In Libya I was expecting to see piracy, but not as a national past time. Drive 3-4 blocks on any street and you are bound to see a stand on a side walk or more commonly a brick and mortar store selling pirated media. The staples are DVDs, CDs and PS2 games, but if you have $10 LYD ( $7.85 USD) you can pick up a copy of Windows Vista Pro. The one lament I heard from my cousins was the lack of Playstation 3 games, or rather that they where paying full price for them ($60 USD).

What is still a bit unclear to me is where all of the product comes from, a certain amount is a cottage industry, e.g. Arabic music. A practice I heard about more than once though was families buying ultra cheap goods from China, converting an old garage into a store front and opening up shop. I'd imagine that is where the "FunStation 3 and New Slim 2" came from in the above photo.