IN a media release from the Minister for Home Affairs Bob Debus announced he and NSW Minister for Fair Trading Virginia Judge would oversee the destruction of more than 230,000 pirated DVDs.

“In the past 12 months State and Federal Police have seized more than a million illegal DVDs. While many people view this as a less serious crime, police intelligence shows that criminals use movie piracy to fund a range of criminal activity like drug trafficking and money laundering.”

According to the media release…

“Those issues are worth considering by any member of the public who thinks purchasing counterfeit DVDs is a victimless crime. In copyright offending alone revenue loss to industry groups in Australia is estimated to be around $1.7 billion each year.”

“I don’t want consumers to be burnt by pirated DVDs,” Ms Judge said.

“If you don’t buy DVDs from a reputable trader, you don’t know what you’re getting. There are no quality controls, no refunds and you could wreck expensive home entertainment systems,” she said.

Media Release via Stilgherrian

Update: Read Stilgherrian’s point of view here.