A Mexican organization battling pirated DVDs and CDs is urging the federal government to establish a special police canine unit to sniff out the polycarbonate and solvents used to manufacture optical discs.
According to Jaime Campos, director of the Mexican Association for the Protection of Cinema and Music, Mexico is the world's fourth-largest exporter of pirated DVDs and CDs, with 50,000 unlicensed sales outlets compared with 3,000 legally established stores.
Two Labrador dogs, specially trained to uncover stocks of PC discs and solvents, spent several days in Mexico City in late April helping police find some of the pirates. The Motion Picture Association of America, which trained the 3-year-old Labs, sent them to demonstrate to authorities that piracy can be beaten if the right methods are used.
Would the Mexican government agree to use such dogs?
``I hope so,'' Campos said in an interview. ``As an industry, we are very enthusiastic about it, but there's nothing agreed with the government just yet.''
