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Following is the transcript (English portion) of the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr Joseph W P Wong, speaking to the media after officiating at the launching ceremony of anti-internet piracy publicity programmes today (May 29):
Reporter: ...
SCIT: Let me first of all say that the Government is determined to tackle all these piracy actions on the Internet. We have had a number of successful arrests and prosecutions. We will continue to do that. We will also continue to support the industries to take civil action against those who infringe copyright on the Internet. At the same time, we intend to step up our education and publicity campaign to really convey the message to members of the public, in particular to our younger generation, that it is immoral, it is wrong and it is illegal to infringe copyright works on the Internet.
Reporter: Do you expect that there will be a rise in prosecution against Internet piracy in the coming months ...?
SCIT: At the moment, our law has enabled us to take prosecution action when it is blatantly illegal. In fact we have one successful case, successful prosecution. Whether or not we will step up our enforcement action or whether or not we will consider amending our law to enable us to take more vigorous action is something that we would consider. But I think the important thing is that it is not just enforcement and prosecution which matter. The important thing is that we really need to continue to convey the message to members of the public, in particular to our younger generation, that it is wrong to commit such an act. And indeed I look to our younger generation to also become very creative in their future lives. Therefore we should respect the work of our creative industries¡¯ workers because one day they may become one of them.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript)
Ends/Monday, May 29, 2006
Issued at HKT 17:53
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