Well it looks like the copyright police have finally made it Nong Khai (I'm not aware of any previous visits) with a couple of bars being busted in town this week. My source has told me that one of the bars in question was owned by a local Thai and the other was owned by a Westerner, so they was not targeting anyone in particular by the looks of things.

The bars targeted were apparently playing downloaded mp3's, so it just goes to show that if you don't have the appropriate licenses, then it will just be a matter of time until they find you and confiscate any readily available computer equipment for testing and get a larger than normal fine issued.

The moral of the story is simple, make sure your licenses are in order and you only play what you have a license to broadcast.

Checking to see if the music you're playing is downloaded MP3's?!? OMG! That's incredible.

What if you're playing CD's that you bought, but happen to be pirated copies?

Movies you've downloaded? Checking to see if they're AVI's or MPEG's?

Pretty incredible! Just a shakedown deal, or real IPR stuff?

It's fairly common practice in most of the larger cities, but only seems to be a recent thing in Nong Khai.

What if you're playing CD's that you bought, but happen to be pirated copies?

I don't really know in all honesty, but it is a concern considering their availability here, the same with movies etc..

As long as you have the correct licenses though, I think that is half the battle won!