rates can setup CD factories 'in living rooms. A street-corner peddler in lower Manhattan, who readily acknowledged that his merchandise was pirated, said one of his suppliers copies "thousands and thousands of CDs" in a tiny office space packed 'with CD burners. "It's Eke having a room filled with rack stereo systems,"he said.Data released in August show that 155,496 pirated CDs had been seized by law enforcement officials tipped off by the, Recording Industry Association in the first half of 1999, up from 23,858 for the same period in 1998.
In July, authorities in Prince George's County, Md., seized nearly 59,000 CDs. Police described the action as the end of a counterfeiting ring that involved illegal videos and CDs that were produced in New York and shuttled to the Washington area for sale. The RIAA is developing encrypting technology that it hopes will curb the production of pirated music by preventing it from being played on the next generation of audio equipment But the new technology may not eliminate the law enforcement difficulties.
hi New York, peddlers have the appearance of legitimacy because they often have permits for sidewalk sales of legal goods. In some spots, the trade is so stable that vendors accept returns or exchanges from regulars. One customer who works for a private delivery service pulled up recently to a table on Houston and Varick streets in Greenwich Vil- lage and handed the CD peddler a' recording by Latino pop artist Manny Manuel, saying it skipped. The seller readily exchanged it, saying the new one could be returned, too, if there was a problem. The vendor later said that he was on the delivery man's route, so it paid to keep him happy.
One customer, who did not want to give her name, talked about a salesman on Seventh Avenue near her office as if he was the manager of her supermarket "Everybody buys from him," she said. 'Me quality is very good. He's reputable and he's honest"