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Published on July 31, 2007

Now, I have heard that on www.pantip.com, some fans have started translating the book chapter by chapter into Thai. To speed up the job, they split the work. While one person translates one chapter, another works on a second. And the translated versions are suddenly on the Internet for everyone to read.

When the official Thai version finally arrives in bookstores in December, I wonder how many fans will be ready to pay nearly Bt1,000 a copy?

Interestingly, Thai News Agency reported last week that days after the book's launch, a copycat version had flooded the streets of Beijing, priced at 40 yuan (Bt178). Certainly, buyers can negotiate the price down to 30 yuan. That is extra cheap compared with the actual cover price of 210-218 yuan.

JK Rowling may be ticked off. But in a turn of positive thinking, if her work were not so famous, nobody would put in the extra effort to copy the book at such extraordinary speed. I still wonder how they can print it so quickly. No wonder Chinese entrepreneurs are becoming big threats to everyone.

Bad guys lead?

At a round-table discussion last week, Thai Internet Service Club president Chalermsak Lert-lobhatree mentioned a programme initiated by private operators to ensure proper regulations among Web users. Some 400 Internet cafes joined the programme, in which parents can rest assured their children will not have access to pornography. But due to poor enforcement, other cafes were not encouraged to follow suit, and they became more popular spots than the "clean" shops that said no to their kiddie clientele.

Now 350 cafes have lowered their guard, and only 50 remain in the programme.

So Chalermsak and other business operators are afraid the Computer Crime Act will lead to a similar experience. With poor enforcement, only good people will be subject to the rules and regulations, while the bad will run free and prosper.

Santi Pookaiyaudom is an adviser to the Information and Communications Technology minister. What's his opinion?

He likened the situation to gun purchases: "As we know, it's difficult for good guys to buy guns but easy for bad guys."

Are you scratching your head wondering how these two examples are alike? You're not alone. I still can't figure it out myself.

achara_d@nationgroup.com