Market Data: 2008 December


Online piracy hitting professional sports

In 2007, Major League Baseball discovered 3,000 incidents of illegal live-streaming of its games over the Internet.

In 2008, over 5,000 incidents were discovered by Major League Baseball.

Source:  Tim Arango, “Online piracy menaces pro sports,” New York Times, December 29, 2008.

More Chinese being smuggled into the United States

Filed under: Asia, Humans, United States

According to Department of Homeland Security, there was a 49 percent increase in the number of illegal immigrants from China in the United States between 2000 and 2007.  At the end of 2008, the department estimates 290,000 Chinese immigrants are living in the United States illegally.

Source:  James Pinkerton, “Smuggling of Chinese into Texas is on the rise,” Houston Chronicle, December 24, 2008.

United Kingdom could lose up to 30,000 jobs to piracy

Online piracy of content causes the United Kingdom to lose up to 30,000 jobs and 1.5 Billion pounds.

Source:  James Robinson, “Online film and music piracy ‘could cost 30,000 UK jobs’,” Guardian, December 14, 2008.

The Global Trade in Babies

Filed under: Humans

Foreign Policy Magazine has an article on the unregulated market of international adoptions, and the misconceptions amongst those who adopt foreign babies.

From Foreign Policy:

We all know the story of international adoption: Millions of infants and toddlers have been abandoned or orphaned—placed on the side of a road or on the doorstep of a church, or left parentless due to AIDS, destitution, or war. These little ones find themselves forgotten, living in crowded orphanages or ending up on the streets, facing an uncertain future of misery and neglect. But, if they are lucky, adoring new moms and dads from faraway lands whisk them away for a chance at a better life.

Unfortunately, this story is largely fiction.

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