Idle banter forum

Between 1 or 2 weeks ago, a group was going around to the bars claiming to be looking for music downloads. Very agressive, confiscating computers, and charging several thousand baht to get them back. A few days later the real police came around and said the others were "fake" police. Last night another smaller group came around checking again. Most of the bar owners had wised up and told them to go somewhere. While this doesn't directly affect us westerners, it has caused entertainment to be a little more subdued as a lot of the owners don't know what they can or can't do. Big screen TVs are gone in some to the smaller, less connected bars. One bar down the soi used to play a dvd or post football schedules for the evening. Not anymore. Not worth the hassle as my friend put it. While I haven't been down the street to check out the main venue areas (Loy Kroy, Tae Pae gate south), I'm sure the smaller bars on the other soi's are doing the same thing. The "real" authorities have cracked down on the more visible dvd sellers to appease hollywood. All they did was drive it back underground for a while as they now come around to the bars in the evening selling movies.