SOFTWARE piracy seems to have gone high-tech these days.

To escape the risk of store raids, pirates have turned to cyberspace to hawk their illegal wares.

A search on local auction sites and online classifieds revealed at least 20 listings for pirated games, mostly for Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP).

Some listings offered pirated games, while others promised to modify the buyer's console to play these illegal copies.

Many even provided a link to their own websites, where they listed all the games they had for sale - complete with discounts for buying in bulk.

And not just games - movies, software and even adult material, too.

One seller offered Spider-Man 3 and the latest version of Microsoft Office, while another advertised unlicensed idol videos from Japan.

From the sale details, it was clear that many of these sellers were based in Singapore. One seller offered to meet prospective buyers in Sengkang to show them the goods.

Others were warier - payment by bank transfer only, with no meet-ups at all.

Online auction sites and classifieds here are aware of the problem.

Mr Jason Coates, senior manager for communications at Yahoo! Southeast Asia, said the company investigates reported listings on its auctions site on a case-by-case basis.

Any illegal products are then given the boot.

But such enforcement action can be slow and laborious, given the speed with which auctions and listings can be put online.

Mr Cyril Chua, counsel for the Entertainment Software Alliance (ESA), said: 'It can take a lot of effort to track down just one pirate.'

The ESA is a US-based alliance of game software companies that helps conduct enforcement activities against video-game pirates.

When contacted, Sony Computer Entertainment Hong Kong, which manages the PlayStation brand here, said it does not comment on issues related to software piracy.

Mr Chris Sng, who operates a video-game shop, estimates that nine out of 10 people who walk into his store are aware that such pirated games exist.

But he feels that many of his customers continue to buy original copies because they support the creators of their favourite games.

As for himself, he refuses to sell pirated games at his store.

'You know, I know, everyone knows - downloading is stealing,' he said.

'If everyone downloads all their games, who will make new games for us to play?'

A check of some popular online haunts for gamers here revealed that most game forums ban any discussion related to pirated material.

But many posters on smaller sites discuss their modified consoles openly.

In one discussion, forum posters swapped tips and tricks on how to get stubborn games to work with their modified consoles.

Is it a lost cause to get consumers to do the right thing?

Mr Sng said: 'There will always be people buying pirated games. It doesn't mean the rest of us should follow suit and break the law.'

This story was first published in The New Paper on 28 July 2008.