Chinese USB drive brings global TV to your laptop

The government has been cracking down on IP infringement of international TV show and movies, but that hasn’t stopped some Shanghai shanzhai electronics vendors from trying to spread a little TV love.

Shanghai electronics market vendors are now peddling a new -- probably soon-to-be illegal -- device called by Shanghai Daily a “television USB flash drive,” which gives access to TV channels from around that world, including some of the more scandalous content out there. 

Easy to use, viewers simply plug the drive into a USB port and it'll scan 5,000 sites for content to stream to your computer.

Customers who buy the device have been told by some vendors that the device can also be tweaked to receive illegal pornographic channels.

• More on CNNGo: The best B-movies in your DVD shop

In the name of investigative journalism, Shanghai Daily journalists scoured local streets for this USB device, ultimately finding vendors selling them on Qiujiang Lu, by one of the city’s popular electrics markets.

The shanzhai goods were on offer for RMB 30-200 depending on how many “special” channels you want to be able to view.

Local new reporters bravely tested a RMB 100 product, but found that the picture quality was less than desirable.

Although Shanghai lawyer Chen Jianbo commented that selling products which violated the country’s anti-pornography laws is illegal, another lawyer, Li Li, countered Shanghai Daily, saying that China “Still has no laws in regulating the online broadcasting of foreign television programs, which allows such products to surface.” 

Offering "special" channels or not, the device is proving popular in Shanghai as many are in the market for new ways to view TV content after the government's recent crackdown on peer-to-peer sharing that violated international IP laws.