Counterfeiting crackdowns: Do they do any good?

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

Seizing the Web domains of counterfeit traffickers helps a little, but success against these criminals depends on a lot more.

It used to be that if you wanted a Gucci knockoff bag, you had to walk down, well, pretty much any street in New York City. But these days that type of merchandise is available online from anywhere.

The problem is that a lot of it is being passed off as the real thing.

At least on the street, you can be pretty sure that the copy of "Harry Potter" on DVD the guy is selling out of his trunk is probably illegal. And few people would think that the Rolex they’re getting for $50 is the real deal. But online, people can be fooled into thinking they're getting the genuine article. And in any case, the companies that make the real gear (movies, football jerseys, music CDs, software and handbags mostly) don’t get any money from sales of the fakes.


Related coverage:

Cyber Monday sting takes out 150 websites selling counterfeit good

Counterfeit electronics put troops at risk


So every year the FBI, the Federal Trade Commission and other government organizations go about seizing the domain names of companies that peddle this type of fakery. This has happened twice now on Cyber Monday, with this year’s haul of 150 counterfeit-selling sites being shut down. 

Sites that are taken down by the government are replaced with a banner that says why the site is no longer selling knockoff gifts and warning consumers to be careful when shopping online. And those banners are popular. Last year the feds busted half as many sites, and the hit count for the empty pages with warning banners still topped 70 million. I wonder if there is an advertising angle in there somewhere?

But unlike the physical world, we won’t see parades of defendants being marched off to custody or piles of fake Lakers jerseys being burned.

What the feds did was capture domain names. Nobody got arrested and no goods were confiscated. Many of the sites this year had roots in China, obviously outside of U.S. law. And I doubt the Chinese are going to be helpful in rounding up the criminals for us. It’s probably not a crime in China to rip people off in the United States anyway, kind of like that old joke where both a U.S. citizen and a Russian could stand in their respective capitals and shout “Down with the president of the United States!” without getting in trouble with authorities.

Unfortunately, other than educating consumers about the danger of using sites like those that were closed — it hurts real companies struggling to make ends meet and subjects buyers to substandard and sometimes even dangerous knockoffs — it won’t do much good. The sellers are not really out anything except a domain registration fee. They still have their electronic store and their entire inventory.

GreatGucciBagsForCheap.com simply becomes ReallyGreatGucciBagsForCheap.com and keeps on going. And 150 sites isn’t even a drop in the bucket of the overall problem. It’s a drop in a bucket floating in a lake.

Just today I got spam e-mail directing me to a functioning site where I could get an obviously counterfeit copy of Adobe Photoshop CS5 for just $49! What a great deal. And they went out of their way to tell me that my copy would come with a valid serial number. Not that I bought it. Instead I forwarded the URL to the FTC.

What the FBI does on Cyber Monday is good, though I think continuing efforts to lop off the heads of counterfeit sites all the time instead of in one large mass would do more good overall.

But like the war on drugs, the fight against counterfeit goods-selling websites won’t ever really be won until consumers stop buying counterfeit goods. The National Crime Prevention Center is at least looking to raise awareness, launching a anti-piracy blitz, including TV, radio and Internet messages, warning people about the consequences of counterfeit goods.

Until demand drops there can be no real victory, and it will be near-impossible to even hold the line.

 

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.