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John Morton (Director of ICE): Today is Cyber Monday, one of the busiest Internet shopping days of the year.

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According to the National Retail Federation, nearly 100 million people shopped on this day last year, and we expect similar numbers this year.

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Most of this commerce is legitimate: real goods, real vendors, real presents for the Xmas tree.

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Parts of this commerce are also a fraud: fake goods, fake vendors, shoddy presents unlikely to bring any holiday cheer.

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Counterfeiters are prowling in the back alleys of the internet, masquerading, duping and stealing.

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They are masquerading as legitimate retailers, duping shoppers, and stealing from real businesses and their workers.

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William Ross (ICE)These web sites were just seized by the US government.

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Why? they were selling counterfeit and pirated versions of trusted-branded products.

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Shutting down these sites is the job of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center,

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and HSI, Homeland Security Investigations, a unit within ICE

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This operation, called Operation in Our Sites II,

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was conducted during the lead-up to Cyber Monday,

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the busiest online shopping day of the year.

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HSI agents seized dozens of websites selling counterfeit products,

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passing them off as the real thing, and making profits.

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It is our duty to protect the US consumer,

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the companies who have built their reputations on these brand names,

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and the integrity of the Internet.

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For you, the consumer, keep these tips in mind when buying things online:

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Buy from sites that respect the rights

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and if the price is too good to be true, it's not the real deal.

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John Morton: Have we rid the Internet of these websites? No. There are others, there will be more.

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Will many of these websites reappear under different domain names? Yes, they will.

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But I can tell you this: we are not going away. If we can seize websites, we will.

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If we can find the operators, we will. If we can arrest and prosecute counterfeiters

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and copyright violators, we will.

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This is a long fight. But we at ICE and DoJ are committed to it, period.

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Make no mistake about it. We are in the throes of a heated and pitched battle.

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This isn't a game, it's not a sideshow. American business, American labor,

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American innovation are under assault.

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We either wage this fight, here and now,

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or we give in to the steady loss of American ingenuity and know-how.

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William Ross: Remember, the people who steal intellectual property

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are not just taking other people's ideas.

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They're taking American jobs, hurting the American economy,

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and potentially threatening your safety.

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And if you see this banner while shopping online,

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you'll know that the IPR center is looking out for your best interests.

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Happy holiday shopping.

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(onscreen: logos of several institutions, with HSI and IPR logos in the middle)