John Morton (Director of ICE): Today is Cyber Monday, one of the busiest Internet shopping days of the year.
According to the National Retail Federation, nearly 100 million people shopped on this day last year, and we expect similar numbers this year.
Most of this commerce is legitimate: real goods, real vendors, real presents for the Xmas tree.
Parts of this commerce are also a fraud: fake goods, fake vendors, shoddy presents unlikely to bring any holiday cheer.
Counterfeiters are prowling in the back alleys of the internet, masquerading, duping and stealing.
They are masquerading as legitimate retailers, duping shoppers, and stealing from real businesses and their workers.
William Ross (ICE)These web sites were just seized by the US government.
Why? they were selling counterfeit and pirated versions of trusted-branded products.
Shutting down these sites is the job of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center,
and HSI, Homeland Security Investigations, a unit within ICE
This operation, called Operation in Our Sites II,
was conducted during the lead-up to Cyber Monday,
the busiest online shopping day of the year.
HSI agents seized dozens of websites selling counterfeit products,
passing them off as the real thing, and making profits.
It is our duty to protect the US consumer,
the companies who have built their reputations on these brand names,
and the integrity of the Internet.
For you, the consumer, keep these tips in mind when buying things online:
Buy from sites that respect the rights
and if the price is too good to be true, it's not the real deal.
John Morton: Have we rid the Internet of these websites? No. There are others, there will be more.
Will many of these websites reappear under different domain names? Yes, they will.
But I can tell you this: we are not going away. If we can seize websites, we will.
If we can find the operators, we will. If we can arrest and prosecute counterfeiters
and copyright violators, we will.
This is a long fight. But we at ICE and DoJ are committed to it, period.
Make no mistake about it. We are in the throes of a heated and pitched battle.
This isn't a game, it's not a sideshow. American business, American labor,
American innovation are under assault.
We either wage this fight, here and now,
or we give in to the steady loss of American ingenuity and know-how.
William Ross: Remember, the people who steal intellectual property
are not just taking other people's ideas.
They're taking American jobs, hurting the American economy,
and potentially threatening your safety.
And if you see this banner while shopping online,
you'll know that the IPR center is looking out for your best interests.
Happy holiday shopping.
(onscreen: logos of several institutions, with HSI and IPR logos in the middle)