High-Tech Piracy Is Jeopardizing American Jobs

To borrow a phrase, a mind is a terrible thing to steal. But that is precisely what criminals do when they pirate the products of American innovators and artists. When they reproduce the work of musicians, actors, writers and directors, they not only steal thousands of U.S. jobs and billions of dollars in profits, they steal the product of American imagination and creativity.

Congress has addressed this problem legislatively, but only through more effective enforcement and aggressive bilateral and international agreements and partnerships is there any chance of combating it. And we must do more to persuade offending governments that it is in our mutual interest for them to implement and enforce intellectual property theft laws, and educate them about the smothering impact piracy has on productivity and creativity.

Theft of movies, software, music or books--whether a bootleg DVD copy of “Monsters Inc.” for sale from a street vendor or a computer program, copied and redistributed--is a growing worldwide problem. And the advent of broadband and other emerging technologies is making theft and reproduction of intellectual property easier. Copies of movies, albums and software can be copied seamlessly by inexpensive portable CD and DVD factories around the world.

Counterfeit products overwhelm international markets. The Business Software Alliance estimates that 94% of China’s software market is pirated; In Ukraine, 89%; in Vietnam, 97%; and in Bolivia, 81%. Why? Because it’s easy.

Full-length movies can be downloaded in less than 15 minutes. The film “Lord of the Rings” hit the streets of Afghanistan as quickly as it hit American theaters. Video games costing $50 in the U.S. are sold for 75 cents in China. And with CDs and DVDs, the reproduction is top quality.

Clearly, damage to our economy is growing, and piracy is jeopardizing American jobs.

The U.S. ought to be prepared to provide governments with the type of law enforcement expertise and resources required to catch intellectual property pirates operating within their borders. There were promising signs at the recent World Economic Forum in New York that many in the international community understand the depth of the problem and agreement that we need to act now before the problem worsens.

The U.S. demonstrated its leadership in 1997 when Congress passed and President Clinton signed into law the No Electronic Theft and the Digital Millennium Copyright acts. Together they have enabled law enforcement authorities to shut down networks of pirates. A recent raid of an illegal CD counterfeiting operation in Paramount, Calif., seized $56 million of equipment.

Many in the entertainment and software industries hold out hope that their scientists and engineers can provide the answer by developing technologies to make impossible the pirated reproduction of their products. I’m optimistic that efforts underway in the private sector can address this challenge, but if no industry consensus develops in the near term, government may need to act.

Let’s protect American creative genius, and let those whose tools and skills are their intellect and imagination reap the benefit of their creations.