Slashdot Mirror
$200B Lost To Counterfeiting? Back It Up
An anonymous reader writes "Over the weekend, the NY Times ran a story about how the recession has impacted product counterfeiters. In it, the reporter regurgitates the oft-repeated claim that counterfeiting 'costs American businesses an estimated $200 billion a year.' Techdirt's Mike Masnick asks the Times reporter to back up that assertion, noting two recent reports (by the GAO and the OECD) that suggest the actual number is much lower, and quoting two reporters who have actually looked at the numbers and found (a) the real number is probably less than $5 billion, and (b) the $200 billion number can be traced back to a totally unsourced (read: made-up) magazine claim from two decades ago."
Oft quoted as the "paper of record", the Times has a history of faking it.
Seriously though, estimating losses due to piracy/counterfeiting is always dodgy since it assumes that a certain number of people would have bought the real deal had the fake stuff not been available.
Freedom is drinking a beer in the park when you're supposed to be at work.
"Kids, you tried your best, and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try."
-Homer Simpson
"Burns' Heir" [1F16]
This article, and:
http://collateralmurder.com/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/16/army_wikileaks/
http://www.examiner.com/x-6495-US-Intelligence-Examiner~y2010m6d20-Censored-news-Pentagon-attacks-Wikileaks-more-gulf-drilling-approved-Fed-fights-reform-more
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Errors_in_the_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_that_have_been_corrected_in_Wikipedia
http://news.cnet.com/2100-1038_3-5997332.html
http://thestatsblog.wordpress.com/2009/06/16/britannica-versus-wikipedia/
WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
I have a few friends that work for the local paper, and they all have to take turns working the night shift. Part (if not all) of the job dities on the night shift include watching the 9pm and 10pm news on all of the local networks to be sure that there isn't anything on that needs to be added to tomorrows paper quick. Ask them what time they have to work till, and they'll smile and say "right after the 10:00 news"
Well then why didn't you reply to it? Oh, wait, it isn't there. I expanded all the comments and ctrl+f'ed Obama, the only three instances were in your post..
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
Think of your average Hollywood blockbuster, cd release, or Apple product. They ship out the production to the cheapest manufacturers so as to maximize their profit at home. Your $200 Rolex doesn't cost $200 to make, far from it. While it's components cost X and assembly, shipping, advertising, insurance, tax et al cost Y you can be sure that X+Y200 by a fair amount. The difference there goes back to the company of origin and therefore the economy of the company's country of origin. Whenever an Ipod gets sold anywhere in the world Apple takes a large slice. That slice in turn ends up in the American economy - be it as wages, deposits in a bank, investments in the stock market, as liquid funds, office rental, taxes, health, whatever.
That's one of the reasons countries trying to modernise their economies tend to put a focus on IP creation - it leads to a large influx of cash for a long, long time. Same goes for moving away from a primarily extraction-based economy.
The difference is between effective government and ineffective government, not the ability of a government to provide a just society. Hang on, I'll put it simply: you need to learn more than what your daddy told you. It's a big, big world out there.
Let's look at two modern western nations and see what the results are:
USA vs Norway
GDP per Capita (World Bank)
Norway: $55,000
USA: $46,000
Life Expectancy
Norway: 80 years
USA: 78.2 years
Poverty Rates
Norway: 7%
USA: 12%
Employment Rates:
Norway: 3.5% (April 2010)
USA: 8% (April 2010)
Income Inequality (Lower is Better)
Norway: 25.8
USA: 40.8
Vacation Time
Norway: 25 days
USA: 14 days
Awww boo. Reality is a bitch, ain't it?
That is not true. Some of the best fitting suits I own are $400 suits made by tailors in Thailand and Malaysia. I was once given a voucher for an expensive suit from an upmarket local tailor (Australia). The expensive suit is actually not as good, and is made from the exact same material, as the ones I've bought from overseas.
Paying an extra zero just because your tailor happens to live in Beverly Hills and needs money for his third wife's nose job is your own stupidity.