President Bush has just announced the hiring of a privacy czar to spearhead efforts to stop the foreign sale of counterfeit goods and intellectual property.
Christian Israel has been selected to fulfill the post of Coordinator of International Intellectual Property Enforcement. One of his first priorities will be to monitor recent promises made by China to crack down on the export of pirated American movies, music and software, with a particular focus on protecting cinematic classics such as these. It’s estimated that as much as 70% of pirated goods coming into the US originate in China.
Israel will report to Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, who was recently offered a pirated copy of Revenge of the Sith (which has not yet been released on DVD) for approximately $1 while on a tour of China.
With all the attention being paid to China as of late (Google R&D center, the Microsoft/Google lawsuit, Baidu, etc.) it’s no wonder this is an area of attention. There’s a booming online population which means big profit potential for US businesses. Of course the government’s going to step in and help them out.
Slashdotters manage to bring real-life pirates into it with a set of recommendations for an anti-piracy campaign that calls for the government to “Ban all imports of Jolly Roger flags” and ” Prohibit over-the-counter sales of eye-patches; they will now be prescription-only.”
