GAO To The Rescue Again: Suggests Counterfeiting Not Nearly As Big A Problem As Industry Claims

from the hurray-GAO dept

Mon, May 7th 2007 3:22am — Mike Masnick

We were recently pointing out that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) seems to be doing a consistently fantastic job cutting through bogus and misleading claims from politicians and corporations. They've trashed e-voting machine testing, pointed out that grandstanding politicians were wrong in suggesting file sharing resulted in more porn, told the FCC that the way it measures broadband competition is bogus (multiple times) and recently explained how the way the patent system is currently set up, it could be slowing down the development of new drugs, rather than speeding it up. It really is nice that the GAO hasn't become politicized and really does take its job pretty seriously. The latest report from the GAO suggests (not too surprisingly) that all the whining you've been hearing about counterfeit products coming into the US, including the claim that 5 to 7% of world trade is in counterfeit products, is totally overblown. The GAO looked at the actual data and found that the numbers suggest a much, much smaller percentage of the economy is built on counterfeit goods.

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20 Comments

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wto605 (profile), 7 May 2007 @ 3:51am

Wait... GAO?
"Government Accountability"...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...

Oh wait, your serious?
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wto605 (profile), 7 May 2007 @ 3:52am

Re: Wait... GAO? (Sorry)
*you're

sorry it's too early to start posting
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squik, 7 May 2007 @ 4:16am

Go to China
Go to China and count the counterfeits. They don't have to be imported to the US to economically damage a firm.

Of course, even if the number of counterfeits coming into the country from China are small, I don't think you want this to happen:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/world/americas/06poison.html?ex=1336104000&en=c771f 0d98e2efc74&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
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counterfeit squik, 7 May 2007 @ 4:29am

How does Canadian law fix this?
"Go to China and count the counterfeits. They don't have to be imported to the US to economically damage a firm."

So how does Canada implementing some extreme law fix this problem in China where the law doesn't apply?

If these goods aren't being imported into Canada then no amount of extreme laws will fix the problem in Canada that doesn't exist there.
Presumably the basic anti counterfeiting measures are enough.
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Not Squik, 7 May 2007 @ 5:14am

Re: Go to China
Squik, the article wasn't arguing that counterfeiting is good, but that you guys are exaggerating things again.
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GoblinJuice, 7 May 2007 @ 5:20am

*sigh*
I fear the day when the GAO becomes politicized. It hasn't, really, yet. It will, someday, tho. :|
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Dosquatch, 7 May 2007 @ 7:55am

Rules for Implementing Government
Any body, office, unit, or commission found to be operating effectively shall be henceforth stripped and replaced with something suitably inexplicable or inoperable.

Watch out, GAO. Keep performing like this, and your days are numbered.
/cynicism
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Matt Bennett, 7 May 2007 @ 8:13am

"really nice" .....and really surprising. I wonder how long we can expect it to last?
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Wyatt, 7 May 2007 @ 8:24am

Of course..
I read the article about the counterfeit drugs, it was concerning to say the least. But that still doesn’t down play what they are saying. Counterfeiting (in my opinion), or the bloating of its existence is another excuse for companies to have tighter laws for profit. They want it to seem like a big problem so the government will take extreme steps to prevent it. This would include laws that hinder growth by limiting the ability of companies to produce legitimate generic brands and such.

I'm betting that in a very short time, if the GAO continues to expose the truth about things that they will go down that political road of BS a lies. Wait until this organization is seen as good in the eyes of Americans, and then have them slowly inject lies. Of course the lies will be believed at first because they are repeatable. This country has got major problems with honesty and integrity. Nothing has stayed good for long, and by the looks of it nothing will.

Yes, I am a pessimist when it comes to the US government. How could you not be anymore..
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squ1k, 7 May 2007 @ 8:56am

Look over here...shiney!
I'll look for more articles that will amaze you and poke out your heart to make it seem like you're still missing the point.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 May 2007 @ 8:58am

Re: Of course..
Yes, I am a pessimist when it comes to the US government. How could you not be anymore..

Pessimist or realist?
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brad, 7 May 2007 @ 10:03am

GAO funding
The GAO is all ready politicized the republicans have been trying to kill it for years.
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Wyatt, 7 May 2007 @ 10:43am

Re: Look over here...shiney!
Why not say something meaningful and pertinent? I thought I was right on point with both the article and the comments. I think you are the one confused as to what this article is really about by your own ego. Did you even read what I posted?
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Alex Hagen, 7 May 2007 @ 10:52am

Shhh
Shhh, keep it down already. If you keep making a big deal about it, Bush will notice and politicize it like he has done everything else.
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Shred303, 7 May 2007 @ 12:50pm

IP violations were only found in 0.06 percent of shipments (sample). Well that' only 1 in 200. Bah miniscule, could only add up to pottentially scant billions.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 May 2007 @ 2:19pm

.06%
Actually, 0.06 percent or 0.06% would be the equivalent of about 1 out of every 2,000 shipments.
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Jeff Price, 7 May 2007 @ 3:26pm

Trust
It would seem that the GAO and the NTSB are the only two government agencies with a continuous record of telling the truth. Sad but true.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 May 2007 @ 5:53pm

Re: .06%
Actually, 0.06 percent or 0.06% would be the equivalent of about 1 out of every 2,000 shipments.
Not if you use "industry math".
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Phred, 24 May 2008 @ 4:47pm

Re: Wait... GAO?
No, it makes sense, see:

All the government's accountability is handled by this one office.

That way, none of the rest of the government has to be accountable at all.
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Jay (profile), 17 Jun 2010 @ 8:44pm

Re: *sigh*
The GAO is all of the economists that no one else listens to. From the sounds, they look at the data and crunch the numbers for everyone else.
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