Ethics: Taking the Fun out of Handbag Shopping in NYC

I've learned a lot this year in the MFS program that I'm enrolled in. This past spring I was talking to my friend Rebecca after class about potentially taking a weekend trip with me to NYC. I said, "Aw c'mon, we can go to Canal Street and buy some knock-off purses!" That's when the professor, a DOJ prosecutor in the Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section, gave me one of his infamous looks that says, I can't believe you said that out loud. When I responded with, "Geez, it's not illegal to buy them," he informed me, "You need to take ethics class."

Even then I didn't get what was so wrong with buying knock-off handbags. What did I know? I thought it was fun shopping in the secret back rooms behind hidden doors. And I didn't understand what was wrong with it because the NYPD virtually ignores these street vendor transactions happening right under their noses thousands of times a day. I was still naive about it. But after taking the cyber Ethics class this summer, it started to sink in.

I've always been against software piracy and the like. When it finally dawned on me that selling these knock-off designer labels is virtually no different from that and is a federal crime, I realized just how unethical my actions had been. Not only unethical, but when you purchase counterfeit goods, you very well could be supporting mass counterfeit operations that use child labor and probably fund terrorism.

My ignorance hit me in the face like a ton of bricks. I wrote to my law professor saying that I'd never buy another purse on Canal Street again. He replied simply, "Then my work here is done."

This fall I'm enrolled in his computer-related law class, one of the toughest courses I'll take in the program. This DOJ prosecutor is my favorite teacher. We've talked a lot about intellectual property (IP) law, counterfeiting, copyright law, and copyright infringement this semester, studying statutes like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

It wasn't until I took this class that I learned that all of those "dollar stores" you find in strip malls are really mass counterfeiting operations. When I registered my shock with a classmate, she said, "Well, where do you think all that junk comes from?" Who was I to know that a dollar tube of Colgate was missing a key ingredient found in the real Colgate that provides its gelatinous consistency?

Honestly, I didn't know; and because those dollar stores are everywhere, It never occurred to me that they were not legitimate. After all, if they were trafficking in counterfeit goods, wouldn't they all be out of business?

As any good investigator knows, things aren't always as they seem.

Hence, in addition to giving up knock-off purses (and watches), I vowed to never shop at a dollar store again. It's true that you won't be prosecuted for buying a counterfeit item, but if you knowingly buy one and give it away as a gift or re-sell it, then you can be prosecuted for trafficking in counterfeit goods under 18 U.S.C. 2318. Until I studied the law, I really didn't understand how wrong it is—and why. It is theft. It is theft in support of child sweat shops and international terrorism.

My classmate Suzanne and I are going to NYC for the weekend right after we finish our law final. A year ago I would have made it a point to take her to Canal Street. Not this time, and never again! She thinks I'm being "self-righteous." Honestly, I'm just trying to be a law-abiding citizen and not a hypocrit who chides people for sharing software or music files with their buddies instead of buying a legitimate license—something I've always been vehemently opposed to.

For more info, see the Wired: Threat Level article Feds Prosecuting More Counterfeiters, IP Pirates. To learn about the counterfeiting industry and the impact it has on the global economy, check out the No to Fakes web site. You'll be shocked at the ubiquitousness of the counterfeiting industry.