Could buying that knock-off item fund the next terrorist attack?

While this story is from a British perspective, it reveals how the trade in counterfeit (knock-off) merchandise is funding some pretty nasty characters beyond the borders of the British Isles.

Richard Elias recently revealed in Scotland on Sunday:

The sale of fake CDs, DVDs, clothing and perfumes in Glasgow and other British cities is helping to raise money for one of the world's most-notorious terror outfits – the group held responsible for the slaughter of US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.

MI5 is now targeting British-based supporters of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a pro-Kashmiri group dedicated to gaining the disputed territory its independence. Its aims include the "destruction" of the United States and India.

This isn't the first time the words terrorist organization and counterfeit merchandise have been used in the same sentence. And in reality, the problem goes far beyond the borders of the United Kingdom.

A good video about the counterfeit problem by KRQE in New Mexico is posted on YouTube, which can be seen, here.

The video references a report by the IACC (Internation Anticounterfeiting Coalition). The IAAC stated in a white paper that:

Low risk of prosecution and enormous profit potential have made criminal counterfeiting an attractive enterprise for organized crime groups. Congress recognized organize crime’s increasing role in the theft of intellectual property when it made trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy predicate acts under the federal RICO statute (see 18 U.S.C. § 1961). Recently, ties have been established between counterfeiting and terrorist organizations who use the sale of fake goods to raise and launder money.

Counterfeiting is becoming a worldwide problem that poses a threat to the economy and public safety. Unfortunately, a lot of people view it as a victimless crime and continue to support it by purchasing knock-off merchandise.

If you take the time to read the IAAC White Paper, it also reveals that a lot of countries that we do business with in the global economy are some of the biggest culprits.

And the biggest offender seems to be China!

This should be no surprise considering the amount of unsafe product being found at your local store coming from that country.

While there are obviously more players in all of this than terrorist organizations, supporting any of them with our business isn't in the public's best interests.

IAAC White Paper, here.

Scotland on Sunday story, here.

Rogue Governments, Terrorists and Organized Criminals Raise the Stakes for Control of the Cyberworld

Hackers pose a very real threat to systems worldwide - here is evidence that this is no game being played by children.

I read this story from Government Computer News by Paitence Wait:

The Pentagon's primary Internet backbone, the Global Information Grid, comes under siege some 3 million times a day by outsiders looking for a way to penetrate military networks. And the outsiders come from all over the world, whether American script kiddies trying to prove their skills or Eastern European hackers looking for information they can sell.

Then there are the military cyberthreats from potential enemies.

Maj. Gen. William Lord, director of information, services and integration in the Secretary of the Air Force Office of Warfighting Integration and Chief Information Officer, today told an audience of civilian Air Force personnel attending the Air Force IT Conference that "China has downloaded 10 to 20 terabytes of data from the NIPRNet. They're looking for your identity, so they can get into the network as you."

Lord said that this is in accordance with the Chinese doctrine about the use of cyberspace in conflict.

Full story, here.

I recently wrote a post, Great Britain Creates National Fraud Squad to Fight Organized Crime and Terrorists. Add some rogue countries to the problem - and it's easy to see why a lot of the experts are becoming concerned.

Technology has also made communicating one's thoughts and beliefs rather easy.

The Internet (Cyberworld) -- with it's worldwide reach -- is also used by a lot of "entities" to spread propaganda. To illustrate this, we have a new blogger (Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) who has created a "blog" to get his version of the word out. To see it, link here.

Of course, a lot of subversive organizations have been doing this for years. Al Qaeda (in particular) has used the Internet to further their despicable deeds. Timothy Thomas did an interesting essay on this, here.

With President Ahmadinejad and his proxy Hezbollah in the news recently, we need to reflect on history for a moment before reading his "jihad of the pen."

These are the people responsible for taking American hostages in Iran and later Lebanon. They were also responsible for the Marine barracks being bombed at the Beruit airport in 1983 - and more recently have been a conduit for terrorist activity in Iraq.

And he (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) says he wants nuclear technology for peaceful purposes? If anyone believes that I can refer them to someone who needs help getting millions of dollars out of Africa.