Illicit Review - Pirated Goods and Labor
Last night I had the pleasure of participating in the world premiere of Illicit: The Dark Trade. This National Geographic film offers a fascinating window into the widespread crime syndicates that steal intellectual property and sell billions of dollars worth of imitation goods and services to consumers. Many of these products are dangerous. Some are life-threatening to consumers. They are all illegal, but trade in them is a multi-billion dollar industry that is thriving in today's global economy. The film shows how pirates and counterfeiters use modern technology and loopholes in the international banking structure to consummate an endless number of illegal transitions and launder billions of dollars to criminals.
Illicit has a special interest for working people and their unions. The syndicates it describes operate to the detriment of legitimate businesses throughout the world and undermine the employment security and well-being of millions of honest, hard-working Americans and breadwinners across the globe.
The American Federation of Musicians supports legislation aimed at stopping crime syndicates that deal in pirated and counterfeit works because musicians have suffered from the business contractions caused by the theft of intellectual property. Our livelihoods, and our ability to make the music that people around the globe want to hear, depend on legitimate sales and uses of our creative work. Like other unions, we see counterfeiting and piracy as labor issues. Illicit helps drive home the need to cooperate with our brother and sister labor organizations in other countries that are similarly harmed by this illegal activity. In our own self-interest, labor organizations must call upon our government to collaborate with other nations in order to get this massive problem which plagues our societies under control.
Thomas F. Lee is the International President of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (“AFM”). The AFM is an international labor organization with over 100,000 members in 250 locals throughout the United States and Canada. AFM members are professional musicians who record music for sound recordings, film scores, radio, television and commercial announcements. Lee has served as the AFM International President since his election in June of 2001.
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