p2pnet.net News:- According to yet another carefully spun message based on yet another Harris survey carried out, once again, for the Business Software Alliance (BSA), it seems ‘tweens’ are less likely than ‘teens’ to “download copyrighted commercial software and other digital media (music, movies and games) through illegal, online file-sharing networks”.

Did they really think kids under the age of 13 would be doing more online than teenagers?

Come on.

And what “illegal, online file sharing networks”?

There are the various commercial and free p2p networks the BSA and its masters (not to mention the movie and recording cartels) don’t.like, and there are the plastic sites backed and supported by Big Music and through which it tries to sell ‘product’.

But there are no “illegal, online file-sharing networks,” and to think this may be a slip of the trade group’s metaphorical tongue is, well, dumb.

Making this kind of deliberate ‘mistake’ casts dark shadows on the validity of the rest of the ‘conclusions’ in this and other similar surveys - not that you could be in any doubt when they’re replete with statements such as, “The results indicate that ethical attitudes toward copyright law are significantly weaker among teenagers, pointing to a need for more education” …

… such as the ‘educational programs’ currently being forced into US schools by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) perhaps?

“The gap in behaviors and ethical attitudes from the tween to teen years indicates a critical need to educate younger kids even earlier and provide them with guidance that will positively influence their growth as good cyber citizens and their respect for digital copyrighted works,” says Diane Smiroldo, BSA vp of public affairs.

And, “It is clear from the results of this study that by the time our young people are teens they are more likely to download software and other types of digital copyrighted media,” she says. “Parents and teachers need to work together to emphasize to our young people the importance of using computers and the Internet safely, as well as respecting intellectual property.”

And, “In an effort to guide parents and educators in teaching children about respect for digital works online, BSA offers parents, teachers and students a variety of materials and tools on cyber ethics, including its curriculum, ‘Play It Safe in Cyber Space’.”

MPAA ‘education’ program
Does the above remind you of anything - the MPAA’s program, perhaps?

The studios are tapping Junior Achievement, a ‘nonprofit’ group, to “bring its antipiracy message to young people”.

In October, last year, p2pnet reported that Hollywood was embarking on a project to pump anti-piracy messages to 900,000 students through a program being “integrated” into more than 36,000 classrooms across America.

Carrying the message to children in grades five to nine via volunteer teachers was, is, Junior Achievement, a ‘non-profit’ pranization .

It’s offering students DVD players, DVD movies, theater tickets and all-expenses-paid trips to Hollywood for winning essays about the illegalities of file-sharing, it said when the program was launched, going on, “Teachers, too, can win prizes for effectively communicating the approved message in class.”

Then, earlier this year Junior Achievement volunteers “debuted the industry’s program in California classrooms,” writes Kathleen Sharp in a Boston Globe story here, going on:

“One volunteer, Steve Dolcemaschio, an executive with E! Entertainment Television Inc. (jointly owned by Comcast Corp., The Walt Disney Co., and Liberty Media Corp.) worked with Diedre Ndiaye, who teaches speech and drama to sixth- through eighth-grade students at Markham Middle School in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. Many children in the class indicated they had never downloaded anything before.

“The volunteer and the teacher worked from a 25-page classroom guide to explain the concept of using a computer to download files, which they called ”morally and ethically wrong.’ The students played roles such as ‘The Film Producer,’ ‘The Starving Artist,’ and were asked questions such as ‘Has anyone ever copied your homework? How did this make you feel?’

“By the end of one session, the teacher asked one boy: ‘Will you stop copying music online and download the right way?’- and ‘Yes,’ he answered. ‘I’ll go to the music store and buy more CDs.’

“Students learn to repeat the program’s motto: ‘If you don’t pay for it, you’ve stolen it’.”

Music industry
Organized Music is also well aware of the need to get ‘em while they’re young - and pliable.

Not content with suing everyone it can lay its hands on for sharing music online, it’s also brainwashing childen in their classrooms.

In Canada, for example, “In the context of the downloading and uploading phenomena, getting young people to think and talk about that process is in itself a good thing,” says CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association of America) president Brian Robertson.

This comes in a nationwide CRIAA campaign to indoctrinate school kids into, “the realities of the current digital marketplace” - from the perspective of the Big Five record labels, of course.

For “downloading and uploading phenomena” read file sharing, and for “think and talk about that process” read “We can’t sue you in Canada yet, but your time is coming.”

But to get back to the BSA’s report, “Not talking about ethical behaviors is like shooting yourself in the foot,” says Dr. Diane DeMott Painter, a technology resources teacher in Centreville, Va.

By an amazing coincidence, Painter is also the recipient of BSA’s Cyber Education Award, “presented “to individuals in the education profession for their commitment to teaching students and educators about cyber ethics, intellectual property and the importance of respecting creative works online, including software.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 26th, 2004 at 10:03 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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