Microsoft Pushes Copyright Education Curriculum 251
Dotnaught writes "Backed by a study that says teens show more respect for copyrights when told of possible jail time for infringement, Microsoft is launching a new intellectual property curriculum to educate kids about IP law. To support its teachings, Microsoft has launched MyBytes, a Web site where students can create custom ringtones, share content — "their own content," as Microsoft makes clear — and learn more about intellectual property rights."
The Gospel According To Bill... (Score:5, Insightful)
I have no problems at all with educating kids on copyright law (at about the same time that other civics classes are taught), but this just reeks of propaganda.
No dark sarcasm in the classroom ... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:The Gospel According To Bill... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Music, Videos, Programs will always be copied. (Score:3, Insightful)
Seems the education campaigns are already working.
You just made me laugh. (Score:5, Insightful)
See, that's the difference between the sheeple and informed people. You really don't know it's wrong. You've just been educated to think it's wrong.
As for me, I know that copying music is illegal in some countries, but I know it's NOT wrong - specially if the RIAA engages in monopolistic behavior.
Reality isn't black and white, my friend. And it doesn't have shades of gray either, that would be thinking in 1-D. Reality comes in COLORS. Some nice, some ugly. And there are many viewpoints.
"Preserve our business model OR ELSE" 101 (Score:5, Insightful)
And it came to pass that there was wailing and gnashing of teeth while Microsoft made billions upon billions of dollars and a monopoly was built.
And it came to pass that while open source and free software was never really gone, but it has regained popularity as much of the afore mentioned wailing and gnashing goes on. And as open source and industries using it gained popularity, there were flying chairs as well.
There are other ways to get your computers to deliver the results you want and it doesn't have to cost any money. Microsoft doesn't want anyone to know that so they'll frighten kids with fire and brimstone to protect their business model. Brilliant! But should Microsoft be teaching religion in schools? What they SHOULD be teaching is their programmers to write safe and secure code.
Re:You just made me laugh. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:"Preserve our business model OR ELSE" 101 (Score:2, Insightful)
guaranteed to increase infringement (Score:4, Insightful)
When a grown-up told you that something was naughty what was the first thing you did when their back was turned?
Exactly. Expect copyright infringement to grow exponentially as a direct result of this MS program.
Re:"Preserve our business model OR ELSE" 101 (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, what would the Bible be without the Devil...
Yeah, it could happen! (Score:3, Insightful)
These are the same teens who are having unprotected sex, smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, driving cars at unsafe speeds, and continuing to indulge in drugs. Maybe if we told them about the consequences of those behaviours, they'd stop doing them as well.
Re:Duh (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:all your posts are belong to us (Score:4, Insightful)
Social network sites (Facebook, MySpace, etc) also do this, that is why my profiles on there is mostly empty.
But in short, this is an corporation theft, but they hide behind lawyers and some shadow explanations on this crap in there Eula. They don't tell kids about this stuff on there copyright web page. It doesn't fit them to tell them the truth, that they are making money on kids creations.
I hope that this web page of there goes to
Re:Duh (Score:5, Insightful)
"The only people who go to jail for infringement are commercial bootleggers and I can't imagine that'd include anyone under the age of 18 AKA high school students."
Not correct from either a factual or practical standpoint. I grant you that this is what many people believe to be the case, but nonetheless, it's incorrect. This may be one of the reasons why Microsoft is launching the education campaign: to counter falsehoods like the one you've relayed.
At any rate, Kevin Gonzalez uploaded a work print of The Hulk to a P2P network. He did this not for money; perhaps he was part of the scene or he just did it because he thinks information should be free. He was sentenced to six months of home confinement. William Fitzgerald was a fellow who traded warez via IRC; his mistake was making them available on his web server. Again, not for money. Nonetheless, he got four months in prison and four months in home confinement. Then there was Operation Buccaneer, which targeted some of the warez rings (again: amateur warez traders, not bootleggers!) and handed out jail sentences of 18 to 46 months. That's almost four years for non-commercial warez trading.
The "you have to sell it for it to be criminal infringement" is one of those Slashdot memes that will never go away (your post is indeed already 4, informative when it's quite simply incorrect, while this correction will likely languish at 2 or lower). We'll continue to tell each other this, and we'll want it to be true. But the fact remains that Gonzalez and the rest did the jail time. Microsoft will actually be doing a disservice to teens if they don't explain the hard realities of copyright law.
Makes sense (Score:4, Insightful)
Jail time? Yes great plan (Score:4, Insightful)
So...
1. Educate youth with FUD
2.
3. Profit!
I have an idea. How about a fast OS you WANT to pay for?
Subvert it (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Duh (Score:2, Insightful)
Don't break the law because it's against the law! That might work on teens, but it won't work on any free-thinking individual. Too bad our schools don't teach independent thought anymore.
Re:Duh (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Duh (Score:3, Insightful)
The claim is that copying will get you arrested.
Re:The Gospel According To Bill... (Score:5, Insightful)