RIAA's Elementary School Copyright Curriculum 507
selven writes "In a blatant campaign devoid of any subtlety, the RIAA is fighting for the hearts and minds of our children with its Music Rules, a collection of education materials on how to respect copyright. The curriculum includes vocabulary such as 'counterfeit recordings, DMCA notice, "Grokster" ruling, legal downloading, online piracy, peer-to-peer file sharing, pirate recordings, songlifting, and US copyright law.' There is no mention whatsoever of fair use. Compounding the bias, it includes insights such as that taking music without paying for it is 'songlifting,' and that making copies for personal use and then playing them while your friends come over is illegal. On the bright side, it includes math showing that the total damages from copyright infringement by children in the US amount to a measly $7.8 million."
Re:Okay, You Have the Floor (Score:4, Informative)
That covers most of it.
Re:Is it like Sex Ed can I opt my Kid Out (Score:5, Informative)
As a parent of a school-aged kid I can tell you that this is not how it works. They don't send home a letter telling you they're teaching polynomials, evolution or T.S. Elliot.
However, they are VERY sensitive to potential lawsuits. Angry parents standing in the school office tend to get their way, regardless of the logic of their arguments. Stay involved. Ask your kids' teachers about the subjects they will be taught. Go to PTA meetings.
The parents who sit around waiting for letters to be sent home to them are the parents who have no say in how the school is run.
Re:It didn't stop them from smoking (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Okay, You Have the Floor (Score:3, Informative)
They should never, under any circumstances, be indoctrinated into any belief.
Children are like sponges, it can be hard to do that sometimes
Re:Okay, You Have the Floor (Score:5, Informative)
I appreciated them, FWIW.
Re:Okay, You Have the Floor (Score:3, Informative)
I took a course in High School where we dissected the film Cool Hand Luke , and we showed the whole thing. Then took pieces of it and commented on each piece one section at a time and in the end we had reproduced the entire script and several images within the commentary. This was ruled fair use because we used the entire thing in the commentary and the commentary would be useless without the amount we used.
As far as I know, "educational purposes" is itself often a defense against infringement charges. School bands don't have to pay fees for the music performances, only for the sheet music itself. In my college sports bands, we'd even have a few students write their own arrangements of songs.
Re:Awesome! (Score:3, Informative)
That's sort of different then what they claim in the teacher's guide PDF:
Total number of songs lifted = 7,800,000;
Total cost of songs lifted = $7,722,000
So which is it RIAA, is a song worth $80,000 or is a song worth $.99? In order for a court to award damages of $80,000 for distribution of one song that costs $.99 to purchase, that makes the assumption that a single person distributing a song equates to a loss of 80,808 sales. That's a bit of a stretch.
It doesn't actually say that (Score:1, Informative)
Actually, it doesn't say this at all. I'm guessing the summary is referring to this PDF [music-rules.com] (page 3) where this scenario is presented as one of four where students have to "spot the songlifters." While there's no answer key provided (as these scenarios are meant as jumping-off points for discussion), I believe it's safe to say that the intent is to show that 1 and 3 are songlifters, while 2 (the one referenced in the summary) and 4 are not.
Re:Okay, You Have the Floor (Score:2, Informative)
Your moral judgment on the act itself cannot stand in the way of a simple statement on the current state of research *about* the act.
Apparently you've missed the last 20 years in the United States - for a sizable chunk of our population, moral judgement DOES override scientific research. FFS, we have people in positions of authority who truly believe that the Earth is only 6000 years old! (see http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/08/az-state-senate-earth-6000/ )
Re:Okay, You Have the Floor (Score:3, Informative)
Yes, you could tell them that but then you would be a BIG FAT LIAR.
Copyright doesn't exist to enrich artists and authors. Copyright exists to enrich society.
The state sanctioned distribution monopoly is just something that the federal
government is allowed to do in order to further that goal. The enticement of
authors is a means to an end rather than a means unto itself.
Although even the "corporate bootlicker" spun version of copyright
still might leave students wondering why copyrights still exist
long after the death of the relevant author.
Re:Fair use? (Score:3, Informative)
That may very well be an unfounded claim of copyright. The proceedings were the result of the government and public money. The question is "Can a work created by the government with the fund of the people, by the people, for the people fall under copyright law or is it in fact in the public domain?" Once again, this is something that either needs to be spelled out in the law, or decided by the courts.
Re:Okay, You Have the Floor (Score:3, Informative)
I'm not sure how it works everywhere, when my Daughter went to High School here in Louisville, KY., the band had to pay for the music they used on the field and in competition. The band director went through an organization that supplied the sheet music, made sure that the show purchased was not being used by any other band in any of the shows we were going to compete in, and made sure we had the right music for the instruments we were using. For our size band (50 to 75) students, the cost of the show we used in the 2008-09 school year was somewhere between $2500 and $3500. The cost of the show varies by popularity and band size. Our band organization foots the bill (read band fees and fund raisers) since the schools do not provide any funds to speak of. The cost of the show includes any and all performance fees, so in the end, yes, we are paying performance fees. A High School Band, costs a lot of money, especially if the band is big, and the suppliers of the music make sure that they get their cut.