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Education Media Movies The Almighty Buck Your Rights Online

MPAA School Propaganda Program Examined 433

Posted by michael from the starving-artist-the-musical dept.
Anonymous Coward copies-and-pastes: "'As part of its campaign to thwart online music and movie piracy, Hollywood is now reaching into school classrooms with a program that denounces file-sharing and offers prizes for students and teachers who spread the word about Internet theft. The Motion Picture Association of America paid $100,000 to deliver its anti-piracy message to 900,000 students nationwide in grades 5-9 over the next two years, according to Junior Achievement Inc., which is implementing the program using volunteer teachers from the business sector." Only $100,000 to advertise to 900,000 students? What a deal! We mentioned this earlier.
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MPAA School Propaganda Program Examined More

MPAA School Propaganda Program Examined

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  • Only a step from (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Kierthos ( 225954 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:21AM (#7299404) Homepage
    offering money to kids who turn other kids in...

    "Rat on your friends, redeem valuable prizes!"

    Kierthos
    • Only $100,000 to advertise to 900,000 students? What a deal!

      Heck, I'll bet they spent more than that advertising "Gigli"

      • Re:Only a step from (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Simonetta ( 207550 )
        They spent $100,000 to inform 900,000 young people that they could get free music and movies by plugging their computers into their telephones and going to something called 'Kazaa'.

        When I was in high school, the local gestapo would force anyone that they caught smoking weed to come to the school and tell the kids that it was 'wrong and dangerous'. No mea-culpa, no early release from your twenty-year sentence for that seed found on the floor of your car.

        I wonder if the RIAA is going to parade

    • Re:Only a step from (Score:5, Funny)

      by LittleGuy ( 267282 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:41AM (#7299567)
      offering money to kids who turn other kids in...

      "Rat on your friends, redeem valuable prizes!"

      I'm saving my boxtops for the Elia Kazan Commemorative Lifetime Achievement Action Figure, With Kung-Fu Grip.

    • Re:Only a step from (Score:5, Insightful)

      by EinarH ( 583836 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:52AM (#7299647) Journal
      And they want to scare of the parents as well. A part of the program is a take home and fill-out-together letter to the parents.

      I wrote a long comment [slashdot.org] about this and the program last time this was mentioned.
      There are some links to the pdf files in the program there.

      The Starving Artist is a discussion based game where students are divided in group and shall produce a CD but then they are ripped off by "file swapping". "how does this makes you feel?"


      Share the following statements with the students to summarize the lesson with the class. These statements help summarize the lesson and connect the concepts to the students personally.
      - To legally own it, legally buy it.
      - If you haven't paid for it, you've stolen it.
      - Copying a movie or CD for a friend is illegal.
      - If you wouldn't take a movie or CD from the shelves of a store without paying for it, then why do it online?

      I must say that $100,000 is dirt cheap for a program like this.

      • Re:Only a step from (Score:5, Interesting)

        by mike77 ( 519751 ) <mraley77NO@SPAMyahoo.com> on Friday October 24, 2003 @09:55AM (#7300315)
        And they want to scare of the parents as well. A part of the program is a take home and fill-out-together letter to the parents.

        I personally am not a parent, but if I were, I believe I would be pulling my child out of these classes. When did schools become a lobbying forum for corporations? Was it when Coke and Pepsi started battling over who gets the lucrative lunchroom contract? (gotta get the kids hooked early and turn them into "consumers", it's their patriotic american duty) I doubt it will happen, because most people are sheep, but I would really like to see some outrage by the parents. What gives the *AA's the moral ground to stand on and come into the schools, and tell our nations children what is right and wrong. Last time I looked they represented money driven/hungry companies, and I cannot even think of a company anymore to which I can point and say, look, now there's a stand up company who's always done the right thing, and I'm proud to support them.

        Parnets, make some noise, and don't sit by while your children are being "educated" by the united corporations of America.

      • Re:Only a step from (Score:5, Funny)

        by brianosaurus ( 48471 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @11:41AM (#7301512) Homepage
        They "forgot" to do the other part of that RPG:

        Have the students divide into groups and produce CDs. Same game so far. But now have them try to get a deal with the RIAA. Have them find out that they don't get squat for all their hard earned work. Maybe they're CD will make it to a few shelves, but they won't see a cent, since all of the RIAA promotional budget goes to "sure things" like Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake's R&B career, and Metallica.

        Then tell them that they can't distribute their music online since the RIAA now owns the copyrights to their songs. So they can't get any exposure. Next, tell them that their sales didn't recoup the advance they got from the studios to record the album, so they actually owe money back.

        Then ask them how they feel about it.

      • The Starving Artist is a discussion based game where students are divided in group and shall produce a CD but then they are ripped off

        Whee! Hey kids, let's play Starving Artist! It's FUN!

        Students are divided into groups, in which each group 'produces' a CD. When finished, they submit their CD to local radio stations hoping it will be played, and try to get them sold in record stores, only to find out that the radio only plays material presented by a members of a certain association, and the shelf-

    • Molding students [65.18.207.160] has already been experimented with, and it's frighteningly simple. A propaganda campaign in the schools could turn the students into MPAA stoolies with little cost and effort.

  • Just like DARE (Score:5, Insightful)

    by AlgoRhythm ( 701779 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:21AM (#7299406)
    And we all know how much THAT works.

    At least taxpayers aren't paying for it.
    • DARE has been replaced by GREAT [atf.gov], which so far has a pretty good success rate.
    • I was one of the first years of the DARE program. Even as a 4th grader, I was immensely bored by the overly-simplified and Happy-Little-Sunshine-World that those DARE things portrayed. However, I hadn't planned on trying that stuff before DARE, so I can't say how it affected me.

  • Bad idea (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:22AM (#7299411)
    Anytime you tell a kid that something's bad, their first instinct is to go investigate it. After listening to the **AA's lectures, they'll immediately go home and log on the net to see what this "Kazaa" thing is.

    • You're forgetting... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by StringBlade ( 557322 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:25AM (#7299430) Journal
      They already know more about Kazaa, filesharing, and the Internet than most adults.
    • Anytime you tell a kid that something's bad, their first instinct is to go investigate it.

      Though I see your point, that's not always true. If you tell them it's bad and let them know why, and what the consequences are, they (at least mine, and also myself as a child) do tend to stay away from it.

      I'm far from advocating this third reich program in schools, but if they're sharp enough to show kids what awful, evil, torturous things will happen to them if they do share (unlearning what they learned in ki
      • but if they're sharp enough to show kids what awful, evil, torturous things will happen to them if they do share (unlearning what they learned in kindergarten), then they're more likely to keep "clean" of it.

        Yes, just like how all those kids threw down their bongs when they were shown how marijuana will KILL THEM!!! Or maybe it was DRIVE THEM INSANE!!! No, wait, it was going to TURN THEM INTO USELESS LOSERS WHO WILL DO NOTHING WITH THEIR LIVES!!! Or wasn't it suppose to KILL THEIR BROTHER BECAUSE THE
        • Yes, you're right. If the claims are completely unbelievable, than kids will not believe them. Somehow, they are able to discern the two.

          But if you show kids pictures of people who are writhing around in pain and a bloody mess becuase they wrecked their sled racing on the freeway, they're more likely to be more careful drivers in traffic.

  • remember (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:23AM (#7299414)
    remember when Ronald Reagon first started that war on drugs that even rewarded children for snitching on their parents...

    even if you had a little pot in the home it was like you were an axe murderer...

    now children, if your mommy and daddy have kazaa on their computer you be sure to tell us so we can sue the hell out of them and\or put them behind bars where they belong...

  • overly simplistic (Score:5, Insightful)

    by toasted_calamari ( 670180 ) <burningsquid@NoSpAm.gmail.com> on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:23AM (#7299420) Homepage Journal
    From the article:
    "If you haven't paid for it, you've stolen it."

    I honestly hope that this program has a more complex take on IP than this. I can easily think of many, many things on line that can be obtained for free, legally. (the entire contents of sourceforge comes to mind.) IP law is phenomenally complicated and cannot be boiled down to simple slogans and sound bytes.

    • Re:overly simplistic (Score:2, Insightful)

      by fruey ( 563914 )
      "If you haven't paid for it, you've stolen it"

      I wholeheartedly agree with you. Indeed, copyright violation is not the same as theft anyway. Stealing means "the felonious taking and removing of personal property with intent to deprive the rightful owner of it" and has absolutely nothing to do with online piracy. It's disgusting.

    • Re:overly simplistic (Score:3, Interesting)

      by onyxruby ( 118189 )
      Does that mean that I stole Mandrake 9.1 when I installed it for a file server a little while ago? I definitely didn't pay for it, heck I even downloaded it from online. They have, in effect, accused anybody who uses Linux of being a thief. Hey, don't they use Linux renderfarms in Hollywood for graphics?

      • Re:overly simplistic (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Daniel Dvorkin ( 106857 ) * on Friday October 24, 2003 @09:05AM (#7299747) Homepage Journal
        The suits who run the studios are so disconnected* from the techies in the render farms that such issues never enter their brains.** And to big-corp-think, of course, free software -- free anything -- is an abomination and unclean anyway. Understanding this, IMO, is key to understanding everything from the [MP|RI]AA's reaction to piracy, to Microsoft's reaction to Linux. In their perfect world, you pay for everything; more specifically, you pay them for everything. The idea that anyone might be able to get useful stuff for free wakes them up in screaming nightmares. This is not rational cost-benefit analysis. This is a clash of worldviews as fundamental as Galileo's with the Church.

        --

        * I'm not claiming any special insider knowledge of how Hollywood studios work. This is my guess based on my experience of how big corporations work in general.

        ** If they have brains. Or hearts. Or courage. All of which are highly debatable.
    • "If you haven't paid for it, you've stolen it."

      Someone care to comment on my status? As a Canadian who purchases lots of CDRs (no, I don't use them for music - I need them to do my work), I've been paying the heavy levies on every disc I purchase, which are given to the music industry.

      Since I've effectively been paying for music without choosing to do so, does that mean that I can start (legally) copying now?

      If not, how does the government justify the levy? Some people are copying, so charge us all l

      • Re:overly simplistic (Score:3, Informative)

        by zerocool^ ( 112121 )
        There is a difference between Blank CD-R's [bestbuy.com] and Music CD-R's [bestbuy.com]. I'm not sure I've got the links right, but if you go into best buy, over in the computer section, there's the computer CD-R's, and over near the CD's and Movies, there's the blank Audio CD-R's, which usually come in 30 packs and are more expensive. It's the "audio CD-R's" that you are paying the premium for recording music on. So unless you've been buying the more expensive kind of CD-R's, you haven't been stacking up credit towards downloading

        • Re:overly simplistic (Score:4, Interesting)

          by JediTrainer ( 314273 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @10:12AM (#7300477)
          The riaa should learn from this lesson, too. If you try to charge someone more for a product because you assume they're going to do something illegal, people will find a way to get around the higher price. Proactive high prices don't fly in a capitalist society where everyone is waiting for the sale price, and unwilling to believe bullshit about "these are for data, those are for music" when they're identical except for the price.

          That reminds me about something else. Some years ago, a contact lens manufacturer was successfully sued because they sold the same lens as both a permanent and and disposable lens. The labelling was different, and the price (something like $1 for the 'disposable' and $100 for the 'permanent'). The quality of the lens was the same.

          I thought it had been made illegal to sell the same product deceptively this way and try to charge a higher price because of this ruling.

  • start while they are young (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Zanek ( 546281 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:23AM (#7299422) Homepage
    This reminds me of one of my favorite books, 'A Brave New World'.
    Program the kids while they are young and by the time they are adolescents they may think copying music (not stealing :-)
    is as bad as physically stealing from a store. I wonder if someday some kid will be
    like "Copying music is worst than stealing cars"

    • Re:start while they are young (Score:4, Interesting)

      by kfg ( 145172 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:33AM (#7299505)
      Saw a congresscritter on the tube the other day (can't remember her name) foaming at the mouth, saying that downloading a song from the internet was stealing, just as if they had stolen a CD from a store, and should be prosecuted as such.

      Ummmmmmmmmm, no. One is a civil copyright violation, roughly analogous to skipping out on a one dollar phone bill and basically the same as photocopying a chapter from a library book, and the other is larceny, the same as stealing a library book.

      With great legal minds like that writing our laws is it any wonder we are where we are?

      KFG

  • Excellent business plan. (Score:5, Funny)

    by watzinaneihm ( 627119 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:24AM (#7299426) Journal
    I am going to stop my email-marketing business and going to pay a million to the government to let me teach students why a large penis is important in their life.And if they dont want that, ill teach them how to meet naked teens desperate to talk to them. And if they want alternatives, ill teach 'em how to put a wireless camera to good use.
    If RIAA plan is legit, so is mine.

  • Salem File Sharing Trials (Score:4, Funny)

    by bcolflesh ( 710514 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:25AM (#7299431) Homepage
    My name is Goody Walters and I accuse little Billy Smith of file sharing! Burn him!
  • Children need to learn that Downloading Copyrighted material illegaly is against the law and can cause problems for their families if they are caught.

    I would however direct the kids to other sources of music (like magnatunes, etc.)

  • er its a school not a billboard (Score:5, Insightful)

    by pacman on prozac ( 448607 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:26AM (#7299442)
    Why should any business or company be allowed to advertise in school, regardless of what their message is.

    Besides what are they teaching the kids, that it doesn't matter if you make a load of worthless crap aslong as you have lawyers to back you up? yea great.
    • Companies advertise in schools all the time.

      Coke machines, Qwest Pay phones, Banners and signs all around the gym and around the sports fields. Hell look at kids today, everything they wear now is a billboard.

      Schools are the first place children learn to be consumers.
      • My senior year in high school showed me the relationship between schools and companies.

        Our school district was hurting for money like most school districts were. The high school principal offered exclusive selling rights to Coca-Cola and Pepsi. We had a survey in school on which we would prefer. Something like 78% wanted Pepsi. Pepsi offered the district $50,000 for exclusive rights for one year. Coke offered $55,000. The district went with Coke.

        Many things at our school such as scoreboards were don
      • There is somewhat of a difference between the school allowing coke machines on their property and letting the MPAA use classrooms as a Soapbox. If the schools allowed Pepsi to come in and explain why carbonated beverages are part of a healty diet, that would be a better analogy. I wouldn't be suprised if this does actually happen -- as someone else said, schools today will do anything for a buck.

        That having been said -- $100,000 for 900k students? For the love of god, jack up the prices schools!

        At any rat
    • Two words for you, buddy: home schooling [home-school.com]. I don't have kids yet, and I know it'll be hard as crap to pull this off when I do, but my wife and I are going to give it our all to try home schooling. You can set up cooperatives with other families in the neighborhood to help out. Also, it helps that my wife and I have careers with very flexibile hours.

  • ARGH.. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    God forbid that they actually teach the students a bit about the law and how the gov't is f'ckin everyone over these days..

    The schools teach revisionist history.. the schools teach idiocy..

    Students are no longer taught to think for themselves, infact it's discouraged.. how dare you question the couse material layed out infront of you.

    If schools taught important things, like how debt works and how to balance a checkbook, and why learning is not only fun, but often rewarding, and how the process of inventi
    • Yes, and everyone knows that Columbus proved the Earth is round and the Pilgrims were just normal people seeking freedom from evil repressive governments in Europe.

      Revolution? Not bloody likely. You have to know that you've been disinformed to be angry (but then those who know don't seem to care much anyway, so it's none the better).

  • Brainwashing ? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MoonFog ( 586818 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:27AM (#7299447)
    Andrew Irgens-Moller, 14, buried his head into a backpack on his desk and rolled his eyes as the guest teacher warned of computer viruses and hackers that could take control of a user's desktop via file-sharing programs. He objected that antivirus software could scan downloaded files and only sophisticated hackers could pull off the remote desktop computer takeover.
    Then the teacher cut him off.

    These are brainwashing tactics... It is downright scary that these "guest teachers" are even allowed to spread such FUD. If they want to move young kids away from filesharing, try at least to feed them with false information.
    "Your computer can be taken over at the minute you install Kazaa"

    • Re:Brainwashing ? (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      ...try at least to feed them with false information.

      "Now class, today's guest teacher is here to explain how the Linux operating system is a virus. Mr. Ballmer, the room is yours."

    • Re:Brainwashing ? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Exactly. They're basing their arguments on trying to scare the kids, and while some may be convinced, enough will know the reality of the situation to not be convinced. The logic is then "well, if that's wrong, what about the rest" and the whole thing crumbles.

      I've heard similar things with sex-ed campaigns. Someone tells the kids that condoms have a 20% failure rate (which they do, if you don't read the instructions), and therefore they shouldn't have sex because it's not safe. While yes, that will scare
      • You forgot the most important point: people (esp. kids) don't care about consequences; they're all immortal in their own eyes. It's no secret that drugs, smoking, drinking, etc. will kill you, but that doesn't stop many people. Same with condoms, of course - everyone convinces themself that they won't be in the 20%.

    • Re:Brainwashing ? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Kircle ( 564389 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @09:03AM (#7299726)
      More telling I think is the quote that followed:
      Bret Balonick, a tax accountant on loan from PricewaterhouseCoopers to teach the anti-piracy class, was arguing that some downloaders have been affected by malicious activity. Besides, he said, it's illegal to upload and download unauthorized content online.


      "If it's illegal in America, host it in Uzbekistan," snapped the 14-year-old.
      The quote you mentioned does make it look like brainwashing, but the quote I mentioned here makes the kid look bad. Almost like saying, "move your money to a swiss bank account."
    • remember that Simpsons episode where the school was bought by a corporation that used the kids as market research to design a toy?

      "Funzo! Funzo!! FUZNO!! If you don't have Funzo, you're nothing!"
    • buried his head into a backpack on his desk and rolled his eyes
      how did they know he rolled his eyes if he'd buried his head into a backpack?

  • why don't they just... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by seriv ( 698799 )
    Send them to re-education camps!! Bribing teachers to teach an agenda of the MPAA should be illegal. In fact I bet it is, but the MPAA is "above the law."
    -Seriv

  • most insigtful comment in the article (Score:5, Funny)

    by rokka ( 631038 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:30AM (#7299477)
    "If it's illegal in America, host it in Uzbekistan," snapped the 14-year-old.
  • Picture it, a little more donation and..

    'I pledge Aleigance to the flag, i will be a mindless sheep in the face of the giant corp's blah blah blah'

    Where is the educational value in this, nowhere what so ever, why waste valuable school time in teaching this. I bet at the end of the day they dont mention anything along the lines of fair use or the right to make copies.

  • This is just the MPAA trying to get the word out to a young population that although you can find stuff for free on the web its not right to download it? Just an organization like the RIAA protecting its members.

    I used to trade apple // games in middleschool. You knew it was a little shady with "backup programs" programs like Mr.Crack man.Locksmith etc.. You knew it was wrong, but I had no money to buy games (heck I had the games to use on the school computers..)

    Now however with the p2p software being

  • Contrast this (Score:5, Insightful)

    by cubicledrone ( 681598 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:35AM (#7299520)
    With the average volunteer who might want to help kids in the local school districts learn to read or to operate a computer. Schools would require such a person to navigate a bureaucratic maze for weeks.

    But for $100,000, they'll gladly put the taxpayer-funded curriculum on hold for the day and allow a live advertisement for the latest feature film to kids who can't read or construct a complete sentence. Incredible.
  • Apparently music piracy is gaining ground and its prevention is just as important as keeping kids off drugs. :-P'''
    (At the moment, I can't even get the DARE website [dare.com] to pull up.)

    I'm willing to bet that kids now-a-days hear and read more about how drugs are OK for you (Viagara, penis enlargement, muscle augmentation, sex pheromones, etc...) than music piracy.

  • Board of Regents??? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by da3dAlus ( 20553 ) <dustin.grau@REDHATgmail.com minus distro> on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:37AM (#7299539) Homepage Journal
    Why dont' the state BOR's or any superindendents step up and say "not in our schools!"?? This has no actual educational merit whatsoever, and should not set foot inside any schools: public, private, or higher learning. It's like Coke coming in and preaching that "drinking Pepsi destroys our employee's way of life, because you're using another product". In the end it's just another corporation trying to save it's own ass. If they just put the money towards education in general (so they can get good jobs), or somehow helping the economy, maybe kids could AFFORD to buy their products instead of stealing them. Ok, I'll stop ranting now.
  • "For only 9 cents a child, you can reach America's youth and tell them the truth about video Piracy and how it hurts the movie industry, the American economy, and leads to severe tooth decay."

    • Nah (Score:2)

      by Angram ( 517383 )
      "... tell them the truth about video Piracy and how it ... leads to severe tooth decay."

      Tooth decay? What about blindness and hairy palms?

  • Interesting! New rights for us! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Eric_Cartman_South_P ( 594330 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:42AM (#7299579)
    Quoted from the article...

    "If you haven't paid for it, you've stolen it."

    Conversely, that means if I paid for it, I OWN it. Not a license of it, not some right to it, but OWN it. Now I can copy, broadcast, whatever. If the RIAA is going to boil things down, so will I. Time to give all those mp3's I OWN to my friends.

  • All your mind are belong to us.

  • One good thing about it... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Dave21212 ( 256924 ) <dav@spamcop.net> on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:44AM (#7299589) Homepage Journal

    If they passed out pamphlets to the students, at least they won't be able to read them.

    "Why Can't Johnny Read ?"
    --- Because the teachers [theadvocates.org] spend more time trying to brainwash and subdue the little brats than actually teaching them [successforall.net] perhaps ?

    Lovely...
    Do any lawyers think there might be a case for equal time/access ? Send Linus or RMS around to teach kids for a while...

  • Uh huh.... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MoeMoe ( 659154 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:48AM (#7299619)
    "The Motion Picture Association of America paid $100,000 to deliver its anti-piracy message to 900,000 students nationwide in grades 5-9 over the next two years"

    And this is going to make an impact... how? Most kids at that age are smart enough to know when they are being jacked, even if they didn't, they would only be under the spell until the "prizes" ran out. If the MPAA went to 1st graders, prizes would probably reel them in without question. The problem with that is 1st graders, assuming they are computer literate, do not go downloading massive quantities of MP3s or DivX encoded movies.

    <paranoid_rant>
    Now if you ask me, the real goal for the MPAA in doing this is to trick the children into admitting they have downloaded a movie or two before and then threaten to sue their parents for everything they've got... To avoid litigation, the parents can agree to have the child stop using the computer altogether, and give him a calculator to play with instead.
    </paranoid_rant>

    • Most kids at that age are smart enough to know when they are being jacked, even if they didn't, they would only be under the spell until the "prizes" ran out.

      I believe that the side-effect you mention is really the worst part of all of this. By linking "good behavior" to prizes, you remove all incentive to "do the right thing" simply because "its right" and not for any kind of compensatory reason. People with this mentality could just as easily be bribed to do the "bad thing" as they could to do the "

      • People with this mentality could just as easily be bribed to do the "bad thing" as they could to do the "good thing."

        Which is why the RIAA/MPAA are doing it ;)
        They can afford to keep this whole thing going.
  • Underpaid volunteer teachers to help the most greedy industry in the world - news at eleven!

  • Soviet is right (Score:2, Insightful)

    by GabrielF ( 636907 )
    I can certainly see the reasoning behind this, after all kazaa has become so prevalent among kids that it is necessary to teach them about copyright law, etc. Remember the 12 year old girl sued by the RIAA? She thought what she was doing was legal because she'd paid $30 to kazaa gold. However, this clumsy, idiotic attempt at "educating" kids is downright wrong. If you're going to explain complicated legal issues to kids you should have people who know what they're talking about do it, not your average teac

  • This Is Worse Than You Think (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SirChive ( 229195 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:55AM (#7299668)
    This is really bad. Not so much because the MPAA is going to schools to deliver it's particular propaganda. But because ANY group from private industry can buy access to school kids.

    What's next? Representatives from the Brokerage industry going to grade schools to preach the virtues of buying stock? Fast food evangelists marching freely through classrooms brainwashing kids to eat only Happy Meals.

    The MPAA is evil. But no more evil than any other industry group that will push it's own profits at the expense of all else. We are truely losing our integrity as a society if we let any of them into our schools.
    • Companies buying access to children in school began many years ago before the RIAA:

      Channel One News for the masses [channelone.com]

      Nike Shoes for athletes [corpwatch.org]

      ...and don't forget that soft drink [cfpa.net] companies had exclusive contracts with schools in return for support.

      I'm sure the list is bigger than this, these are the ones that immediately come to mind.
      • The really sad part is the pittance that school disticts get for selling access to their customers. It's practically nothing. As mentioned in the story, this group spent $100,000 for access to 900,000 students. That's eleven cents per student.

        The commercialization of education is something we should all be up in arms about. Why do they even sell sodas at school? They are proven to be a health risk. If kids want Coke that bad, let mom pack it in their lunch. Why do we sit kids down in front of Channe

  • So much for volunteering... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Shoten ( 260439 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @08:55AM (#7299670)
    I participated in JA when I was in high school, all those years ago; I was actually about to approach them locally and start participating as a volunteer. Frickin' forget THAT now. What are they thinking, acting as a forum where organizations can pay to disseminate information for their agendas?
  • We are also currently educating kids about the dangers of smoking and drinking. Yeah that reall works... just look around any college campus and you'll see how effective this 'education' was. The MPAA will be the same. They forget that when your an adolescent the cool things are all illegal. Its about rebeling agaisnt authority. This education will backfire in the MPAA's face. The only question is 'what's next?' redecucation 'camps' for those who copy music anyway?
  • This doesn't seem to be appropriate. What mass message is next? What if Microsoft pays big $$$ to get into a school and influence kids and their buying power. (Oh wait that happens already..) But seriously, our kids should be learning about the basic subjects, not having teachers running around carring a flag for a certain group.
    I have views and belong to certain conservative groups. But there is no way I would support an organized group of teachers running around trying to 'spread the word.'
    We have kids

  • Kids know where its at (Score:3, Interesting)

    by BobRooney ( 602821 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @09:17AM (#7299868) Homepage
    If it's illegal in America, host it in Uzbekistan," snapped the 14-year-old.

    The kids know its B.S. Just like back when I was in school and the D.A.R.E program was out with the whole "Drugs are Bad m'kay" movement. Yes heavy narcotic use is bad and awareness education serves its purpose, but even then it wasn't terribly effective. Even the "good" kids smoked dope when they got to High School. Come to think of it, especially the good kids.

    I trust that junior high kids are by and large savvy enough to recognize B.S., and the "Bad apples" will go download stuff just because they aren't supposed to.
  • Whether you've got a powerful central political body indoctrinating citizens about the Party or a wide array of powerful corporations constantly bombarding individuals with messages to consume, the result is the same: a sick society. Having corporations esentially buying air time to express a political view in our schools is disgusting and sick way of of paying for our woefully underfunded schools.

    No, we don't have a Gulag yet. But having individuals being threatened with financial ruin for "dealing" a


  • Making a profit is a good thing. This is what
    happens when making a profit becomes the ONLY
    thing. We even allow corporations to indoctrinate
    our children, in school, to the ideas and concepts
    that are most useful to the profiteers. Welcome
    to the new slavery.......

    I saw this article when my sons brought it home
    and showed it to me (they like to see me yell
    at the air). Fortunately, even at 12, my boys
    know corporate propaganda when they see it. It's
    a shame the school I pay dearly for (public,
    of course) doesn't.

    T

  • Conspiracy theory meets business plan (Score:4, Funny)

    by Stiletto ( 12066 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @09:25AM (#7299950)

    1. Buy laws to make sure public school system is desperate for cash.

    2. Dangle a little money in front of said schools in return for implementing "New Education Marketing Campaign"

    3. PROFIT!!!
  • Plane tickets to San Francisco: $500

    Cost to print out promotional flyers: $400

    Salary for small team of RIAA evangelizers for traveling road show: $99,100

    Having a 14-year-old say they'll host media in Uzbekistan to circumvent unfair RIAA copying laws?

  • It's All About the Hearts and Minds (Score:4, Insightful)

    by BlackBolt ( 595616 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @09:46AM (#7300207) Homepage Journal
    Big media propaganda like this may work in a small sector of society, but it seems consumers are slightly [staticfiends.com] unsatisfied [tripod.com] with how the big media companies are handling things. And when the people aren't happy, economics dictates that they do what they have to do to get happy, in this case, pirate. I watch Survivor [ezboard.com], all those pirate dudes [rum.com] love it there. Piracy is your friend. Now, I'm not condoning [suprnova.org] piracy [voracity.net], but the fact is, the corporations and the customers both have a responsibility to defend their respective positions, and to prevent the other power group from stealing too much control and upsetting the fragile and beautiful balance we call crapitalism [thedailyenron.com]. The system only works if both sides are doing their jobs, and that is:

    Customers: Shop wisely. You are voting with your dollars. If you accept draconian DRM [microsoft.com], you will NEVER get your freedom [gnu.org] back. You must protect your individual rights [eff.org] by choosing the best product [philipmorrisusa.com] and not buying based solely on emotionally exciting advertising hype [apple.com] or getting pushed around by impotent corporate shortcuts to profitability [sco.com].

    Corporations: Adapt to the changing environment as you have always done [businesshistory.net]. Listen to the customers [apple.com] and do everything possible to keep these informed consumers on your side. Search for innovative [apple.com] ways to improve your product, streamline your processes, and still make a REASONABLE amount of money. Stay alive to serve the customers tomorrow.

    Here's a quick rundown of some of the main gripes consumers have with big media products today:

    Things Wrong with Movies: Overpriced movies to match the overpriced snacks, Ben Affleck and J-Lo [theonion.com], crappy plots (which also may fall under the Ben Affleck category), $20+ million dollar salaries for actors which leads to increased ticket prices, irritating and useless copy-protection on DVDs, etc.

    Things Wrong with Music: Overpriced CDs, Britney Spears, not enough money given to the artists, Britney Spears, generic one-hit wonder boy bands pushed like a cheap drug, Britney Spears, general refusal to adapt to the internet (thank Apple for what innovation there is there), etc.

    Things Wrong with Satellite: Well, nothing.... We're just stealing that because we can.

  • A good deal? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by jsoffron ( 718739 )
    It seems to me that $100,000 is really a lot of money. Pirates' propaganda is free. As are their high-quality movies, software, and music. Some things don't need advertising, like drugs and piracy, and no matter what their argument is, it's not going to work if it's not based in reality. The "all drugs are the same and they'll all kill you" argument's certainly effective, as will be the "all the record/music companies want to do is foster artists' creativity, and bring you the wonderful colors that brig

  • I wish I was still in school... (Score:3, Funny)

    by tipsymonkey ( 710561 ) on Friday October 24, 2003 @09:54AM (#7300297) Homepage
    I know exactly what I would wear that day [tshirthell.com]

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