Microsoft Pushes Copyright Education Curriculum

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."

Duh

[QuantumG]

possible jail time for infringement

hehehe.. no shit. I don't know if "respect" is the right word though.

Re:The Gospel According To Bill...

[croddy]

Eduganda?

I wanna be copyright!

[quinnanya]

When you create a profile, one of the avatars you can pick is a copyright symbol.

Re:Someday Microsoft's customer base

[MightyMartian]

The 19th century called. They want their Communist Manifesto back.

Re:Duh

[Divebus]

MSCopyright Rule #1: Everything belongs to us. By reading this, you are bound to the terms of the EULA. Sign here.

Re:The Gospel According To Bill...

[Anonymous Coward]

If that caught on, i'd certainly feel bad for Uganda.

I'm all for it

[bgfay]

As a high school teacher I'm all for this program.

That's why I downloaded it over bittorrent, made fifty copies and am selling the curriculum to other teachers for $50 a copy (digital). I'm so glad that Microsoft has found a way for me to make some money.

Thank you MS. You guys are the greatest!

No "Abstinence-only" education

[wpegden]

I have no problems with educating kids on copyright law, so long as it's done correctly. In particular, I am opposed to "abstinence only" education. While it is true that abstaining from file sharing is an effective deterrent to its harmful effects (financial ruin, bankruptcy, incarceration if the RIAA gets its way), studies have shown that students in abstinence-only copyright education classes aren't any less likely to download copyrighted materials. Therefore, classes should also cover "safer" downloading practices, which effectively avoid the scrutiny of law-enforcement and reduce chances of being the victim of harmful effects of file-sharing. The use of encrypted connections and anonymizing networks such as Tor [eff.org], and basic techniques used to procure copyrighted material from newsgroups rather than insecure p2p protocols, etc., would all be covered in a well designed cirriculum.

Re:The Gospel According To Bill...

[Mystery00]

Obviously they're not teaching kids about copyright law, they're teaching kids to read disclaimers and the fine print.

Re:The Gospel According To Bill...

[TuringTest]

Eduganda?

Isn't that a Linux distro?

Re:No dark sarcasm in the classroom ...

[joshuaobrien]

...All in all you're just another brick in the wall

© 1979 Roger Waters