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."
Duh (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Duh (Score:4, Funny)
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all your posts are belong to us (Score:2, Informative)
"However, by posting, uploading, inputting, providing or submitting ("Posting") your Submission you are granting Microsoft, its affiliated companies and necessary sublicensees permission to use your Submission in connection with the operation of their Internet businesses (including, without limitation, all Microsoft Services), including, without limitation, the license rights to: copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, translate and reformat your Submission; to publish your name in connection with your Submission; and the right to sublicense such rights to any supplier of the Services.
No compensation will be paid with respect to the use of your Submission, as provided herein. Microsoft is under no obligation to post or use any Submission you may provide and Microsoft may remove any Submission at any time in its sole discretion."
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
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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.
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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.
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The claim is that copying will get you arrested.
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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.
Re:The Gospel According To Bill... (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:The Gospel According To Bill... (Score:4, Insightful)
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"When I grow up I want to go to Bovine University!".
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Somehow I don't quite see that happening. I sincerely doubt that they even get around to mentioning "fair use" (save a quick mention in passing), let alone "fair play".
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Re:The Gospel According To Bill... (Score:5, Informative)
Microsoft does not claim ownership of the materials you provide to Microsoft (including feedback and suggestions) or post, upload, input or submit to any Services or its associated services for review by the general public, or by the members of any public or private community, (each a "Submission" and collectively "Submissions"). However, by posting, uploading, inputting, providing or submitting ("Posting") your Submission you are granting Microsoft, its affiliated companies and necessary sublicensees permission to use your Submission in connection with the operation of their Internet businesses (including, without limitation, all Microsoft Services), including, without limitation, the license rights to: copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, translate and reformat your Submission; to publish your name in connection with your Submission; and the right to sublicense such rights to any supplier of the Services.
No compensation will be paid with respect to the use of your Submission, as provided herein. Microsoft is under no obligation to post or use any Submission you may provide and Microsoft may remove any Submission at any time in its sole discretion.
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No "Abstinence-only" education (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The Gospel According To Bill... (Score:5, Insightful)
No dark sarcasm in the classroom ... (Score:2, Insightful)
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It will backfire (Score:2)
What they should do is try to give value to purchasing a right to use, not just trying to scare kids.
Pot, kettle, black! (Score:3, Informative)
I wanna be copyright! (Score:3, Funny)
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Then I went to MyBytes.
You were serious.
I... don't know what to say.
"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.
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Re:"Preserve our business model OR ELSE" 101 (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, what would the Bible be without the Devil...
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If you think anyone other than IBM had anything to do with commoditization of computing, I'd say you're over-estimating what Microsoft actually does and what they actually did. I think if people dig into what Microsoft has contributed, you'd be hard pressed to find even a SINGLE thing they
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No it's based around Unix systems, which were around before Microsoft - and it's what large parts of Windows is based on as well
There was already a large community based around a common system with a common API before Microsoft and their still is
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If they, or anyone else, do make inroads, I expect much of their success will go the way of the Just Say No or abstinence programs, but not before bits of it start infiltrating the educational system.
Maybe what they need to is start earlier. Instead of allowing kindergarten teachers to instruct little Jimmy that sharing is A Good Thing, and that people who don't share are r
Doing things to escape punishment (Score:2)
Meanwhile, in other news ... (Score:2)
User Poll (Score:5, Informative)
Zero
One or two
Three to seven
As many as I like; I own it.
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It's working! 95% of the votes so far are for "As many as I like; I own it."
And I think we can safely say we now pwn that poll.
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One or two: 1%
Three to seven: 0%
As many as I like; I own it: 98%
10:20PM EST, 2/13
Fact is, that's correct - even to an incorrect law. They never specified what their use was. I could burn 5,000 CD's and make a (uncomfortable) suit out of them; it'd still be legal (for now, and assuming it covered some
The alternatives... (Score:2)
Unfortunately, as a true slashdotter I am single with no kids, but if it were one of my kids that were being put through this indoctrination, I will give them a quick overview of the creative commons license and suggest that they applied it to all their uploaded content. Wouldn't that be interesting!
and so... (Score:2)
Years later, when every copy of every commercial product is dutifully paid for, more people than ever will be clamoring for alternatives to the expensive world of vendor-dictated pricing, feature and upgrade schedules.
And so, this generation will adopt FO
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Not in public schools, please (Score:5, Interesting)
And screw them all:
1) I not only make digital copies of software media, but I will happily provide a replacement to friends, family, or customers who lose theirs. Why? Because its the PRODUCT KEY which makes the magic, NOT the CD.
1a) I am sensitive, however, to certain products which just require media from a previous version to qualify for an upgrade. I do not just "hand out" copies; you have to prove to me that you legitimately own the product. And I am quite fond of saying "NO."
2) I make copies of my CDs in VBR MP3 format for use on my portable devices and home computers.
3) I rip and convert my DVDs for use on my portable devices.
Oh, and I do not always put caps back on pens, fold or hang my laundry, and every once in a while I also use the last of the toilet paper without replacing it.
I also do not use a single bit of pirated or unpaid software (I would say "unregistered," but there are a few free packages like RealPlayer I refuse to register due to spam issues.) No, really. But sometimes I wish I did, as it seems the pirates have fewer hurdles through which to jump and are able to spend more time enjoying software than dealing with licensing issues.
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-- Jack Valenti
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Is your loyalty to the copyright holder and the copyright system really worth betraying your Mom?
You sicken me.
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Then you may be splitting hairs on your definition of "pirated". You're certainly using the DVDs outside of the terms of your license. Are you ready to tell kids, without qualifying any of your statements, that they should thumb their noses at th
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Also, to split hairs, I did mention that none of my SOFTWARE is pirated.
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+1 Irony. there is a *big* difference between downloading a copy of something for which you did not actually buy and ripping a backup copy of a cd that you legally bought. the first is very much under the definition of piracy, the second is fair use. after all isn't it the RIAA making the claim that you don't own the cd, just the right to use it? If they're going to make the point that you only own the right to use it, then it follows that
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"The DMCA recognizes consumers' "fair use rights," which allow limited reproduction of copyrighted works for specific purposes, as long as the consumer does not infringe copyrights (by distributing unauthorized digital copies to friends, for example)."
This creates a quandary which the **AA activists are attempting to warp toward their own favor - circumventing encryption is illegal but sometimes required to exe
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Anyone out there a voter? We allowed ourselves to get into this mess and we need to get ourselves out.
It begins at the lowest level and works its way up. Now more than ever we need to seriously become more involved in our political process lest we lose every liberty we have, or should have, before us now.
I, like many others, have always had a problem with voting for the "lesser of two evils." I found it a compromise of my principles to do so, and therefore I did not vote. But we also have to remember that the system has measures to help protect us, and part of those
Irony (Score:2, Interesting)
Had MS not been the required platform for gaming through the 90s, users would have been less likely to become familiar and congregate around it. Since home users constantly needed the new whiz-bang DirectX or 32-bit OS
Do they tell you how to work the OEM / CAL / coa / (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm all for it (Score:5, Funny)
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!
What about FOSS (Score:2)
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.
maybe not so bad, but probably is (Score:2)
let MS waste their money (Score:2)
the cat is already out of the bag. kids today KNOW about ip rights. you think they don't? ha! really - HA! they know far more than you do, you cigar smoking fat old useless overpaid mafiaa guy.
the 'just say no to drugs' also had a real laugh of an impact on youth. they still do as they wish, just like when I was growing up all those decades ago. we were smart enough to know when we were being fed a line of bull and kids today are smarter, not dumber. at least street smarter; and
Important Type (Score:2)
It's supposed to read MS Bytes
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Poll #8 is missing an option (Score:2)
Ummm, if I were stranded on a desert island, the one device I'd wish to have was a 406Mhz PLB or EPIRB. I mean, come on.
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.
Makes sense (Score:4, Insightful)
for an extra credit (Score:2)
What's yours is ours. (Score:2)
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?
Silly Microsoft, tricks are for kids.... (Score:4, Interesting)
The survey link results from the information week article is broken. The URL leads to:
We're sorry, but we were unable to service your request. You may wish to choose from the links below for information about Microsoft products and services.
So we don't even get to read the sampling/demographics on the kids they surveyed.
Nevertheless, Microsoft wants to correct teens' woeful ignorance. To do so, it has turned to Topics Education, a developer of custom curricula, to create a curriculum called "Intellectual Property Rights Education" for middle school and high school teachers. The Microsoft-sponsored curriculum consists of Web-based resources and case-study driven lesson plans that aim to engage students about intellectual property issues.
I will sue my local school district and Microsoft if they don't offer a counter curriculum called "Fair Use" and "Public domain". This course needs to teach kids about past copying abuses by Microsoft and how they used their Monopoly money to pay for the court sealed settlements that people are not allowed to read.
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.
To support my teachings to my kids on property rights, I've installed x/k/Ubuntu on all the computers in the house. They can create, share, sell, and distribute anything they what. They can even pass out Linux CDs to all their friends (they have). I teach my kids its OK to grab an MP3 off the main home server and play it on your MP3 player. Its not OK for them to give that MP3 away to their friends. I teach my kids the difference between ownership and free speech/ownership restrictive EULAs.
In August 2006, the site was shuttered and this explanation was subsequently posted: "Despite the significant progress we made on addressing the concerns raised about the original Captain Copyright initiative, as well as the positive feedback and requests for literally hundreds of lesson kits from teachers and librarians, we have come to the conclusion that the current climate around copyright issues will not allow a project like this one to be successful."
Here we go again, Microsofts favorite defender Captain Copyright. I forget what Captain Copyright said about Kerberos authentication. I also forget about what Captain Copyright did to the evil villains who were pillaging STAC. The DrDOS People counted on Captain Copyright but he didn't show up to defend them. What did Captain Copyright say again to the people who built their own computers without Windows? Oh Yeah, were thief's for not installing Windows.
If Microsoft would just worry about writing good programs for computers (Apple/Linux/ARM/Palm/Whatever) and stop trying to be the cyber police I might look at their products again (!Not. BSD/Linux is much faster and less maintenance). Until then Microsoft is still just a marketing company which happens to make an O/S for PCs.
My opinion (my animosity towards Microsoft does not equate to animosity for people who use Microsoft products),
Enjoy.
Subvert it (Score:3, Insightful)
Just one small problem here... (Score:2)
That said, is it honest to take Intellectual Property (songs, tv shows, books, and other) that is copyrighted and not offered by the owner for free? It surely is NOT.
That Linux and other programs are offered by their owners, are valuable, and give value to the user are free, doesn't mean that we can ignore th
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I know about copyrights too. They were originally were 20 or so years at most. They aren't anymore, and are extended when the time "runs out" on them. That's not part of the "limited" we read in the Constitution.
I also know about patents. My pops has a bunch of them, and they're for neat inventions on vehicle systems. The company he works for only has 17 or so years for sole profitability. After that,
Direct links to the "curriculum" (Score:2, Informative)
Oh, darn (Score:2)
I fully support what they are doing (Score:2)
However, as we all probably know, Microsoft doesn't intend to anything of the sort. Their only purpose with this campaign is to scare kids into buying Microsoft product, not get a real education on intellectual pr
Re:Someday Microsoft's customer base (Score:5, Funny)
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I'll take the clunky old capitalism-cum-socialism compromises that the Industrialized world has adopted. Nothing scares me more
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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.
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Seriously. If you know which countries actually arrest people for "copying music", I'd like to hear it.
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The USA [sohh.com].
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"DJ Drama and DJ Don Cannon were expected to appear before a Fulton County judge at 9 a.m. this morning (January 24), however SOHH.com has learned that the scheduled court session has been postponed. [..] The Fulton County Superior Court session was to be Simmons and Cannon's first since their arrest on racketeering charges, offering attorneys a chance to discuss how the case might proceed."
So, they were not arrested for "copying" and there has yet to even be a
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You really don't know it's wrong.
Would you be more comfortable with "Copying music feels wrong"? Artists deserve to be compensated for their work. I agree that illegally copying music isn't always immoral, but you'd have to be pretty convincing to persuade me that it's never immoral - If you're telling yourself that stealing music is part of your personal stand against the RIAA, I think that you're probably deluding yourself. Hopefully you at least endorse your bands of choice through concerts or merchandising if you refuse to pay for
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Would you be more comfortable with "Copying music feels wrong"?
Does it? I really don't think it does feel wrong to the millions of people who do it every day.
Artists deserve to be compensated for their work.
Sure, just like everyone else. But in order to actually be compensated for your work, you need to have a business model that makes sense. Doing all the work up front for free, and then begging/threatening people to pay you for it later, is not a business model that makes sense. Everyone else has figured that out by now, so why haven't the artists?
I agree that illegally copying music isn't always immoral, but you'd have to be pretty convincing to persuade me that it's never immoral
Well, some of us believe it's impossible for an act to be immoral
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Whooooaaaa slow down little Johnny, IP by it's very nature can't be taken from you, or stolen, at least not in the sense we're talking about here, downloading and making copies. The problem is we have to many people like you see on Leno's Jaywalking. If they can't remember who the last vice president was, how can you expect them to even begin to grasp the concept of intellectual property and make an informed opinion on the matter. Th
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Yeah, as a matter of fact, I actually agree. So for example, I probably can't just label a certain group sheep and create an artificial dichotomy between those who I guess can think, and those who I guess that they can't. Now that I think about it, people's views generally are largely based upon the views of others. E
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Giving a license != giving ownership.
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Oh, they not only respect copyright law, they practically worship it. Of course, that's only when they hold the copyright.
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Sympathy, why dost thou elude me?
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1. "How would YOU like it if..." (fairness)
MyBytes lets you choose whether the songs you create are "free" or "restricted". This has no effect on whether other users can download/remix/use your song. You can then see how many people are paying for (or not) the use of your song.
From http://www.mybytes.com/help.html [mybytes.com]
All users have the choice to either pay or not pay credits for songs they take, just like in real life. You'll get to see if other users like your tracks, and if they're giving you credit for using your creation.
That sounds like "How would YOU like it if..."
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"a Web site where students can create custom ringtones, share content -- "their own content,""