[Commons-Law] Hollywood takes anti-piracy message to school

[Sunil Abraham]

The global child speaking:
        
        "If it's illegal in America, host it in Uzbekistan" -Andrew
        Irgens-Moller, aged 14.


Thanks,

Sunil


http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/headline/tech/2176045

SAN FRANCISCO -- 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. 

Civil libertarians object that the movie industry is presenting a
tainted version of a complex legal issue -- while the country's largest
teachers' lobby is concerned about the incentives the program offers. 

"What's the Diff?: A Guide to Digital Citizenship" launched last week
with a lesson plan that aims to keep kids away from Internet services
like Kazaa that let users trade digital songs and film clips: "If you
haven't paid for it, you've stolen it." 

"We think it's a critical group to be having this conversation with,"
said MPAA spokesman Rich Taylor, suggesting online piracy may not have
yet peaked. "If we sit idly by and we don't have a conversation with the
general public of all ages, we could one day look back at October of
2003 as the good old days of piracy." 

The effort doesn't stop in the classroom. Beginning Friday, public
service announcements are being released to approximately 5,000 theaters
nationwide, profiling people in the movie industry and arguing that
digital piracy threatens their livelihoods. 

Indeed, Jack Valenti, president of the MPAA, told Penn State University
faculty and students this week that his industry is in "a state of
crisis" over digital theft. 

But some copyright law experts aren't pleased that the MPAA is the only
sponsor for such classroom discussions. They worry that the lesson plans
don't address "fair use" constitutional protections for digital copying
for personal or educational use. 

"This is really sounding like Soviet-style education. First they're
indoctrinating the students and then having students indoctrinate their
peers," said Wendy Seltzer, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier
Foundation. "The takeaway message has got to be more nuanced. Copyright
is a complicated subject." 

Melinda Anderson, a spokeswoman for the National Education Association,
says it's unsettling when corporate presence in the classroom is
tethered to sponsored incentive programs. 

In this case, Junior Achievement is offering students DVD players, DVD
movies, theater tickets and all-expenses-paid trips to Hollywood for
winning essays about the illegalities of file-sharing. Teachers, too,
can win prizes for effectively communicating the approved message in
class. 

"What it speaks to is kind of a new era in commercialism emerging in
classrooms where the attempts to connect with students are becoming more
and more sophisticated. Schools that are often strapped for cash are
more tempted to partner with these organizations," Anderson said. 

"Coming from school, these companies are getting a tacit endorsement for
their product," Anderson said. "That's not a school's role -- to be the
purveyors." 

The program got a rocky start during its first presentation, to some
relatively cyber-savvy teens at Raoul Wallenberg High School in San
Francisco. 

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. 

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. 

Balonick then had the freshmen role-play as singers, actors, producers,
computer users. But even the "producers" quietly acknowledged that they
too share song files over the Internet. 

"It's not illegal if you decide to give it away," said Wilson Cen, 13,
regarding burning copies of music CDs for his friends. "They don't want
you selling them. It's a gift, you're not selling it." 

Brenda Chen said she uses Kazaa at home: "I just want certain tracks
from the CD, not the whole CD. It's a waste of money." 

David Chernow, Junior Achievement's chief executive, said in a telephone
interview that the explosion of peer-to-peer activity among young people
is a ripe topic for public school classrooms. 

"We're really trying to teach young people to be responsible and to obey
laws that they may not understand," Chernow said. "Just because it's
easy doesn't make it right.

-- 
Sunil Abraham, sunil at mahiti.org http://www.mahiti.org
MAHITI Infotech Pvt. Ltd.'Reducing the cost and complexity of ICTs'
314/1, 7th Cross, Domlur Bangalore - 560 071 Karnataka, INDIA
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