How Lobbyists Turned Big US Education Reform Bill Into The 'No Copyright Propaganda Left Behind' Act
from the yeah,-that'll-work dept
You may have heard that, in early December, amid great fanfare, President Obama replaced the terrible No Child Left Behind law and replaced it with the "Every Student Succeeds Act" which, among other things, gave more power to the states when it came to educational standards, moving them away from the federal government. There's actually a lot of good things in ESSA (mainly getting away from the really horrible parts of NCLB), but there were plenty of little "gifts" to various lobbyists. And, apparently, that includes Hollywood's lobbyists.Honestly, I wouldn't have ever spotted this if the MPAA front-group Creative Future hadn't blasted out a "thank Congress for ESSA" campaign page, which talked about the important "copyright education" parts included in ESSA. Hollywood lobbyists are somewhat famous for having their fingers in just about everything, so is it really a surprise that they got some bogus propaganda buried in a childhood education bill? But, indeed, search through ESSA and you'll find ridiculous copyright propaganda requirements for no reason other than because the MPAA lobbied heavily on it:
But, most importantly, it's the latest in a long and increasingly sad and desperate attempt by Hollywood to inject copyright propaganda into public schools -- an effort that, even when it's been successful tends to result in kids mocking the hamfisted attempts that not only appear totally out of touch with reality, but tend to actually make students respect copyright even less. Trying to jam in one-sided propaganda that ignores things like fair use, or the abuses of the copyright system, is so blatantly and obviously ridiculous to kids these days that this will be laughed away as propaganda, as with each of their previous "educational" campaigns.
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Filed Under: copyright, copyright propaganda, education, essa, no child left behind, president obama
Companies: mpaa
Reader Comments
The First Word
“Don't know what you're getting worked up about.
"There has been no harm factually attributed to copyright piracy in independent studies, and many have shown benefits."
Simple, and dealt with.
NEXT!
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Speaking of education...
Let's teach them that nothing made during their lifetime will enter the public domain, if it ever does, because the laws keep getting retroactively expanded anytime it looks like something might do so. Teach them that because of this, any remixes or rehashes, fanfics or fan made films exist only at the 'generous' whims of the copyright holder, and can be crushed at any time.
Let's teach them that sharing a song, or ripping a copy for a friend to listen to, something I imagine most of them would do or have done without a thought, is not only illegal, it carries a potential fine large enough to purchase a decent car or even house, despite the fact that said songs can be bought for a buck each.
Let's teach them that the likes of the *AA's are constantly pushing the idea that it's everyone else's job to act as unpaid copyright cops, making it risky for online services like youtube to host user created content without bending over backwards to try and 'appease' copyright owners, and that if the *AA's and their like had their ways, services like youtube, VCR's, MP3 players, and anything like them, would not exist.
Let's teach them about how completely and utterly one-sided the law is, where there is no penalty for making a bogus claim that gets something taken down wrongly, and the only risk is if a site or service doesn't do so immediately.
Let's teach them that simply having a radio where anyone else can hear it is considered a 'public performance', and collection agencies will try to shake down anyone who does so, that those same collection agencies will demand payment even from businesses that don't play their music just in case they do, and that in at least one instance this has led to a collection agency demanding payment for library workers reading to children.
Indeed, let's educate schoolkids about copyright, and remove any vestiges of respect they may have otherwise had for it due to ignorance on the subject.
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Re: Speaking of education...
Free Software / Open Source.
Creative Commons licensing.
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Re: Speaking of education...
Make sure they understand how record labels abuse and exploit young musicians.
That seems like something that young minds should be taught.
Both are about copyright. And I would call both 'piracy'. So it would fit the legislation's purpose of teaching about the harms of 'copyright piracy'.
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Re: Speaking of education...right here
They can cripple a small business with there extortion.
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Loophole
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Re: Loophole
So since it isn't available, because it doesn't exist, it can still be "taught"
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Re: Re: Loophole
I can see the blind MPAA saying: I can't see your evidence. I'm covering my eyes.
I can tell you that the DMCA censorship tool will be used: You can't speak your evidence, because of this takedown request.
Hear no evil. See no evil. Speak no evil.
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dare
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Oh, the irony
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Murder and rape are wrong kids, and will get you locked up in jail for a very long time! Don't do it!
Surely if we go around telling our kids that then the murder and rape rates in this country will go down!
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See something downloaded, report your parents.
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Re:
MPAA / RIAA / Hollywood: Hey, Mr. congress critter, let me get out my checkbook, how much education do you need today?
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Re:
"Class, today we are going to learn about the "evils" of copyright piracy. First, here's how you shouldn't find illegal copies on the net. Be sure to not use proxies just like this. Here's how you shouldn't download the files. Here's how you shouldn't play the video/music/game. Are we all clear on all these things you shouldn't do?"
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Re: Re:
Now for your homework, choose a song published before 1956.
1) Who registered the song?
2) Was the registration renewed properly?
3) When is the expected end of the copyright term?
Extra credit: if the copyright term has expired, bring a copy of the song in to class.
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Copyright "Piracy"
So, are they going to be educating children about the harm from pirating COPYRIGHTS?
I'll have to pirate myself the copyright to Star Wars.
That'll be worth a pretty penny.
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Don't know what you're getting worked up about.
"There has been no harm factually attributed to copyright piracy in independent studies, and many have shown benefits."
Simple, and dealt with.
NEXT!
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Good
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Question about copyright education
Also educate students about how they can avail themselves of copyright protection against an industry that is more than willing to steal their ideas.
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LOL
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Great idea
Great idea! Let's DO the education. And then use the education to point out that there is no harm from copyright piracy.
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1984 user manual, step 27
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