UK Begins Absolutely Bonkers 'Education' Of Grade Schoolers About Intellectual Property And Piracy

from the hey-teacher-leave-those-kids-alone dept

Fri, Jan 19th 2018 3:27am — Timothy Geigner

Several years ago, a music industry transplant into Parliament, Mike Weatherley, made a glorious push to get the government to invade primary schools in the country to teach them that piracy is the worst thing in the world and intellectual property laws are super cool. Children as young as seven years old would be subjected to "educational information" provided by the government on the "proper" use of the internet. This was not the first attempt at pushing copyright propaganda on kids. In fact, we've reported on many of these, going all the way back to 2003 -- and many of the programs have been mockable, including the infamous Captain Copyright.

You would think that maybe those producing this propaganda would realize that it basically always is a flop as kids are smart enough to see through it -- and that their attempts to be cool and hip tend to come off as insane. But... the UK has pushed forward with this plan, and you have no fucking idea how insane it actually is.

Part of the education features a fictitious cartoon band called Nancy and the Meerkats. With help from their manager, they learn key copyright insights and this week several new videos were published, BBC points out.

The videos try to explain concepts including copyright, trademarks, and how people can protect the things they’ve created. Interestingly, the videos themselves use names of existing musicians, with puns such as Ed Shealing, Justin Beaver, and the evil Kitty Perry. Even Nancy and the Meerkats appears to be a play on the classic 1970s cartoon series Josie and the Pussycats, featuring a pop band of the same name.

As TorrentFreak points out, the inclusion of a parody of Ed Sheeran is more than a bit eyebrow-raising, considering just how open to and grateful for piracy and filesharing Sheeran has been. For the government to hijack his likeness for a parody that takes the opposite view is, at the very least, uncouth. If it seems odd that a series of videos extolling the virtues of intellectual property rights makes such liberal use of parody to play on well-known entertainment stars, well, just take a look at the government's video trying to explain parody and fair use and picture a bunch of first-through-fifth graders taking this all in.

Beyond how vomit-inducing the video is generally, one wonders just how closely the message in the video overlaps with actual UK law. While UK law is more stringent on free speech when it comes to so-called "insulting" speech, it seems far too simple an explanation to state that any parody that is found insulting would be illegal. Let's say, for instance, that Ed Sheeran considers this parody depiction of him, complete with an anti-piracy message that comes off as the opposite of his own, is insulting. Is the UK's IPO really saying that its own video suddenly becomes illegal?

Now, while the videos generally tread upon long-debunked ground...

After the Meerkats found out that people were downloading their tracks from pirate sites and became outraged, their manager Big Joe explained that file-sharing is just the same as stealing a CD from a physical store.

“In a way, all those people who downloaded free copies are doing the same thing as walking out of the shop with a CD and forgetting to go the till,” he says.

“What these sites are doing is sometimes called piracy. It not only affects music but also videos, books, and movies.If someone owns the copyright to something, well, it is stealing. Simple as that,” Big Joe adds.

...there is also some almost hilarious over-statements on the importance of this messaging and intellectual property as a whole. For instance, were you aware that the reason it's so important to teach 7 year olds about copyright and trademark is because navigating intellectual property is a full-blown "life skill?"

According to Catherine Davies of IPO’s education outreach department, knowledge about key intellectual property issues is a “life skill” nowadays.

“In today’s digital environment, even very young people are IP consumers, accessing online digital content independently and regularly,” she tells the BBC. “A basic understanding of IP and a respect for others’ IP rights is therefore a key life skill.”

It's enough to make you wonder if this is all just another example of a parody of those that push intellectual property rights education on school-aged children -- so ham-fisted is the execution and so wildly overstated is its importance.

Ultimately, we can likely rest easy, because children even as young as seven are far too smart and resourceful, not to mention critical in terms of entertainment, as to consider these videos to be anything other than the obvious propaganda that they are. One nearly hopes that some of these children will create their own parodies and put them up on that dangerous internet thing they've been warned about, with hopefully as much mean-spirit as their little psyches can conjure.

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Filed Under: copyright, elementary school, fair use, ipo, kids, lessons, parody, propaganda, uk

99 Comments

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hij (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 2:34am

Not everyone gets it
Unfortunately, not every child is able to discern what is happening. It is in the interests of the politicians to keep people separated, and this just helps to start the process of setting people against each other as early as possible.
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PaulT (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 3:41am

"Part of the education features a fictitious cartoon band called Nancy and the Meerkats"

This made me giggle. Meerkats have become rather popular in the UK, largely due to an entertaining series of commercials for the insurance comparison website Compare The Market (featuring a bunch of Russian meerkats discussing a website called Compare The Meerkat). The success has gone far beyond the commercials themselves, with all sorts of merchandising and other services wholly unrelated to the insurance product having sprung up. There's little reason to think that the choice of animal here is anything other than an attempt to reference something the kids would already be familiar with in positive light.

In other words, they're essentially trying to reach the kiddies about the evils of infringement by appropriating the successful work of someone else, and leveraging the audience that someone else built by copying their product.

"As TorrentFreak points out, the inclusion of a parody of Ed Sheeran is more than a bit eyebrow-raising, considering just how open to and grateful for piracy and filesharing Sheeran has been"

Not really. That would assume intellectual honesty and a level of self-awareness that someone openly lying in this way would not possess. Certainly not people willing to copy someone else's product for a propaganda piece on how evil copying stuff is.
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ThatFatMan (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 4:23am

Well if this doesn't work, maybe they can borrow from the US approach in a few years and come up with three programs. They can call them:

C.A.R.E.
P.A.R.E.
T.A.R.E.

They'll be just like the D.A.R.E. program and just as effective, and as an added bonus, they'll have the full support of the MPAA and RIAA.
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David, 19 Jan 2018 @ 4:24am

Well, this is almost revolutional:

If someone owns the copyright to something, well, it is stealing. Simple as that,” Big Joe adds.

Interesting take. Too bad it makes less sense in context.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 4:33am

1. It’s pretty obvious what piracy did to the music industry; you really have to put your head in the sand to pretend not to know that.

2. Intellectual property is with us forever.

3. Suggesting that it’s bad to suggest to children that breaking the law isn’t a good idea makes you look pretty whacko.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 4:50am

Re:
Cool comment bro. Maybe there should also be regular classes for 7 year olds on the evils of white collar banking crimes and ponzi schemes. After all, if you point out that such an "education" of children that young is kind of weird and silly, then you're "whacko" for not wanting to tell children that breaking the law isn't a good idea.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 4:51am

Re: Well, this is almost revolutional:
I love this comment so much, I want it to meet another good comment and have little baby comments so that I can also read them.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 4:56am

I only have an IP address.
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Kapten Kopeewright, 19 Jan 2018 @ 5:03am

But will Jeaver bust in on Ed's healing and pity Kerry?
Don't forget Pirate Pete and the Parody Punchers, or David Catherine and Luke Weatherman from the Imaginary Property Orifice.

Ah the irony of using parody as fair use to argue against the use of parody as fair use.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 5:10am

Imagine if one of those kids knew about the problem in the youtube system. Would they be the one to respond well to this message?

"Teacher, if copyright is important and must be respected, why did *insert favorite youtuber* get his video taken down for something he made? Did they steal the copyright from him?"

Either the teacher will have no answer; stumble for an answer in front of the kid; or they will be blunt about it.

"They don't respect our rights, but they want to force us to respect theirs."
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I.T. Guy, 19 Jan 2018 @ 5:14am

Idiots. We need to be teaching them what they can do instead of telling them what they can't.
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I.T. Guy, 19 Jan 2018 @ 5:16am

Re:
Who's?
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Vidiot (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 5:23am

Love to send over a few crates of the Jenkins-Boyle-Aoki graphic novels... "Theft: A History of Music" and "Bound by Law? Tales from the Public Domain". Then they'd learn a thing or two.
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firebird2110 (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 5:29am

Another day another thing that makes me glad my daughter doesn't go to school.
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BroD, 19 Jan 2018 @ 5:37am

So realistic in how they make the characters look like they're reading cue cards instead of making eye-contact with each other (or the viewer.) They've totally nailed one of the features of government 'education' initiatives that ensures their ineffectiveness.
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Lord Lidl of Cheem (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 6:14am

I'm a member of the generation who were shown the 'Tourettes - I swear I can't help it' video as part of a well-meaning exercise to raise awareness of the syndrome and to foster a greater understanding of the issues and stigmas surrounding it.

Unfortunately you can probably guess what happens when you show a bunch of schoolkids a video of people swearing and say its alright they have tourettes - that video did not have the intended effect and neither will this.
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ogman (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 6:15am

If parodied = butt-hurt snowflake entertainer, then parody = "cyberbullying"?

Sad to see the word used to describe a real problem perverted for the benefit of entertainment industry funded government lackeys.
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Ninja (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 6:34am

It's no use. Quite a lot of ppl who are 15+ already hold plenty of contempt against copyright and are generally ok with dowloading stuff. Kids will generally go with their parents. Still, it adds to the laughingstock the MAFIAA is and will survive for ages. You wouldn't download a car, would you?
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Iggy, 19 Jan 2018 @ 6:37am

Re: Re:
It would have been interesting to learn about things like Regulatory Capture, Network Effects and Natural Monopolies in high school. We barely even learned about the law of supply and demand.
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Iggy, 19 Jan 2018 @ 6:39am

Life Skills
If prices for content keep rising, then learning to maintain the Kodi addons will indeed become a life skill.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 6:41am

Nancy and the Meerkats, the new Reefer Madness.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 6:42am

Re: Not everyone gets it
Divide and conquer.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 6:47am

Re:
Yeah, what ever happened to the Just Say No To Drugs?

Lately, drugs are being pushed in a large majority of tv ads.
Although the associated increase in lawyer ads is a bit humorous.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 6:49am

Re:
Thanks for the U.K. context. Only time I thought meerkats were ever cool in my recollection was in The Lion King 1 1/2.

Slightly less bonkers to me, but still bonkers.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 6:53am

Re:
On the other hand ...
It is pretty obvious what the music industry did to themselves.
You really have to put your head in the sand to pretend not to know that.

Grifting is with us forever.

Children at the age struggle with the concept of sharing, and you want to interject some ridiculous excuse for them to take all their toys and go home so that they can eat all the cookies themselves while feeling justified in their actions.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 6:55am

Where are the parodies?
Nancy & the Meerkats parodies arriving in 3, 2, 1...

(But they musn't be mean.)
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 6:56am

Re:
I imagine such a question would result in the student being expelled.
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PaulT (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 7:12am

Re:
1. Piracy makes an easy scapegoat, but there's huge number of other issues behind the industry's problems if you wish to look at reality. Piracy will only ever be a part of the issue, you're deluding yourself if you think it's the be all and end all.

2. It was also with us for millenia before someone came up with the current copyright rules.

3. Actual laws, yes. Not the strawmen that are talked about in this kind of silly propaganda.
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PaulT (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 7:22am

Re:
"You wouldn't download a car, would you?"

As is my usual answer to that particular piece of idiocy - if the car could be freely duplicated without any real cost and no loss of use for the owners of any other car on the road? Yes, I would. Just like many people started downloading their movies instead of being forced to sit through that unskippable crap on their legally purchased DVDs.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 7:36am

Re:
Intellectual property is with us for life plus 70 years. Natch!
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Dingledore the Previously Impervious, 19 Jan 2018 @ 7:47am

Is this available on PirateBay yet?
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ShadowNinja (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 7:50am

For instance, were you aware that the reason it's so important to teach 7 year olds about copyright and trademark is because navigating intellectual property is a full-blown "life skill?"

Well then, obviously we need to change the law if navigating copyright and IP laws is so difficult it has to be considered a 'life skill'.
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Ninja (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 8:01am

Re: Re:
That.
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Stephen T. Stone (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 8:04am

Re:

"They don't respect our rights, but they want to force us to respect theirs."

I’m writing this down for later use.
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ryuugami, 19 Jan 2018 @ 8:08am

Re:

You wouldn't download a car, would you?

Or, to put it in Star Trek terms, "I would. I could. I did."
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 8:15am

Re:
Doing taxes is a life skill, getting a mortgage is a life skill, getting a student loan is a life skill, paying bills and getting credit cards is a life skill. I learned some of that in Business Math, which was an elective course.

We rarely teach children how to beat the essential systems set up in our society, much less how to competently navigate them. Government initiatives to teach only work if they teach what is truly necessary to know (which requires more money than they're usually willing to spend).
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Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 8:32am

Re:

Well then, obviously we need to change the law if navigating copyright and IP laws is so difficult it has to be considered a 'life skill'.

This!

Though, sadly, it's even worse than that in that all too often the corporations and the government enforcement they buy don't have any better idea of what the law actually means or how it applies in a usual impossibly tangled real situation than the afor-mentioned -7-year-olds.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 8:37am

Re: Re:
Learning to walk is a life skill.
Potty training is a life skill.
feeding yourself is a life skill.
Sharing is a life skill.
Literacy is a life skill.
......
whatever
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crade (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 8:43am

Re: Re:
There is a pretty steep difference between requiring a life skill to succeed or do well, requiring one just to figure out how to not break the law.

People are naturally motivated to learn things that benefit you directly. They are not naturally motivated to learn complex arbitrary legal systems just to make sure they never cross any invisible lines or step on any cracks.
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Iggy, 19 Jan 2018 @ 9:25am

Re: Re:
Star Trek was a good show. They missed the episode where they ship got a warning letter from the coffee company for materializing their brand in the kitchen Replicator. They also missed the episode where the crew entered the DRM certificate to use the copyright Holodeck programs.
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Roger Strong (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 9:35am

This is why you don't blindly depend on the schools for *all* your kids' education. You need to pass on lessons and experience that the schools won't.

("Yes, popping a paper bag in the mall makes a very loud noise. Yes, you can hear it echoing all through the place, including a strong echo from the very far end of the mall. Yes, mall cops are all dicks.")

That includes the principle you too have rights regarding intellectual property and that a lot of file sharing is neither illegal nor immoral.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 9:35am

Re: Re: Techdirt as usual against The Law as such, and for thefts.
>>> "Cool comment bro. Maybe there should also be regular classes for 7 year olds on the evils of white collar banking crimes and ponzi schemes."

You appear to not even grasp that you thereby support the comment more than mock it.

And stop astro-turfing your own pieces! Didn't your parents or anyone ever tell you that self-flattery is counter-productive? -- Well, okay, it's not in this weird little realm of Techdirt, but is in the real world. -- I note your fondness for "bro", and that Techdirt now has a "BroD" screen name, one on this page. Many of the comments (throughout Techdirt) are remarkably uniform and not inconsistent with your views and writing style.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 9:39am

Re: Re: Re: Techdirt as usual against The Law as such, and for thefts.
"not even grasp"

Possibly you are missing the point?

Sad that your feathers got ruffled, but get a grip - lol.
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Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 9:40am

Re: Re:

Doing taxes is a life skill, getting a mortgage is a life skill, getting a student loan is a life skill, paying bills and getting credit cards is a life skill. I learned some of that in Business Math, which was an elective course.

And right here is one of the major problems in education, both in the UK and, I suspect, the US: These are not separate skills! All of these are "Maths + applying an existing skill in a different way"

The issue is not; "We rarely teach children how to beat the essential systems set up in our society", but that educational systems are mostly set up to impart specific, testable knowledge to children so that the "progress" can be easily counted. It rarely addresses the question of how to learn for yourself and apply the skills you have learnt to new situations.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 10:05am

Re: Re:

Children at the age struggle with the concept of sharing,

While those pushing this agenda don't, the do not believe in sharing in any shape or form.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 10:11am

Re: Re: Re:
Maybe they never grew up.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 10:12am

Re: Re:
I laugh whenever someone demands respect.
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takitus (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 10:14am

Priorities
Apparently “A basic understanding of IP” does not include an understanding of basic concepts like fair use or the public domain, let alone any of modern alternatives to copyright maximalism—Creative Commons, et al.

Apparently the creators of this nonsense also don’t consider it a problem if children who believe their bullshit stop using Wikipedia or other open/free resources because “it is stealing”. Is there also a video about how creators who use free content licenses are villains destroying the market for copyright maximalists?

No matter what your definition of education, this is a disservice to any person interested in learning. An educational organization that doesn’t protest this spreading of FUD in its classrooms is not really concerned with education.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 10:37am

Not a parody at all. They KNOW it's utter utter crap.

It's a way to launder £400 million of taxpayers money, some of which goes right back into Theresa May's personal offshore bank accounts.
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Christenson, 19 Jan 2018 @ 11:07am

Re: Re: Re:
What about the day the Transporter wouldn't work because the DRM on the thing broke?

lol
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 11:19am

Re: Re:
Why?
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 11:20am

Needs a "how to get around a paywall" class
The kids who are actually trying to learn will soon notice paywalls getting in their way. The schools should explain how to get papers from Sci-hub, how people can publish their own papers in open-access journals, archive.org, etc.
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John85851 (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 11:42am

Does it talk about Google Image
I didn't watch the video because I want to keep my sanity, but does it cover the topic of: "I'm free to use any image I find on a Google Image search because there's no way those images are copyrighted"?
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Jinxed (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 11:43am

Every time Techdirt posts an article of news from the UK, the urge to watch "V for Vendetta" increases.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 11:46am

The video was the best!
This was the best "educational" copyright video I have come across. Sadly, I don't mean that in a good way ...
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 11:46am

Re:
Good movie.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 11:51am

Re: Re: Re:
I'd think not as many children need to be explicitly taught those (save maybe some literacy) by the time they're 7.

Last I checked we weren't in the habit of having school teach all the rest of those skills for us...

But you're a slow learner, so maybe school was different for you?
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 11:54am

Re:
1. Not obvious at all, actually. Unless you mean how everybody sharing their CDs and MP3s with their friends created massive amounts of free advertising and led to increased overall sales and a perpetual rise in profit margins for publishers and recording labels. That's what you meant right?

2. Maybe, maybe not, but piracy will always be around since there will always be those few who refuse to pay for anything. Punishing people who obey the law just to try and catch those few last pirates only pushes law abiders into piracy. Something something "tighten your grip" something something "slip through your fingers".

3. When they misinterpret the law and leave out all that stuff about parody and fair use, then yeah, it's a good idea and only makes the recording industry look whacko, not us.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 11:55am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Nah, they grew to believe they own the world, and everybody else has to pay them rent for using it.
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Will B., 19 Jan 2018 @ 12:13pm

My bonus Pedant Points for the day;
The phrase "Much less" should be used the opposite of how you are using. The broad, simple case, *much less* the narrow, complex case. The idea is we can't even do the simple / general thing, so we certainly can't do the comples / specific thing.
"We rarely teach children to navigate these simple systems, much less how to *beat* them."
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Will B., 19 Jan 2018 @ 12:15pm

Re: My bonus Pedant Points for the day;
*Essential, not simple. Pedant Points forfeited. T.T
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 12:26pm

Re: Re: Re:
Well, teachers tend to be crappy at answering "why this is useful for me to learn", and it won't occur to most teenagers to care.

If they had an unlimited amount of time to learn about compound vs. fixed interest mortgages (and how some of them change terms based on current interest rates) and other such imperative things, I'd agree with you.

But they'll be 18 (or 19, or 21) in no time and getting their first (complimentary) credit card in the mail, or at least a bank account soon.

I'd love to keep them from all the vultures looking to squeeze them when money is essential to living in the world. Learning those skills past that magical "adult" age is too late. Most people don't care about these things and won't ever learn them anyways.

That's what that Business Math elective taught me.
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Nancy, 19 Jan 2018 @ 12:31pm

Hey WTF!??!
Nancy & the Meerkats is the name of my band. I'm fucking suing!
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JoeCool (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 12:57pm

Re: Re: Re:
The more someone demands respect, the less they deserve it.
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Roger Strong (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 1:08pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Well sure; That's why you get a toady to make the demands.

Like Stephen "the President's powers are very substantial and will not be questioned" Miller.
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Châu, 19 Jan 2018 @ 1:28pm

Country with TV tax
And UK force people pay tax for BBC, but BBC get copyright against tax payers? BBC not need copyright when get tax money. I think that is big stealing!
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Iggy, 19 Jan 2018 @ 1:51pm

Re:
Finding legal parking in NYC is a life skill and there's no rush to change the laws
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JoeCool (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 2:22pm

Re: Re:
The last time I rode with a friend thru NYC (to dinner), he triple parked in front of a fire hydrant. He had all the windows rolled down in case a fire occurred so they wouldn't have to break his windows, and took the steering wheel into the restaurant to keep it from being stolen. Now there was a life lesson! :D
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 2:56pm

Re:
There’s more music being made than ever before. Thanks piracy!
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 3:17pm

Respect, sis.

...and a respect for others’ IP rights is therefore a key life skill.”

Especially the respect for the public's IP rights to have the public domain enriched in exchange for the granting of the copyright monopoly.
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zzz, 19 Jan 2018 @ 3:46pm

We don't have “grade schools”
“Grade school”? That's something American, right?
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Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 4:08pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:

Learning those skills past that magical "adult" age is too late. Most people don't care about these things and won't ever learn them anyways.

Which is exactly my point. What I learnt (at least partially) at school was that when I'm about to enter into a complex, legally binding relationship that I don't understand, I should take the time to research it and understand it before I do so using the tools for learning that I have. From what I've read about it, this is not the way the US educational system functions and increasingly it is not the way the UK educational system functions (probably because it's hard to count and put on a league table).
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 4:46pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
>(probably because it's hard to count and put on a league table).

MBAs have a lot to answer for, and very little of it is good.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 5:25pm

Re: Re: Re:
Because of the stories I have read about this zero tolerance silliness, which is just an excuse for the administration's bad behavior, lack of experience and overall not performing their job duties. Blame the kids, how mature is that.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2018 @ 5:28pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Lack of understanding can be attributed to many things, however blaming others for your shortcomings is a bit over the top don't you think?
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techflaws (profile), 19 Jan 2018 @ 9:56pm

Re:
1. so let's see some real numbers, I'm sure they exist, right?
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Mike-2 Alpha (profile), 20 Jan 2018 @ 12:50am

Cut them some slack!
I'm glad the UK came up with Nancy and the Meerkats. I mean, how else are the kids going to learn that they've always been at war with Eastasia?
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Jan 2018 @ 2:50am

Re: Re:
The RIAA and MPAA only use imaginary numbers, as the real numbers place unwanted limits on their propaganda.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Jan 2018 @ 6:01am

Re: Re: Re:
Eeeee... No.
They just believe that what's yours is theirs and what's theirs is theirs alone.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Jan 2018 @ 6:03am

Re: Re: Re:
We should square them!
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Jan 2018 @ 6:27am

Hey, kids, watch Copying Is Not Theft.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeTybKL1pM4
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Jan 2018 @ 8:14am

Re: Does it talk about Google Image
By an individual for private use or a corporation for profit?
... Apparently there is a difference.
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David, 20 Jan 2018 @ 11:02am

Re: Respect, sis.
That's not a key life skill. It is a 70 years after death skill and most nations in the Americas don't even manage that comparatively lenient very-much-deadline.
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JoeCool (profile), 20 Jan 2018 @ 11:22am

Re: We don't have “grade schools”
Yes. We also call them elementary schools or primary schools. Brits use 'primary', right?
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Iggy, 20 Jan 2018 @ 4:22pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
They only noticed the problem the day after launch when it failed to connect to the manufacturer server. Lieutenant Barclay had to work overtime to program a crack.
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Wendy Cockcroft, 22 Jan 2018 @ 5:43am

Re:
It's available for free: https://law.duke.edu/musiccomic/download/
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The Wanderer (profile), 23 Jan 2018 @ 5:16am

Re:
Every time I see this comment, I keep attempting to parse the title "Bound by Law?" as something that would fit as the title of a BDSM novel.
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Talmyr (profile), 24 Jan 2018 @ 2:47am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Well, he certainly uses plenty of power to fly to Mar-A-Lago for his golfing every week, and to power his private Twitter farm.
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Talmyr (profile), 24 Jan 2018 @ 2:48am

Re:
I'm pretty sure South Park highlighted _that_ risk to us...
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Talmyr (profile), 24 Jan 2018 @ 2:51am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
I took that to mean that _those_ were valid life skills, not bogus information protectionism 'skills'.
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Talmyr (profile), 24 Jan 2018 @ 2:55am

Re:
You can watch "V" too, if you allow for the lizard people being the UK royal family. Unless they are already werewolves... </Who>
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Jan 2018 @ 3:02pm

Re: Re:
*Whose?
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Andrew, 18 Feb 2019 @ 6:26am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
But what about sites like UK Edu Birdie ? If someone writes something for us, who is the owner of the intellectual property? Is it legal? Nowadays we all need to learn more about how to protect our data... all these GDPR politics and other things can be too complicated for understanding, but is it really helps to protect the rights?
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Devin Marks, 19 Feb 2019 @ 6:22am

Education matters!
I really love this idea! We should grade our students differently. We have the right to demand better grades from them and also productivity! I can provide them with a book report help from https://edubirdie.com/book-report-help as a part of their study. I hope that it will help them to improve their overall performance in school.
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devin marks, 26 Feb 2019 @ 4:09am

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180904/09405940577/daily-deal-utalk-language-education.shtml
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Howard901, 14 Mar 2019 @ 5:38am

hi there! It’s great site. so many topics and opinions. I used to read, basically https://www.washingtonpost.com but now your site one of my favorites. Thank you!
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Homework Help UK, 8 Aug 2019 @ 10:47pm

https://www.allassignmenthelp.co.uk/
Our professional academic writers are available 24*7 hours, can someone make assignment help for me for making my result better and better, Homework Help UK. We are never late in assignment delivery and even offer you urgent assignment help.
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john, 16 Aug 2019 @ 1:00am

such a nice article
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180118/06445339029/uk-begins-absolutely-bonkers-education-grade- schoolers-about-intellectual-property-piracy.shtml
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Mar 2020 @ 9:03am

Yes, we should taught our students that piracy is a bad thing. THey should respect an intellectual property! But this Cornell supplement essay are totally free!
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