Sunday, November 28, 2004
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Tips for teens...knowing what sites to trust
Kids and Teens: What to look for on a kid-friendly site
The WiredKids Division of WiredSafety has a large list of sites that are kid-friendly where most of the work has already been done for you. We have many terrific hand picked and reviewed sites. If you find a site not on our list, we’re happy to consider it. You can submit one to us at :[insert link to form]
Our URL for the safe sites listing is: http://www.wiredkids.org/safesites/star_search1.php
We already check these things for you, but if you want to go to another site that you find on your own there are some things you should know first. When you find a site that looks interesting, these are the things you should look for to make sure it is safe.
1. Privacy Policy...usually found on the home page at the very top or very bottom. It is often at places where they ask you to give them information, like at a registration form or when you login or signup for a contest.
This part of the site tells you if they collect personal information about you, how they collect it, and what they do with it. If there are chat rooms or message boards, sometimes they tell you if an adult moderates them. But not all sites tell you that in their privacy policy, so don’t assume. Ask before you chat.
If the privacy policy doesn’t tell you those things or you don’t find one, visit another site. Your privacy is worth protecting.
2. Chat rooms or message boards…usually found as links on the home page. When you click on the link, you should get a “sign in” page or window. You need to see if these are moderated and if you have to give personal information to sign in. You should always use a nick that is not part of your real name and does not show your age, gender, date of birth, or where you live.
If they ask you to sign in and register, check the privacy policy to see what they do with the information you gave them. If you don’t like what they tell you, or they don’t even bother telling you, chat elsewhere.
Also, you should know that a filtering program is not the same as a live moderator. And the good kid-chat sites use both. (Those kids can be tricky and type very fast. )
3. You should look to see if there is online shopping on the site and, if so, what they sell. Do they link to a big e-tailer, like Amazon, or do they sell their own products. Are the products appropriate for kids?
4. Kids should check with your parents before going into that part of the site. NEVER give out any payment information on an online shopping page without your parent’s permission. And no one (parents or kids) should give out credit card of payment information to any site that doesn’t use a secure link (look for a lock in the lower right corner of the page).
What about hidden charges? What does shipping cost? Sometimes after adding in the shipping charges, you can find things more cheaply and easily offline. Any e-tailers are now giving you free shipping to encourage your e-commerce.
Is the product new or refurbished (that may be a returned item that they fixed and resold). Do you know who the seller is? This is not a good time to search for a new seller no one has ever heard of or worked with. It’s very easy to be fooled by a slick website. And you want to make sure they’re around if something goes wrong.
Always use a credit card. Even if you are too young to have one, ask someone with a credit card to put it on theirs for you, and pay them yourself. You are better protected if something goes wrong, since your credit card company will usually fight for your rights and even credit your account for any fraudulent charges or charges for products that aren’t what they were promised.
If you pay with a money order or check, you don’t have those rights, and if anything goes wrong, you are generally out of luck.
5. You should look to see if you have to “register” to gain access to the site. Again, do not use real information about yourself unless your parents have gone over the registration with you and are sure that it is okay to do so. Some sites have a charge for registering so that you can access parts of the site that a visitor cannot access. Have an adult check this out before registering. If you are twelve years old or younger, in the U.S. there are laws against a website asking for your personal information.
6. Some sites have charges for “joining” clubs on the site or for receiving newsletters or other items that have to do with the site. You should check all of the links on the site’s home page before you “sign up” or “register” so that you know what to expect and what the site expects of you.
7. Look for a search engine on the site. If the search engine says, “search this site” it is probably safe and won’t turn up any inappropriate material. If the search engine has “search the WWW” or “search the Web” you will get a lot of sites you may not want to go to if you type in the wrong thing.
8. Next, does the website use pop-ups? Cookies? Adware or spyware downloads? Before downloading anything, check. Many spyware applications come hidden with something you really want to download. Others trick you into consenting, by hiding this information in the middle of a licensing agreement or terms of service that you have to click to accept if you want to visit the site or download anything.
9. Last, but not least, look over all the pages on the site and make sure you are comfortable with the content, the ads, the pop-ups, the games, and the chats. Once you are comfortable and you have checked with your parents on anything that is questionable, enjoy the site you have chosen. And if you think other kids might like it, recommend it to us. We love learning of new fun sites for kids.
The WiredKids Division of WiredSafety has a large list of sites that are kid-friendly where most of the work has already been done for you. We have many terrific hand picked and reviewed sites. If you find a site not on our list, we’re happy to consider it. You can submit one to us at :[insert link to form]
Our URL for the safe sites listing is: http://www.wiredkids.org/safesites/star_search1.php
We already check these things for you, but if you want to go to another site that you find on your own there are some things you should know first. When you find a site that looks interesting, these are the things you should look for to make sure it is safe.
1. Privacy Policy...usually found on the home page at the very top or very bottom. It is often at places where they ask you to give them information, like at a registration form or when you login or signup for a contest.
This part of the site tells you if they collect personal information about you, how they collect it, and what they do with it. If there are chat rooms or message boards, sometimes they tell you if an adult moderates them. But not all sites tell you that in their privacy policy, so don’t assume. Ask before you chat.
If the privacy policy doesn’t tell you those things or you don’t find one, visit another site. Your privacy is worth protecting.
2. Chat rooms or message boards…usually found as links on the home page. When you click on the link, you should get a “sign in” page or window. You need to see if these are moderated and if you have to give personal information to sign in. You should always use a nick that is not part of your real name and does not show your age, gender, date of birth, or where you live.
If they ask you to sign in and register, check the privacy policy to see what they do with the information you gave them. If you don’t like what they tell you, or they don’t even bother telling you, chat elsewhere.
Also, you should know that a filtering program is not the same as a live moderator. And the good kid-chat sites use both. (Those kids can be tricky and type very fast. )
3. You should look to see if there is online shopping on the site and, if so, what they sell. Do they link to a big e-tailer, like Amazon, or do they sell their own products. Are the products appropriate for kids?
4. Kids should check with your parents before going into that part of the site. NEVER give out any payment information on an online shopping page without your parent’s permission. And no one (parents or kids) should give out credit card of payment information to any site that doesn’t use a secure link (look for a lock in the lower right corner of the page).
What about hidden charges? What does shipping cost? Sometimes after adding in the shipping charges, you can find things more cheaply and easily offline. Any e-tailers are now giving you free shipping to encourage your e-commerce.
Is the product new or refurbished (that may be a returned item that they fixed and resold). Do you know who the seller is? This is not a good time to search for a new seller no one has ever heard of or worked with. It’s very easy to be fooled by a slick website. And you want to make sure they’re around if something goes wrong.
Always use a credit card. Even if you are too young to have one, ask someone with a credit card to put it on theirs for you, and pay them yourself. You are better protected if something goes wrong, since your credit card company will usually fight for your rights and even credit your account for any fraudulent charges or charges for products that aren’t what they were promised.
If you pay with a money order or check, you don’t have those rights, and if anything goes wrong, you are generally out of luck.
5. You should look to see if you have to “register” to gain access to the site. Again, do not use real information about yourself unless your parents have gone over the registration with you and are sure that it is okay to do so. Some sites have a charge for registering so that you can access parts of the site that a visitor cannot access. Have an adult check this out before registering. If you are twelve years old or younger, in the U.S. there are laws against a website asking for your personal information.
6. Some sites have charges for “joining” clubs on the site or for receiving newsletters or other items that have to do with the site. You should check all of the links on the site’s home page before you “sign up” or “register” so that you know what to expect and what the site expects of you.
7. Look for a search engine on the site. If the search engine says, “search this site” it is probably safe and won’t turn up any inappropriate material. If the search engine has “search the WWW” or “search the Web” you will get a lot of sites you may not want to go to if you type in the wrong thing.
8. Next, does the website use pop-ups? Cookies? Adware or spyware downloads? Before downloading anything, check. Many spyware applications come hidden with something you really want to download. Others trick you into consenting, by hiding this information in the middle of a licensing agreement or terms of service that you have to click to accept if you want to visit the site or download anything.
9. Last, but not least, look over all the pages on the site and make sure you are comfortable with the content, the ads, the pop-ups, the games, and the chats. Once you are comfortable and you have checked with your parents on anything that is questionable, enjoy the site you have chosen. And if you think other kids might like it, recommend it to us. We love learning of new fun sites for kids.
Saturday, November 20, 2004
New York Daily News - Home - Rape rap for hip-hop model agency scout
New York Daily News - Home - Rape rap for hip-hop model agency scoutMany young teens are lured by promises of modelling and tv starring careers. Too often they are solicited online by predators intent on molestation. Don't be fooled. Think before you ever agree to meet someone offline and never send photos to anyone promising you a modelling or acting career. That's not how the real agents work.
Monday, November 15, 2004
PRESS RELEASE: Cyberbullying - when kids target other kids online - Cyberlawyer and online safety and privacy expert available for comment
Shawnee News-Star: Young Living Teenangels to the rescue! Web-savvy youth teaching peers about online computer safety 07/26/01
Friday, November 12, 2004
Microsoft and Teenangels
I've worked with Teenangels for several years now. I've been to many conferences and I've dealt with a lot of "important" people, breifing them on Internet Safety, and I've always sone it with the help of Parry. This time, however, I was left alone, sent to London with a family friend whos not very computer literate and asked to talk to 50 people from Microsoft about why Teenangels are the way forward with Internet Safety.
And I've never spoke better, been more confident or had such an attanetive audience, seriously! I'd like to, therefore, start by thanking all the people who first stayed all day to listen to me speak (save the best to last ;)), secondly listened so intrently and actually let me say what I had to and thirdly gave me such amazing comments afterwards, it was truely an amazing experience, especially sinse as I was the only one there under 20!
The event was the MSN Online Child Safety Workshop, and although I claim to know everything about Internet Safety, I truly did learn a lot. Some of the world most influential people were there, the best minds of Internet Safety and I was lucky enough to get to hear them speak, give feedback and work with them to make the Internet a much safer place for children and young people.
I have to say how great it was to actually meet these people,make contact with them and figure out the best ways to get internet safety out, but also, to work together in order to have a mass influence of making the Internet a safer place. I made good contacts and I think we should all look to the future in order to see where we can go from here and how great an impact we can all have, especially with the help of some old and some new friends :)
Sonrisa
And I've never spoke better, been more confident or had such an attanetive audience, seriously! I'd like to, therefore, start by thanking all the people who first stayed all day to listen to me speak (save the best to last ;)), secondly listened so intrently and actually let me say what I had to and thirdly gave me such amazing comments afterwards, it was truely an amazing experience, especially sinse as I was the only one there under 20!
The event was the MSN Online Child Safety Workshop, and although I claim to know everything about Internet Safety, I truly did learn a lot. Some of the world most influential people were there, the best minds of Internet Safety and I was lucky enough to get to hear them speak, give feedback and work with them to make the Internet a much safer place for children and young people.
I have to say how great it was to actually meet these people,make contact with them and figure out the best ways to get internet safety out, but also, to work together in order to have a mass influence of making the Internet a safer place. I made good contacts and I think we should all look to the future in order to see where we can go from here and how great an impact we can all have, especially with the help of some old and some new friends :)
Sonrisa
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Saturday, November 06, 2004
a guide for parents and for teens - the MPAA is coming! and it's time to stop pirating movies
While we are always unhappy to see anyone sued, especially young people, the MPAA has shown an incredible amount of restraint and patience in this matter. They have developed awareness messaging delivered in movie theaters, on television and in print media. They have educated universities and colleges about the piracy issues and have helped them create policies for acceptable use of institutional computer networks. They have delivered an extensive full-page advertisement awareness campaign “You Can Click But You Can’t Hide,” and have begun programs for in-school educational efforts on this important issue. And more will come. But without enforcement actions, unfortunately, education and awareness only go part of the way.
The MPAA has convinced me that they had no choice but add lawsuits to their arsenal of anti-piracy tactics. These lawsuits are a last resort and only a small part of the whole anti-piracy campaign. Sadly, without them, many young people who are stealing motion pictures before they even hit the movie theaters, will continue to steal movies thinking that they have nothing to lose. These law suits and other enforcement efforts will, hopefully, demonstrate that they have a lot to lose by breaking the law. As important as teaching our youth to surf safely and avoid online predators and harmful content is teaching them to be responsible cybercitizens.
Few were as vocal in opposition to the actions of the RIAA as I was. I felt that they had misused a legal loophole, which has since been closed with our help and the help of many privacy advocates and Internet service providers. I also understood the confusion over music downloads, where many young people couldn’t understand why they were not sued for recording music from radio broadcasts, but could be sued for downloading music from the Internet. I wrote a guide for parents and another for teens about downloading music online. I published an FAQ addressing the confusing issues. But movies are different.
I have consistently been vocal on an important distinction between the music piracy debate and motion picture piracy.
Working with thousands of young people, we learned that all of them knew that downloading a motion picture pre-theater release is wrong and is illegal. It feels wrong as well. They don’t readily admit to movie piracy and are often ashamed to admit that they have pirated movies. Notwithstanding the lawsuits and huge awareness campaigns delivered by the RIAA, many young Internet users either don’t understand the fine points of listening versus copying, or feel as though they should be allowed to share music online. To them it doesn’t yet feel wrong, and they are open about their music piracy practices. They seek ways of not getting caught, rather than curtailing their piracy activities.
While seeking input from some of my elite Teenangels (teenangels.org) for an article being written for Information Week magazine last year about youth movie piracy, I was shocked to learn that several of the young teens from this particular teenangels chapter admitted to downloading Harry Potter before it hit the movie theaters. Unlike their discussions about downloading music online, the teens wouldn’t meet my eyes. It didn’t take much to get them to agree never to pirate another movie. And, I suspect once we get them involved in delivering their own messages, we can turn this generation around, at least as to motion picture (and eventually software and game) piracy. And, like it or not, strategic law suits are a part of the incentive package needed to turnaround their movie piracy activities.
I earnestly hope that education and awareness will be effective enough that law suits won’t dominate this campaign to stop piracy. But as parents, we need to teach our children to be accountable for their actions. We need to teach them to do what’s right, not just what they can get away with. We need to encourage them to be good citizens, online and offline. Bottomline, it’s not about technology, or even lawsuits, it’s about parenting and helping guide our children to do what’s right.
The MPAA has convinced me that they had no choice but add lawsuits to their arsenal of anti-piracy tactics. These lawsuits are a last resort and only a small part of the whole anti-piracy campaign. Sadly, without them, many young people who are stealing motion pictures before they even hit the movie theaters, will continue to steal movies thinking that they have nothing to lose. These law suits and other enforcement efforts will, hopefully, demonstrate that they have a lot to lose by breaking the law. As important as teaching our youth to surf safely and avoid online predators and harmful content is teaching them to be responsible cybercitizens.
Few were as vocal in opposition to the actions of the RIAA as I was. I felt that they had misused a legal loophole, which has since been closed with our help and the help of many privacy advocates and Internet service providers. I also understood the confusion over music downloads, where many young people couldn’t understand why they were not sued for recording music from radio broadcasts, but could be sued for downloading music from the Internet. I wrote a guide for parents and another for teens about downloading music online. I published an FAQ addressing the confusing issues. But movies are different.
I have consistently been vocal on an important distinction between the music piracy debate and motion picture piracy.
Working with thousands of young people, we learned that all of them knew that downloading a motion picture pre-theater release is wrong and is illegal. It feels wrong as well. They don’t readily admit to movie piracy and are often ashamed to admit that they have pirated movies. Notwithstanding the lawsuits and huge awareness campaigns delivered by the RIAA, many young Internet users either don’t understand the fine points of listening versus copying, or feel as though they should be allowed to share music online. To them it doesn’t yet feel wrong, and they are open about their music piracy practices. They seek ways of not getting caught, rather than curtailing their piracy activities.
While seeking input from some of my elite Teenangels (teenangels.org) for an article being written for Information Week magazine last year about youth movie piracy, I was shocked to learn that several of the young teens from this particular teenangels chapter admitted to downloading Harry Potter before it hit the movie theaters. Unlike their discussions about downloading music online, the teens wouldn’t meet my eyes. It didn’t take much to get them to agree never to pirate another movie. And, I suspect once we get them involved in delivering their own messages, we can turn this generation around, at least as to motion picture (and eventually software and game) piracy. And, like it or not, strategic law suits are a part of the incentive package needed to turnaround their movie piracy activities.
I earnestly hope that education and awareness will be effective enough that law suits won’t dominate this campaign to stop piracy. But as parents, we need to teach our children to be accountable for their actions. We need to teach them to do what’s right, not just what they can get away with. We need to encourage them to be good citizens, online and offline. Bottomline, it’s not about technology, or even lawsuits, it’s about parenting and helping guide our children to do what’s right.
Friday, November 05, 2004
Movie piracy and teens
When Information Week ran an article about movie piracy in Fall 2003, I was interviewed as the expert on what kids were doing. I, in turn, asked my experts, my teenangels (Teenangels.org, note that teenangels.com is a porn site.) I had no idea, until then, how prevalent movie piracy was. We all know about the movie pirates selling DVDs on the corner in Chinatown and at flea markets. But few of us know about movie piracy, how it is done and where files of that size can be stored without crashing our systems. I was in that group.
I confidently asked a group of my Teenangels during one of their training sessions if they had ever heard of kids downloading movies online. All hands went up. I then asked them if any of them had ever downloaded a motion picture. That’s when I was stunned as several of my elite teens, trained by the FBI, decided to look out the window, under the table and into their laps. They looked everywhere but into my eyes. I sat down in shock. I was truly stunned.
It wasn’t the first time, and certainly won’t be the last time that my Teenangels have surprised me. But this was a new abuse issue that had gotten in under MY radar. That doesn’t happen often. But I was blindsided. The teens admitted to downloading the latest Harry Potter movie before it had even hit the movie theaters. And they didn’t have those shadowy, shot by a home video camera in the movie theater versions. They had studio prints, as good as the copy of that same movie we will be able to buy, years later.
After making them all swear that they would never ever ever ever do it again, I asked them how they did it. Most downloaded them on P2P networks, as they do music. They burn them to DVDs and store them on the enormous hard drives they all seem to have these days. And more importantly, they got them from their older brothers and sisters, cousins and friends in college.
So I went to our TeenAngels alumni, all of whom were not in college and asked them about the problem. They told me that many college kids are downloading and sharing motion pictures online. They have the new releases early enough to avoid having to pay the $10 and more per person to sit in a movie theater. And while many of the movies are shadowy in-theater shoots, many more are studio prints, director’s cuts and review copies.
They don’t have to resort to burning expensive DVDs, since the college servers are so enormous and most college students have access to large unallocated server space.
They also briefed me on the extensive efforts being expended by universities to stem piracy of music, movies and software. Acceptable use policies were rewritten warning them of the consequences of illegal downloads and media piracy. They were educated on copyright and other intellectual property issues. They had to sign agreements not to pirate or misuse media as a condition to being given access to the university networks. And some students were expelled when they violated those agreements.
All of this was the result of an educational and awareness campaign launched by the MPAA and the RIAA. But, apparently, it wasn’t terribly effective. When forced to choose between rising movie theater ticket prices and stealing a movie for your nearest and dearest 100 dorm-mates, from a college student’s perspective, there isn’t much of a choice.
The upcoming lawsuits might make a difference here. My informal polls of teens and college students shows me that many will stop pirating movies if they think they will be sued. The real problem we face is that most don’t think it will happen to them and play the odds.
So, we need to find a way to get the message across to them that the MPAA means business. They know what they are doing is illegal (see, “Movies are Different”). But it’s important that they know they could face the consequences of their actions. It’s time to get their attention.
But lawsuits alone are not the answer. The MPAA knows this and has delayed their lawsuits for many years in an attempt to educate young people. They see the lawsuits as an important, but small part of their overall campaign to stop movie piracy online.
They have several educational programs they have developed, including “You Can Click, But Your Can’t Hide.” They have delivered messages as trailers in movie theaters about the real people impacted by movie piracy. They sat back and watched as the RIAA used privacy-invading methods to force ISPs to turn over the identity of their subscribers.
It’s a great start. But we need to do more to get the kids involved. We need to get them to internalize the message of responsible technology use and respecting intellectual property rights. We need to capture their attention before they get to college and while movie piracy is still an exception not the rule. We need to use methods to get them involved in the solution, instead of only threatening them with the results. Carrots, not just sticks, need to be included in the package.
I have proposed a campaign for children, teens and college students to deliver their own anti-piracy messages in video format. After delivering our intellectual property education, they would find the message that resonates with them and their friends. (We have learned that finding the right message on anti-piracy is like ordering from a Chinese restaurant, one form column A and two from column B. No one message speaks to all kids.) Large competitions could be judged by the motion picture studios and the winning videographers could be invited to Hollywood and their videos featured as trailers on upcoming DVDs. Electronic manufacturers and retailers, video rental outlets, and the motion picture industry unions can all get involved in the campaign. We need to make it as “kewl” to stop piracy as it is to pirate a new movie. If we reward them for their creativity, they will be more likely to respect the creativity of others.
I just ran a program for a small private school in New York, after returning from a larger event with hundreds of 4th graders in Wichita, Kansas. Both groups were appalled that their older counterparts were stealing movies online. One 10 year old even lectured me on the large damages that could be recovered in a lawsuit. (He was close. He said they could recover $250,000, but the real amount for a willful piracy of a movie is $150,000. As you may have guessed already, this boy was from New York. )
We need to get to the kids while they are young and still believe in right and wrong. We need them to remind each other of their ethical obligation as cybercitizens not to abuse the power of the technology. There’s still time to stop movie piracy and teach young people and adults alike that we should be responsible in our technology use. We should all learn to obey the law even when we think we can get away with breaking it. And our children need to be taught this as soon as possible and take this with them as they grow into, hopefully, responsible adults.
That’s the real challenge. And the MPAA should be supporting efforts like Peers2Peers.org and InternetSuperheroes.org, that get kids involved in creating and delivering their own messages of responsible intellectual property use.
There’s more to anti-piracy than lawsuits. And unless we do something about this soon, the motion picture industry and this generation of our kids will be lost. We need to get the kids on board. And if we catch them young enough, we can.
I confidently asked a group of my Teenangels during one of their training sessions if they had ever heard of kids downloading movies online. All hands went up. I then asked them if any of them had ever downloaded a motion picture. That’s when I was stunned as several of my elite teens, trained by the FBI, decided to look out the window, under the table and into their laps. They looked everywhere but into my eyes. I sat down in shock. I was truly stunned.
It wasn’t the first time, and certainly won’t be the last time that my Teenangels have surprised me. But this was a new abuse issue that had gotten in under MY radar. That doesn’t happen often. But I was blindsided. The teens admitted to downloading the latest Harry Potter movie before it had even hit the movie theaters. And they didn’t have those shadowy, shot by a home video camera in the movie theater versions. They had studio prints, as good as the copy of that same movie we will be able to buy, years later.
After making them all swear that they would never ever ever ever do it again, I asked them how they did it. Most downloaded them on P2P networks, as they do music. They burn them to DVDs and store them on the enormous hard drives they all seem to have these days. And more importantly, they got them from their older brothers and sisters, cousins and friends in college.
So I went to our TeenAngels alumni, all of whom were not in college and asked them about the problem. They told me that many college kids are downloading and sharing motion pictures online. They have the new releases early enough to avoid having to pay the $10 and more per person to sit in a movie theater. And while many of the movies are shadowy in-theater shoots, many more are studio prints, director’s cuts and review copies.
They don’t have to resort to burning expensive DVDs, since the college servers are so enormous and most college students have access to large unallocated server space.
They also briefed me on the extensive efforts being expended by universities to stem piracy of music, movies and software. Acceptable use policies were rewritten warning them of the consequences of illegal downloads and media piracy. They were educated on copyright and other intellectual property issues. They had to sign agreements not to pirate or misuse media as a condition to being given access to the university networks. And some students were expelled when they violated those agreements.
All of this was the result of an educational and awareness campaign launched by the MPAA and the RIAA. But, apparently, it wasn’t terribly effective. When forced to choose between rising movie theater ticket prices and stealing a movie for your nearest and dearest 100 dorm-mates, from a college student’s perspective, there isn’t much of a choice.
The upcoming lawsuits might make a difference here. My informal polls of teens and college students shows me that many will stop pirating movies if they think they will be sued. The real problem we face is that most don’t think it will happen to them and play the odds.
So, we need to find a way to get the message across to them that the MPAA means business. They know what they are doing is illegal (see, “Movies are Different”). But it’s important that they know they could face the consequences of their actions. It’s time to get their attention.
But lawsuits alone are not the answer. The MPAA knows this and has delayed their lawsuits for many years in an attempt to educate young people. They see the lawsuits as an important, but small part of their overall campaign to stop movie piracy online.
They have several educational programs they have developed, including “You Can Click, But Your Can’t Hide.” They have delivered messages as trailers in movie theaters about the real people impacted by movie piracy. They sat back and watched as the RIAA used privacy-invading methods to force ISPs to turn over the identity of their subscribers.
It’s a great start. But we need to do more to get the kids involved. We need to get them to internalize the message of responsible technology use and respecting intellectual property rights. We need to capture their attention before they get to college and while movie piracy is still an exception not the rule. We need to use methods to get them involved in the solution, instead of only threatening them with the results. Carrots, not just sticks, need to be included in the package.
I have proposed a campaign for children, teens and college students to deliver their own anti-piracy messages in video format. After delivering our intellectual property education, they would find the message that resonates with them and their friends. (We have learned that finding the right message on anti-piracy is like ordering from a Chinese restaurant, one form column A and two from column B. No one message speaks to all kids.) Large competitions could be judged by the motion picture studios and the winning videographers could be invited to Hollywood and their videos featured as trailers on upcoming DVDs. Electronic manufacturers and retailers, video rental outlets, and the motion picture industry unions can all get involved in the campaign. We need to make it as “kewl” to stop piracy as it is to pirate a new movie. If we reward them for their creativity, they will be more likely to respect the creativity of others.
I just ran a program for a small private school in New York, after returning from a larger event with hundreds of 4th graders in Wichita, Kansas. Both groups were appalled that their older counterparts were stealing movies online. One 10 year old even lectured me on the large damages that could be recovered in a lawsuit. (He was close. He said they could recover $250,000, but the real amount for a willful piracy of a movie is $150,000. As you may have guessed already, this boy was from New York. )
We need to get to the kids while they are young and still believe in right and wrong. We need them to remind each other of their ethical obligation as cybercitizens not to abuse the power of the technology. There’s still time to stop movie piracy and teach young people and adults alike that we should be responsible in our technology use. We should all learn to obey the law even when we think we can get away with breaking it. And our children need to be taught this as soon as possible and take this with them as they grow into, hopefully, responsible adults.
That’s the real challenge. And the MPAA should be supporting efforts like Peers2Peers.org and InternetSuperheroes.org, that get kids involved in creating and delivering their own messages of responsible intellectual property use.
There’s more to anti-piracy than lawsuits. And unless we do something about this soon, the motion picture industry and this generation of our kids will be lost. We need to get the kids on board. And if we catch them young enough, we can.
