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File-Sharing Ethics Taught In Classrooms?

shams42 writes "According to the New York Times, the movie/record industries are taking their concerns about P2P file sharing into the classroom (free reg. req.) Among other activities, they are planning to play a game called 'Starving Artist' with 5th-9th graders, where students come up with an idea for a record album, cover art, and lyrics only to be told by teachers that the album is already available for download for free."

25 of 810 comments (clear)

  1. A time-tested strategy. by Clover_Kicker · · Score: 5, Funny

    In school they told me that smoking was bad, I should eat a balanced diet, I shouldn't drink, and I should never smoke pot.

    And look at me now!

    1. Re:A time-tested strategy. by NiteTrip · · Score: 5, Funny

      And now I DRIVE the bus!!!

    2. Re:A time-tested strategy. by tankdilla · · Score: 2, Funny

      And now I DRIVE the bus!!!
      ...and live in a van down by the river!

      --

      -Look lively. LOOK LIVELY!!! --Mr. Shmallow

  2. Re:the brutality by AllUsernamesAreGone · · Score: 5, Funny

    It gets better, I hear they're also sponsoring classes on how to drown puppies for kids who want to become Recording Industry Ass. of America lawyers.

    (yes, this is a joke. Probably.)

  3. Starving artist? by Zog+The+Undeniable · · Score: 1, Funny

    More like cocaine-starved music industry exec.

    --
    When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
  4. A few more features for "realism"... by voss · · Score: 5, Funny

    1) Their CD will be sold for $20 of which they will get 20 cents.
    2) Their new and creative song will be played once per day while they have to listen to boy bands have their song played twice per hour
    3) Their CD's will be used to test the latest anti-copying technology which winds up ruining their bands reputation.
    4) They will have to pay their own money to make their own tape, and the "record industry" will give their music to a prettier classmate to create a cover song for a totally lame commercial that ruins any hip appeal their song might have had.

    Can anyone else think of anything?

  5. Re:RIAA classroom by broken.data · · Score: 4, Funny

    Pictures of Keith Richards should not count.

  6. Is this what we should be teaching our children by Cookeisparanoid · · Score: 5, Funny

    I remember at school being encouraged to share with my peers because it was nice, now big multinationals are giving early lessons in consumerism, what the heck happened?

  7. Re:Gee.... by darkov · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think the game should be renamed "greedy oligopolist". You get to illegally fix prices, strongarm artists and sue poor people who can't afford to defend themselves in court.

    The winner is the person with the most manufactured artists with the most manufactured music.

  8. Re:Yeah, I've got a game too. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    How about "fat cat riaa member", "price-fixer", and "cartelopoly"? That'd be fun games too.

  9. Lesson in Sharing by Angram · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think the RIAA must have missed the kindergarten lesson on sharing.

    --

    GL
  10. Why not pay for a lot on Sesame Street? by Doomrat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Big Bird: Look Elmo, I downloaded all this neato music on the 'In-ter-net'.
    Elmo: That's stealing. People who pirate music should die of cancer. You're going to hell. Hehehe, that tickles.

  11. Instead of "Starving Artist" by repressitol · · Score: 3, Funny

    The artists are already starving in comparison. Why don't they just tell the truth and call the program "Starving Corporate Executive".

    They could show the horrors of the poor RIAA execs who could only buy one BMW this year, or the trauma of having to sell one of their estates.

  12. Simpsons quote that came to mind by clasher · · Score: 3, Funny

    Bart: Sounds like a pretty crappy game to me.
    Principal Skinner: Yes, well... Get started.
    -- ``Bart the Murderer''

  13. What I Learned in Kindergarten by telstar · · Score: 3, Funny

    When I was in kindergarten, I learned to share....
    Now the MPAA is going to teach me that sharing is bad?

  14. They're Doing It Wrong by anonicon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Listen, if I'm sitting in the catbird's seat at a major label, I wouldn't be punking these kids out about how filesharing hurts artists, I'd be showing them how the pros do it - legally.

    Vanishing royalties, recoupable expenses, double-standard accounting, ball-gripper contracts, long-term litigation - by the time these kids are finished with the class, they'll be dying to work in the industry instead of in front of it as performers. Screw the multiplication table, show 'em how to do math using the Royalty Calculator. Those proficiency tests will get hammered, at least mathematically.

    Anyways, your mileage may vary.

    Peace.

  15. Availability by mopslik · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...students come up with an idea for a record album, cover art, and lyrics only to be told by teachers that the album is already available for download for free.

    Wow. The album is available for download before it's even been created. Piracy must be more out-of-hand than I had imagined.

  16. RIAA teaches ethics? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    In other news:

    Former Enron executives will teach investment basics

    Former Arthur Anderson accountants will teach how to balance a checkbook

    Karl Rove will teach civics

    Former Pres. Clinton will teach abstinence

  17. I see the problem now... by WebfishUK · · Score: 1, Funny


    A quote lifted from the interview says much about this company...
    "There is no issue in my life I take as seriously as this," said Peter Chernin, president and chief operating officer of the News Corporation, which owns 20th Century Fox.

    They need to get out more....

    --
    -- "Can't sleep, clowns will eat me!"
  18. When that game gets old by w3weasel · · Score: 1, Funny

    we can play this one... We spend decades building the perfect maze for rats to run through... with extra attention spent ensuring that the cows who produce the cheese for the end of the maze, are carefully groomed and slaughtered for our dinners. When all is perfect with our maze construct, we go to get the mice to place in the maze, only to find that they have been hand fed cheese by Apple since birth, and have no interest in walking a maze to get more. :P

    --

    Just as irrigation is the lifeblood of the Southwest, lifeblood is the soup of cannibals. -- Jack Handy

  19. I imagine it like this... by jeti · · Score: 4, Funny


    Kid: It's done. Cool.
    Teacher: Yes. And It's already on the net. So you can't sell it. (smiles broadly)
    Kid: How can I find it? I got to tell my friends.
    Teacher: Well - I didn't put it on the net. But I could have. You see?
    Kid: So how do I put it on the web? I still want to show my mom and friends.
    Teacher: Well, it wouldn't make sense to put it on the web because you need a special program to view it.
    Kid: And where do I get this special program?
    Teacher: You can't. It's only licensed to schools.

  20. It's too bad... by nukeade · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yeah, it's too bad that most kids' imaginations are well-done by the third grade.

    Kids: "Look teacher, we made the new Eminem CD."
    Tacher: "Uh, that's already available for download."
    Kids: "We know. It actually works, and we're selling copies to the underclassmen."
    Teacher: "The lesson for today is... you all get detention."

  21. Re:1984? by ScoLgo · · Score: 2, Funny

    Oh.. Is that what D.A.R.E. stands for?

    I always thought it was an acronym for 'Drugs Are Recreational Entertainment'...

    --
    "Michael, I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing - and it was everything that I thought it could be."
  22. Re:Yeah, I've got a game too. by Xaoswolf · · Score: 3, Funny
    Incidentally, it's the same reasoning that explains why the death penalty is not an effective deterrant, but I digress.

    100% of all people that the death penalty has been used on, have never committed again.

  23. Not a new game by c0d3h4x0r · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...they are planning to play a game called 'Starving Artist' with 5th-9th graders, where students come up with an idea for a record album, cover art, and lyrics only to be told by teachers that the album is already available for download for free.

    That isn't a new game. I can't count how many times a teacher asked me to slave over a math problem only to tell me later the solution was published in the teacher's edition!

    --
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