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BSA Asks Kids to Name Copyright Weasel
theodp writes "According to CNET News, this fall, 4th-graders will not only be treated to comic books and lesson plans from the Business Software Alliance and Weekly Reader, but also invited to name the BSA's mascot, a copyright-crusading ferret who teaches tech-savvy kids about the importance of protecting and respecting copyrighted works such as software, music, games and movies. More details in the BSA press release."
ehm, aren't the laws already in their favor?(copyright extensions & etc which really only help big organizations who own big amounts of _old_ materia that was actually fucking cheap to produce back in the day with actors working on monthly wage and so on..)
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
"Fair use according to whom? The law or the Slashbot collective? People around here have a very peculiar concept of what constitutes \"fair use\"."
Exactly. Neither of these groups have the right people to teach children about copyright. The lobbyists are likely to teach them that the GPL is immoral, and the typical user here would make them memorize the collected works of Richard Stallman in English class.
Personally I believe that items of zero marginal cost must be distributed for free to guarantee economic efficiency (incentives to produce can and should be created in other ways). Society should, however, tell children about all sides of issues, but that's not what we're going to get, is it? So schools and corporations should shut up and go back to teaching children how to think, not what to think.
My Sig: SEGV