Nonprofit Group Sends Filesharing Propaganda To Students

palegray.net writes "The National Center for State Courts, a nonprofit organization, has sent file-sharing propaganda to thousands of students. The supposedly 'educational' materials, presented in the form of a comic strip, are intended to frighten students with gross exaggerations of the legal consequences of sharing music online (lose your scholarship to college, go to jail for two years, and more). From the article: '"The Case of Internet Piracy," however, reads like the Recording Industry Association of America's public relations playbook: Download some songs, go to jail and lose your scholarship. Along the way, musicians will file onto the bread lines. "The purpose is basically to educate kids — middle school and high school-aged about how the justice system operates and about what really goes on in the courtroom as opposed to what you see on television," said Lorri Montgomery, the center's communications director.' I'm not encouraging anyone to break any laws, but this is ridiculous. What's truly discouraging is the fact that several judges appear to be in full support of this sort of 'education.' The propaganda material is available in PDF form, and it lists the judges and others involved in its creation. Wired's post has a summary of the story (which is good, since the story is awful), and Techdirt notes a couple of the legal inaccuracies.

Comments

Courts are Public

[xstonedogx]

Take the kids to a court if you want them educated about how courts work.

Re:Courts are Public

[Original Replica]

Take the kids to a court if you want them educated about how courts work.

As it was pointed out, several Judges support this scare campaign. Why? Because if kids are educated to believe that Judges can rightly enact these "gross exaggerations of the legal consequences of sharing music online (lose your scholarship to college, go to jail for two years, and more)." Then slowly, as more and more people believe that lie the more power the Judges will have and the lie will become the truth. Look at every other power grab in recent American politics, it starts with a gross overstatement of authority, follows with stalling if pressed with the real limits of authority, wait until a different issue gains the spot light, act on your overstated authority as "an already established power". I'm sure the RIAA has a few pet judges (even if many Judges are starting to come around to common sense) and I'm sure the RIAA would love to have the authority to imprison copyright infringers or at least make them lose their scholarships (that aught to teach these schools to stand up to the RIAA) But none of that can happen if children are well educated on the proper processes and limits of different government functionaries.

Re:Courts are Public

[monxrtr]

Nobody downloads more music illegally than the representatives of the RIAA. It is your *right* to download anything and everything to check to see that none of your own copyrighted work is included in those files, exactly as the RIAA does (and fails to report it's illegal copying, along with a plethora of other RICO predicate violations). Nobody knows what the content of any file actually is before they download it.

Nobody has ever been charged with any civil or criminal counts for any downloading of files; such charges would be laughed out of Court. The cartoon is pure propaganda lies, and if those pamphlets are passed out or "made available" in any Courtroom, those schools and Courts should be sued faster than you can recite the "10 Commandments".

If I were a defense attorney, I would also be sure to remember every single one of those names listed on that pamphlet and have those Judges removed from any cases involving copyright infringement, have any verdicts or cases regarding copyright involving those Judges since publication of those pamphlets overturned, and letters published in the local papers of their Court Districts published outlining their conflict of interest to Justice. Also keep those names handy for an organized campaign against those Judges for any appointments to higher Federal Courts. Maybe also look into banning this organization for not presenting a legal disclaimer that such material does not constitute legal advice to revoke their nonprofit 501(c)(3) status. These people need to be taught that they are not messing with minority drug dealers, and that they will be held accountable to the strict letter of any and all Court procedure.

File-sharing is illegal but SPAM is not.

[Anonymous Coward]

Can someone explain on that?

Also how is it legal to use legal institutions to spread a fake message?

And now we are on the topic this is not the definition of culture of fear?

Puts me in mind of something

[ThanatosMinor]

Is anyone else reminded of Chick tracts? Share files and you go to hell...

Re:Best coverage on p2pnet.net

[ScrewMaster]

Shill. Fifty bucks says Ray is dead on.

Boston Strangler

[Nymz]

After reading the comic excerpts, I couldn't help but think the exaggeration sounded familiar.

"I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone." - Jack Valenti

this is the reefer madness of filesharing

[circletimessquare]

this propaganda is wonderful!

please, please, anyone who supports filesharing rights, do not stop the spread of this propaganda, it is guaranteed to backfire

your average college student can spot a bully and a bully's rationale. if this is their argument: do what we want or we'll hurt you, your average college kid can see the obvious moral bankruptcy in that, they will see right through this, and even better than that, if this is the best argument the RIAA's puppet organization can make, everyone can see the RIAA has no more argument at all

please folks, let them proclaim the hollowness and pointlessness of their dead end effort with this propaganda. college kids are receptive, they are listening, and they can smell bullshit. so this propaganda is GOOD for filesharing rights as it is a guaranteed backfire

i swear, it's reefer madness for file sharing

Reefer Madness (aka Tell Your Children) is a 1936 exploitation film revolving around the tragic events that ensue when high school students are lured by pushers to try "marihuana": a hit and run accident, manslaughter, suicide, rape, and descent into madness all ensue. The film was directed by Louis Gasnier and starred a cast composed of mostly unknown bit actors. It was originally financed by a church group and made under the title Tell Your Children.[1][2]

The film was intended to be shown to parents as a morality tale attempting to teach them about the dangers of cannabis use.[1] However, soon after the film was shot, it was purchased by producer Dwain Esper, who re-cut the film for distribution on the exploitation film circuit.[1] The film never gained an audience until it was rediscovered in the 1970s and gained new life as a piece of unintentional comedy among cannabis smokers.[1][3] Today, it is in the public domain in the United States and is considered a cult film.[3] It inspired a musical satire, which premiered off-Broadway in 2001, and a Showtime film, Reefer Madness, based on the musical.

Don't-Don't-Don't Copy That Floppy!

[Perseid]

Really. When you have to resort to outright lies to protect your business model, doesn't that tell you something about said business model?

Re:Don't-Don't-Don't Copy That Floppy!

[ScrewMaster]

Really. When you have to resort to outright lies to protect your business model, doesn't that tell you something about said business model?

Yes. It tells you that said business model is highly profitable.

Time we hit Hollywood with a Digital Tea Party

[CuteSteveJobs]

Here we see Hollywood studios regularly rob, cheat and steal from the people that work for them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2001/aug/31/artsfeatures

Here companies like News Limited trick the public into surrendering their copyright, giving them massive royalty-free photo libraries, all for the "chance of winning an iPod".
http://blogs.smh.com.au/photographers/archives/2008/07/read_the_fine_print.html

Orson Scott Card wrote this good piece on the hipocracy of the RIAA:
http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2003-09-07-1.html
http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2003-09-14-1.html

And for years, we the public have had our rights progressively eroded. Well-monied rights holders throw money at congress who turn around and keep extending their copyright. This reached an artform in the "Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act", otherwise known as the "Mickey Mouse Copyright Act". Yet Disney has quite happily argued against this when it suits them.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,17327,00.html

Well, eat this Disney: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mickey22-2008aug22,0,3228580,full.story

And then there was that DRM debacle... What's worst is countries like Australia spinelessly accepted the DRM laws as their own (and US patents being enforcable in Australia) all for a political photo opportunity with George W. Bush. In this way, these execessive new laws are spreading all over the world. And here we have Universities teaching one side of the Great Copyright Rights Grab. Why aren't they educating their students about both sides, instead of brainfeeding them RIAA propaganda?

Bottom line is: Congress doesn't work for you. It works for these guys. I don't see Congress ever saying no to MPAA slush funds, and treating IP the way the Constitution intended it too. So to hell with Congress and the MPAAFIA: Stupid Laws are made to be broken. I say torrent freely and torrent often. It's our very own digital tea party.

The purpose is basically to educate kids

[nurb432]

My ass it is. Its to brainwash them so that the next generation will obey the orders of the media corporations of the world, and adjust the future laws.

Re:get em young

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

That question, you mean? No, I don't. This philosophy only results in a sequence of escalations where ultimately everyone loses. Reprisals don't work.

No, turnabout does not mean reprisal. Turnabout means what's good for the goose is good for the gander. It means one person cuts the cake and the other person picks the piece. Turnabout is fair play is another way to say equality.

I think you misunderstood what I wrote. The RIAA/MPAA know people are pirating, so instead of looking internally to see what is wrong with them they only see what is wrong with the people who steal it. If it were a boycott instead of a looting, they'd be desperate to increase sales, not punish their would-be customers.

I understood you perfectly. I don't WANT them to increase sales. I believe copyright is fundamentally broken. No business model based on fee-for-distribution of things that have zero cost to distribute can be successful without severely compromising society at large.

I don't think that when you burn everything down, something better always arises. I think fixing it is better than destroying it.

I don't think ANYONE believes something better ALWAYS arises. But in THIS case, the industry has already burnt down, not by pirates, but by the internet. All that's left is just inertia.

But mostly I'm just irritated by the see-through rationalizations people use to steal without guilt. Just because they are wrong does not mean that you aren't wrong, too.

Yeah, it kind of does. If one party to a contract breaks a contract, then there is no moral or ethical requirement for the other party to continue to adhere to the contract.

Of course they lie

[Charles Dodgeson]

They do not lie in the comic itself

In the comic, Megan, merely an end user, is being prosecuted for theft in criminal court. Has that ever happened in real life?

The comic definitely tries to convey to the reader that unlawful downloading can get you prosecuted for theft. That is a lie. They also are exceedingly misleading about who they are. While maybe that isn't fully a lie, they are certainly far from honest

PS: for the record, I do oppose the copyright violations of these kinds of "sharing".