RIAA Propaganda - Grades 3-8

In a school propaganda campaign that actually makes the late and unlamented Captain Copyright caper by Access Copyright seem almost reasonable by comparison, the RIAA is after little kids from Grades 3 to 8 - where "piracy" apparently rules.

Dear Parent: Your child is participating in Music Rules!, an educational program designed to help lay the foundation for respecting all forms of intellectual property, especially music recordings. Made possible by the Recording Industry Association of America, this program also promotes musical and artistic creativity and encourages children to use computer technology responsibly.

In school your child is learning the rules against “songlifting” – a new term for making copies of music recordings without paying for them. Like shoplifting, songlifting is illegal, and as your child learns why, he or she will also learn the basic principles of copyright protection and how they apply to all types of intellectual property.

This campaign introduces the concept of "songlifting" and the notion that any unauthorized download is a $0.99 loss. That's a good exercise in arithmetic to train these emerging scholars, isn't it?

I invite readers to take lots of GRAVOL® and go through this to extract and disseminate the most ridiculous and offensive material. How do we count the ways?

It's hard to imagine how any conscientious school officials or teachers could be complicit in the dissemination of such propaganda.

I hope that the CRIA isn't getting ideas from this. So far, it seems to have been somewhat more subtle. After all, this is Canada.

HT to Ray Beckerman for ruining may appetite for lunch today.

HK