[pp.int.general] UK action idea: in schools

[Gareth Nelson]

Nice to see you here :)

On Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 8:46 AM, Richard Stallman <rms at gnu.org> wrote:
>    I've had a quick look through the syllabuses for GCSE ICT and I can see
>    is half a lesson on "Copyright Law"; from my experience of both GCSEs
>    and the public understanding of copyright, this is unlikely to be either
>    particularly serious or accurate.
>
> The screenshots I saw from samlearning.com are more "sharing is wrong"
> than copyright law.  Whether accurate or not, whether serious or not,
> it is propaganda for the enemy.
>
> As for the GCSE IT itself, I don't know any specifics but I asked
> someone to send me a copy of the syllabus.

I can tell you as a former GCSE student myself (like everyone in their
20s in the UK) that there was little to no mention of filesharing, P2P
or copyright at all other than a very brief "don't infringe copyright
on school computers" lumped in with all the usual rules. Is there any
way we can see the samlearning screenshots?

>    As for the "study" web sites, they are more likely to be
>    propaganda-filled (being  commercial thingamies, so susceptible to
>    "sponsorship") but I'm not sure how much attention the average student
>    pays to them in the first place.
>
> I was told that half the schools in England recommend samlearning.com.
> But even if it is only 10%, that is still a lot of students.  And
> their competitors may be similar.  Their message is likely to have an
> influence unless the students see arguments that sharing is good.
> They may keep sharing, but they will tell themselves "I am a bad
> person because I share."
Considering how many of these students likely have iPods full of
downloaded MP3s in their pocket I doubt that. (and yeah, we'd both
prefer if it was an embedded GNU/linux player with OGG vorbis or FLAC
- personally I carry nine inch nails' catalogue in FLAC format around
on an SD card in my netbook)

For one example of the general attitude, my stepdaughter is honestly
confused as to how there could be anything wrong with downloading
music and i've had to explain to her why it's not "wrong" but it is
illegal and she should be careful for that reason. I think any message
that it's "wrong" is not likely to have an influence on teenagers, and
it's teens who study the GCSEs.

Of much greater concern is younger kids - and here in the UK there's
very little concern for brainwashing 4 year olds. I'm speaking here
from experience with regards to withdrawing my son from school prayer,
and worrying about the fact that it's not possible to withdraw from
other harmful activities - i'd say that telling a child that it's
wrong to share is just as harmful.

>
>    As with everything else, there is no way we can directly
>    compete with the anti-sharing lot on a commercial scale (and even then,
>    their "educational" campaigns are clearly failing - no one is interested).
>
> If "compete...on a commercial scale" means using the same tactics they
> use, I am sure you are right -- but that isn't the only way to
> respond.  Here are two ideas that occur to me:
>
> * People can complain to their local schools about recommending
> companies that include copyright industry propaganda in their
> "education".
That's unlikely to lead anywhere unless you're already "in with" the
governors of the school in question. Petitioning the LEA (Local
Education Authority) alongside other concerned parties (parents in
particular) is likely to lead to better longterm change. Making the
point that schools should not be in the business of dispensing
political opinions as fact - and copyright infringement being "wrong"
is very much political. It is wise also not to give the impression of
being against teaching the legal facts: that copyright infringement is
illegal and you can get in trouble for it.

>
> * Distribute counter-information to students on CDROMs that say
> "Copy and Share this CDROM
>  Sharing is Good"
That is an excellent idea - perhaps a CD or DVD filled with free
software (openoffice and a GNU/linux distro come to mind), various
creative commons stuff and some free games with some kind of
educational purpose (GCompris for example is brilliant for younger
kids and I use it myself with my son - i'm not sure on something
that's appropriate for teens)
>
> Maybe you can think of other ways.
>
>    Having said all that, accurate education about copyright would be very
>    helpful but something of a challenge (both to publish material that
>    people will read and to get the details right - the BPI et al. have been
>    having trouble with both).
>
> Education about copyright is not the response that's needed.  This is
> a moral point, not a legal one, so the response has to be on the moral
> plane too.
With no disrespect, I have to disagree with you there. Schools
definitely should give accurate and correct information on copyright
law - that is part of their proper role.
After all, copyright law DOES exist - even if we may not like it, it's
there. The ideal is for them to either be neutral on the political and
ethical aspects, or to include them in classroom discussion.
Something that looks at arguments for and against copyright without
bias would be ideal - but somehow I can't imagine it would be without
bias. When copyright comes up in education it's either a brief aside
("don't infringe copyright on school computers") or it's portrayed in
a "it's wrong to share" type way.

>
> Nina Paley's one minute musical cartoon, "Copying Is Not Theft", would
> be great to use as the response, by itself or together with text.  The
> task is to get copies to lots of students and invite them to share it
> with more students.  Maybe PPUK supporters could do this.
>
> --
> Richard Stallman
> President, Free Software Foundation
> 51 Franklin St
> Boston MA 02110
> USA
> www.fsf.org, www.gnu.org
> ____________________________________________________
> Pirate Parties International - General Talk
> pp.international.general at lists.pirateweb.net
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>



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