Lesson

Preventing Internet Piracy: Strategies for Teaching Students
Nine out of 10 teenagers in North America are frequent internet users and consistently utilize the internet to partake in criminal activities including libel/defamation, cyber bullying and financial abuse (Schmalleger & Pittaro, 2009, p.88). Possibly the most dominant criminal activity that the average Digital Native becomes embroiled in is stealing digitized data, including music, software and movies. Digital Natives are the most likely to employ the internet for their criminal activities, especially pirating digitized copyrighted files, simply because they have the greatest understanding of modern technology. To limit net piracy, most entertainment industries recommend that the youth is educated about piracy, including the legal aspect of digital piracy. However, there are several strategies that hold the greatest potential to effectively educate the youth concerning internet piracy.

Explain to the students the types of digital piracy.


 * Software Piracy
 * "The unauthorized copying or distribution of copyrighted software. When you purchase software, you are actually purchasing a license to use it, not the actual software. The license is what tells you how many times you can install the software. If you make more copies of the software than the license permits, you are breaking the law. Whether you are copying, downloading, sharing, selling, or installing multiple copies of software onto personal or work computers, you are committing software piracy" (Business Software Alliance, 2009).

Discuss the Negative Ramifications of Digital Piracy, such as... Tips For Successfully Educating Students About Digital Piracy
 * Digital Media Piracy
 * The unauthorized copying or distribution of video and music files. Millions of songs and video files are illegally downloaded each year amounting to a tremendous financial loss to the entertainment industry and ultimately the economy. Most songs and videos on the internet are copyrighted and thus illegal to download unless permission has been granted by the owner or bought through programs such as iTunes.
 * The entertainment industry loses billions of dollars but eventually the entire community loses out as the money that would have been spent does not circulate the community, considering that the people would have bought the product had they not downloaded it
 * "All computer crimes create an IP tax, costing everyone money. The added cost of vigilance in security and piracy are absorbed by higher retail prices for goods and services, perpetuating a disadvantageous cycle for companies competing against piracy firm" (Ibid)
 * Many argue that piracy generates competition as it drives down prices, progresses innovation and, better, more robust products. However, small businesses face bankruptcy while bigger companies absorb it as business losses, thereby eliminating competition. In addition, with less competition companies are not required to create more innovative products (Ibid)
 * Teach children to recognize the copyright signal and make the right choice when it comes to downloading copyrighted material
 * If a song, video or software is available for download that is available to be bought in-store and running in theaters, it is most likely copyrighted and thus illegal to download.
 * Below is the copyright symbol




 * "Teaching respect for digital copyright works is critical as young people grow up" especially before they hit the teenager years (Ibid).
 * Teenagers are way more likely than tweens to download digital files illegally. A survey completed for the Business Software Alliance company revealed that only 3% of tweens admitted to illegally downloading files while 33% of teenagers admitted the same. In addition, piracy education beginning from an early age will more likely result in teenagers and adults that respect digitized copyright works (Music Industry News Network, 2004)
 * Practice what you preach
 * A lot of software installed on school computers is actually pirated.
 * Explain that sharing copyrighted material is illegal even though you download it from the internet
 * In essence, the youth should be provided with guidance that will positively influence their growth as good cyber citizens and their respect for digital copyrighted works. In schools that educated students about internet piracy, it was revealed that many students were surprised to learn that there are actual copyright rules in the cyber world.
 * Individuals or organizations suspected of copyright infringement can be sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars and possibly millions of dollars, and possibly a decade in prison.
 * Napster (a peer-to-peer music sharing program) agreed to pay $26 million for past copyright infringement, plus $10 million for the rights for future sharing (Yar, 2006, p.98)
 * In 2003, 261 copyright infringement lawsuits were filed by the Recording Industry Association on behalf of major record labels. The parents are responsible if their children pirate digitzed data and in one such case, the mother of a 12-year old settled a case by paying $2,000 (Schmalleger & Pitarro, 2009, p. 88).
 * Section 38 of the Canadian Copyright Act:
 * Statutory Damages
 * 1) Subject to this section, a copyright owner may elect, at any time before final judgment is rendered, to recover, instead of damages and profits referred to in subsection 35(1), an award of statutory damages for all infringements involved in the proceedings, with respect to any one work or other subject-matter, for which any one infringer is liable individually, or for which any two or more infringers are liable jointly and severally, in a sum of not less than $500 or more than $20,000 as the court considers just (Government of Canada, 2010).
 * Where defendent unaware of infringement
 * 2) Where a copyright owner has made an election under subsection (1) and the defendant satisfies the court that the defendant was not aware and had no reasonable grounds to believe that the defendant had infringed copyright, the court may reduce the amount of the award to less than $500, but not less than $200 (Government of Canada, 2010).
 * Explain that even though digital media is available on warez websites and through pee-to-peer websites, it does not necessarily mean that the downloads are illegal. However, the owner has simply granted you permission to download the files.
 * Why are these sites legal?
 * The programs behind the file sharing is legal but the files that are shared is often not legal.
 * The people running these sites find a loophole within the Canadian Copyright Act
 * For instance, they claim that warez websites were constructed to share demos, download a game patch, etcetera.
 * Even though such sites and peer-to-peer interfaces can be used for exactly the above purposes, on many occasions there is nothing to stop individuals from downloading files from their peer's computer and they are often requested upload a particular file(s)
 * They claim that the sites are used for storage space to backup a copy of a legally purchased CD/DVD. However, most often there is nothing to stop other people to download the files.