Snip from the Boston Globe article "Kids get new weapon against predators using Internet":
Maine children are being offered new protections from Internet predators through a program called NetSmartz, which was introduced Tuesday by state law enforcement and education officials — and an animated figure called "Clicky." NetSmartz is being offered to schools at no cost to taxpayers through a partnership between the state and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Attorney General Steven Rowe said.
NetSmartz, which is available to all elementary, middle and high schools in the state, features the animated figure Clicky rapping and offering advice on how to spot Web users who use foul language, try to get strangers to meet them, send pornographic pictures or ask personal questions.
If you can make it through the layers of DRM-laden crapola on the "NetSmartz Kids" website, you'll find this gem — aha, filesharing is the true mortal threat to our children!
Clicky's Stolen Song: A Lesson in Digital Ethics. Captain Bootleg, an Internet pirate, has stolen Clicky's hit song. Nettie and Webster learn why it is wrong to steal music from others!
Snip from dialogue:
(robot, stuttering): a fearless pirate has slipped in… it's not right to steal like a pirate!
(pirate, yarrr) shiver me timbers, lads and lassies, i got me files, they should fetch a pretty penny!
(kid with blue, deformed, football-shaped head) a pirate is what we call someone who steals stuff online, including songs… pirates nowadays don't have to look like pirates, it's just what we call people who steal stuff online. Let's go ask Cookie what to do, come on!
Link to NetSmartz Kids site, here's the section of the site with anti-filesharing instructional materials, and here's the video in craptacular WMV, natch. (thanks, RV)
