The RIAA is sending out advisories to press-contacts at various media outlets about their "Are Your Kids Breaking the Law When They Log On?" campaign, which aims to scare parents into spanking their kids for file-sharing, and comes across as red-scare-era propaganda. It's funny: Hollywood fought the Red Scare and McCarthyism tooth and nail, but today, they're more than happy to appropriate its rhetoric and tactics.
*UNDERSTAND THEIR GENERATION OF THINKING. "*Everyone is doing it"
or "rock stars and movie stars make too much money anyhow" or
"the corporate entertainment scene is corrupt" is* *likely to be
what you'll hear.* * You'll need to arm yourself with the
counterarguments to these. Explain that most artists are not
super wealthy and that they are leaving themselves open to doing
something that is ethically wrong, could damage their computer
and have legal consequences.*SET A GOOD EXAMPLE*. If you are currently using a peer-to-peer
network to obtain digital music and movies, understand that your
children will follow your lead. * *Let them see you buying your
entertainment legally and they'll follow suit.
(Thanks, Annalee!)
