Wow. My daughter brought this home from school. Turns out that Weekly Reader is now frightening children into learning about copyright law by telling them that a potential action on their part may put their friends' parents out of work and destroy their future career. Way to go weasel. I kept waiting for something about commie pinkos to pop up.
Meet Garret the ferret, Copyright Crusader. This little comic/morality play is brought to you by Weekly Reader. As I always say, rather than teach children about the real issues, scare the crap out of them. Lord knows that the entire issue of pirating, P2P, Copyright and what not can be boiled down to children who copy cause economic strife. Good thing copyright dispute is so easy to explain to these little criminals in training that a simple comic book can explain the complexities of the debate raging over copyright laws. And there are pins! If you're not wearing a badge you must be a criminal bent on destroying the movie, music and software industries.
I found it so enthralling that I copied it.
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4
By the way, this whole comic was sponsored by a software industry association. Not a not-for-profit, not a group dedicated to copyright reform, but the software industry itself. Protecting themselves from their future customers.
I wonder if I produced a comic about Creative Commons and the future of copyright law if I'd get it into Weekly Reader.
Maybe next week she'll get a comic about how our copyright law is antiquated and not sufficient to cover the digital era? That corporations can bend the law to fit their needs (i.e. Disney vs. Public Domain).
Pedagologically speaking, this is a horrible learning tool. "How did Shawn learn about copyright laws?" Um . . . the Ferret told him?
My favorite part is on page three when Garret is explaining the loss of money and jobs caused by copying. Is that blood lust in his eyes?
But remember kids, always trust a weasel.
I'm thinking of starting my own comic. Murray the Marmoset, Copyright Reformer. Protector of the innocent and voice of Public Domain and Fair Use.
UPDATE: David reminds me that BSA likes to copy too!
Yes, I thought the comic is one-sided.
ReplyDeleteIt seems doubtful to give children "Garret the Ferret" as if it is a fair, examined textbook.
Software company used a weasel for their sporkesman. That makes me take fun. They thought this enlightenment is a little weasel?
(*Sorry for posting as anonymous. I don't have account of this blogger. My name: hiyoko, e-mail add:a_white_rabbit@hotmail.co.jp Thank you.)
It's not that I don't think the software companies should protect their copyright. That's good business. However, doing so by creating a youth brigade and scaring kids about the evils of copying software is bothersome. My kid is nine, she didn't understand any of the implecations of the entire concept. Wrong audience and wrong tack, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're right. They use a weasel as a hero. That's pretty damn funny.
Thanks for posting this. It was referred to obliquely in a NY Times article.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for discussing the issue in schools, but not like this. Sad to say, England is going this way: my wife just turned down a voluntary role as a school governor because the school was "sponsored" by a high street chain store and she felt there had to be something commercial in it somewhere for them.
This reminds me of the "duck and cover" cartoon that was peddled during the cold war in US schools. I'm a lawyer, working for a software company, who plunks down a bunch of clams every month to the iTMS so I have all sorts of interests in "fair use". And this gives me the heebies.
Paul, Oxford, England