understanding of law not the problem

understanding of law not the problem

It is particularly important to send the message to younger consumers that infringement is unlawful and unethical. This effort cannot be pursued by industry alone...

"Younger consumers" (and older ones too) could certainly benefit from a better understanding of copyright law.

While a better understanding of copyright law might be good, it wouldn't help the problem referred to here.

This is clearly a reference to the high incidence of copyright infringement of the sort where kids freely copy songs and movies. That isn't because people don't know it's unlawful. Teaching them that it is wouldn't help. It's because they don't perceive it as unethical.

Like many 7 year olds, when I was that age I occasionally shoplifted candy bars. I knew it was illegal. I just didn't have a sense that it was unethical. In time, I developed a sense that taking someone else's candy bar, even when the someone was a faceless group of stockholders with lots of money, was wrong. Developing that sense about violating a copyright is a lot harder.

If there's going to be any educating going on, it would be better to teach people about the economics of intellectual property than about copyright law.