EFF Launches 'Teaching Copyright' to correct entertainment industry misinformation

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Contact:

Richard Esguerra
   Activist
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   richard@eff.org
   +1 415 436-9333 x128

Corynne McSherry
   Staff Attorney
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   corynne@eff.org
   +1 415 436-9333 x122

EFF Launches 'Teaching Copyright' to Correct Entertainment
Industry Misinformation

New Curriculum Gives Students the Facts About Their Digital
Rights and Responsibilities

San Francisco - As the entertainment industry promotes its
new anti-copying educational program to the nation's
teachers, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today
launched its own "Teaching Copyright" curriculum and
website to help educators give students the real story
about their digital rights and responsibilities on the
Internet and beyond.

The Copyright Alliance -- backed by the recording,
broadcast, and software industries -- has given its
curriculum the ominous title "Think First, Copy Later."
This is just the latest example of copyright-focused
educational materials portraying the use of new technology
as a high-risk behavior.  For example, industry materials
have routinely compared downloading music to stealing a
bicycle, even though many downloads are lawful, and making
videos using short clips from other sources is treated as
probably illegal even though many such videos are also
lawful.  EFF created Teaching Copyright as a balanced
curriculum encouraging students to make full and fair use
of technology that is revolutionizing learning and the
exchange of information.

"Today's tech-savvy teens will grow into the artists and
innovators of tomorrow," said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne
McSherry.  "They need to understand their digital rights
and responsibilities in order create, critique, and comment
on their culture.  This curriculum fills an educational
void, introducing critical questions of digital citizenship
into the classroom without misinformation that scares kids
from expressing themselves in the modern world."

The Teaching Copyright curriculum is a detailed,
customizable plan that connects students to contemporary
issues related to the Internet and technology.  Teaching
Copyright invites discussion about how creativity is
enabled by new technologies, what digital rights and
responsibilities exist or should exist, and what roles
students play as users of technology.  The website at
www.teachingcopyright.org includes guides to copyright law,
including fair use and the public domain.

"Kids are bombarded with messages that using new technology
is illegal," said EFF Activist Richard Esguerra.  "Instead
of approaching the issues from a position of fear, Teaching
Copyright encourages inquiry and greater understanding.
This is a balanced curriculum, asking students to think
about their role in the online world and to make informed
choices about their behavior."

The Teaching Copyright curriculum was developed with the
input of educators from across the U.S. and has been
designed to satisfy components of standards from the
International Society for Technology in Education and the
California State Board of Education.

Learn more about Teaching Copyright:
http://www.teachingcopyright.org/

For this release:
http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/05/27

About EFF

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and
challenges industry and government to support free
expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most linked-to
websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/


     -end-

_______________________________________________
To unsubscribe or manage your email options:
https://mail1.eff.org/mailman/listinfo/presslist