In this age of downloadable, linkable and cut-and-pasteable everything, it seems that kids are being exposed to copyright issues at younger and younger ages. So what better time than the present to begin educating them?
That is the thought behind a new feature on our Web site (the U.S. Copyright Office is part of the Library of Congress) called ?Taking the Mystery Out of Copyright.? A group of anime-looking characters led by ?Detective Cop E. Wright? talk about copyright matters in a way that?s geared toward young people, with links back to more detailed information. (Even the music, which is vaguely evocative of a Quinn Martin production, is original and thus copyright-friendly.)
And if you?re curious whether my own pilfering of the image of Detective Wright for this post itself constitutes copyright infringement, never fear: Works produced by federal employees in the performance of their jobs are in the public domain. As Cliff Clavin would say, ?It?s a little-known fact!?
July 2, 2007 at 4:23 am
I agree that the youth should be educated more about the copyright issues today. It seems as if everything’s being pirated lately. DVDs and VCDs… movies that are out on cds before they even hit the cinema… There are lots of people who buy these things simply because it’s more convenient, and a whole lot cheaper. There are those who plagiarize works of others because they couldn’t be bothered to think up thoughts of their own. It’s a good thing that a fun site like this was done to educate youngsters about what copyright and coyright infringement is.
July 10, 2007 at 8:56 am
Kids, Know Your Rights!
A new pamphlet has been produced by the ALA Intellectural Freedom committee and the Association for Library Service to Children. The pamphlet provides information on a “young person’s guide to intellectual freedom.” This is a great tool to use with students and adults as well.
December 10, 2007 at 2:17 pm
I an interested in anime so this is how I found this post, but I read it and I strongly agree that children can understand even in young age the concept of copyrights. In fact children have a better concept of justice then adults so this is probably the way to go.
January 9, 2008 at 12:36 am
Copyright issues definitely need to be addressed to our youth. I think children have a difficult time seeing the line between common knowledge and copyright. For example, the other day, my son went to http://skateboard-trick-tips.com to learn some skateboarding tricks, which he later made a tutorial video about. Later that month, he bought a magic trick and made a video tutorial and uploaded it on youtube. He had no idea that the trick he bought was a copyrighted idea.