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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Topic: Los Angeles Boy Scouts can now earn an MPAA Merit Badge
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David Stambaugh
Film God
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Posts: 4021
From: Eugene, Oregon
Registered: Jan 2002
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posted 02-13-2007 08:51 PM
Official curriculum in PDF and HTML.
RESPECT COPYRIGHTS: Curriculum for the Los Angeles Area Boy Scouts of America
Intellectual Property is no different than physical property. Stealing intellectual property that is copyrighted is against the law and can have serious consequences. Movies, music, games and software are forms of intellectually property that are usually copyrighted to protect the people who make them.
Copyright theft, often called “piracy” is the theft of copyrighted materials. Some copyright thieves have so-called “bootleg” operations on the streets where they sell illegal copies of such materials while others may post them on the Internet for people to download illegally. Both forms of copyright theft are illegal and carry various penalties under the law.
This program is meant to teach the value of a copyright whether it’s a movie available on the Internet or in the form of a bootleg product on the street.
Activities:
Demonstrate your knowledge of the following: a. What is a copyright? b. Why do copyrights matter? c. Identify five types of copyrighted works (two may be your own). For each, give the author/creator and the date the work was copyrighted. d. Name three ways copyrighted materials may be stolen.
Presentation:
Complete ONE of the following activities:
Create a Public Service Announcement/Copyright Protection Advertisement - With the help of your counselor and/or troop leader, prepare a 1-minute (60 seconds) video that demonstrates the importance of copyright protection.
Write a Pamphlet/Brochure - Create a presentation (either in power-point format or a pamphlet/brochure) that demonstrates why copyright protection is important.
Perform a Skit - Write and perform a skit about why copyright protection is important.
Book - Create your own original illustration depicting the importance of copyright protection (i.e. comic book, comic strip, etc).
Visit a video sharing network or peer to peer website and identify which materials are copyrighted and which aren’t. Make a list of your favorite movies and then list all the ways people can download those movies legally without violating copyright law.
Research peer to peer websites – describe to your troop what they are and how they are sometimes used to illegally trade copyrighted materials. There are peer to peer groups who offer legal downloads and those who offer illegal downloads - make a list of both. Suggest ways to detect peer to peer software like the MPAA’s Parent File Scan.
California specific: Visit a movie studio with your troop. Upon your return list all of the things you saw that went into making a movie. Have a discussion with your troop leader about how much each item cost or how much it costs to make a movie (information on MPAA website).
Movie
Go to a movie and stay through all of the credits. Tell your counselor and/or troop leader who you think, in addition to the main actors and actresses, would be hurt if that film were stolen?
Explain what a bootleg DVD looks like and how people can avoid purchasing counterfeit DVDs on the streets.
Video Game
Play your favorite videogame. Identify who the designers are and describe the elements of the game which are copyrightable. Discuss with your troop leader.
Music
Play your favorite CD for your troop leader and explain why you enjoy listening to it. List all of the people that contributed to making this CD and what their individual responsibilities were.
Materials/Research:
Research materials can be found at the following links:
Motion Picture Association of America www.mpaa.org
Wired Kids and Wired Safety www.WiredKids.orgPage 3
Respect Copyrights www.respectcopyrights.org
Peer2Peers www.peer2peers.org
Download Legal www.Downloadlegal.org
The Copyright Society of the U.S.A. www.csusa.org
Pause Parent Play www.pauseparentplay.org
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
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Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 02-14-2007 07:55 AM
Sorry in advance if any of the following is too political. Moderators - please feel free to edit as appropriate.
quote: Syllabus Intellectual Property is no different than physical property
This statement is in some respects intellectually shallow, and in others just plain wrong!
On the 'plain wrong' score, intellectual property is different from physical property because:
1. It only lasts for a set period of time from the legally defined moment of creation (e.g. for a film under UK law, 70 years from the end of the year in which the first public screening took place), and then ceases to exist.
2. It can be licensed to many different people and to many different purposes at the same time. If I own a car (physical property), I can only rent it to one person at a time. If I own the copyright to a film, I can grant as few or as many people a licence to view that film as I wish.
3. The definition of copyright theft varies significantly from country to country and culture to culture. Stealing physical property means more or less the same thing wherever and however you do it. No so with copyright: what might be deemed 'fair use' or 'fair dealing' under one country's copyright law might not be in another's.
Etc. etc. etc.
As for the intellectual shallowness, whoever wrote this syllabus really should read Lawrence Lessig's book Free Culture, Free Society, in which he argues that the boundary between what should be legally protected as intellectual property and what should be in the public domain (and why) is a dynamic, constantly shifting debate.
If you're going to teach kids about copyright, you should teach them both sides of the coin. That means covering what the public domain is and why we have it, not just why we legally protect the earning power of those who create intellectual property for a living.
Rant over.
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