Title: CyberEthics and Internet Downloads: An Age-by-Age Guide to Teaching Children What They Need to Know
Word Count: about 1050 words
Abstract:
Teaching kids good cyberethics isn’t always easy. But between the increasing rates of illegal Internet activity among kids and the heightened consequences of that activity, it’s more essential now than ever before for parents to help their children understand what’s acceptable and what’s not. An age-by-age guide to getting the message across.
Excerpt:
Twelve year-old Brianna Lahara had no idea she was breaking the law when she downloaded her favorite songs from the Internet. Neither did her mother – until her daughter was sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for copyright infringement.
Despite extensive media coverage of the issues, kids continue to engage in illegal downloading at alarming rates. The majority of 8-18 year-olds surveyed last year by Harris Interactive were aware that movies, music, software and games available on the Internet were copyrighted, yet more than half admitted to downloading anyway. Three-quarters of them knew others who had downloaded copyrighted works. Their rationale? One third said it’s okay because “lots of people do it.” More recently, 94% of youth responding to an online cyberethics poll didn’t think there would be any negative consequences to illegally copying copyrighted materials.
The potential cost of such misguided thinking is escalating for both parents and children . . .
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