Title: Pirates of the 21 st Century – Teaching your children about Cyberethics
Word Count: about 950 words
Abstract:
Numerous reports of Internet piracy have hit the media in recent months. What is considered piracy? What are the consequences and risks? What every parent needs to know to understand the issues and then educate their children about this important aspect of Internet safety.
Excerpt:
Could your child be a pirate? No, not a one-eyed swashbuckler stealing gold and jewels, but one who copies or downloads copyrighted materials, including software, music and games, without paying for them.
A new poll from Harris Interactive found that a majority of youth are aware that digital media files are copyrighted, yet many of them admit to downloading files anyway. More than half of all 8-18 year olds have downloaded music, a third have downloaded games and nearly a quarter have downloaded software illegally from the Internet. When asked about the ethics of downloading software, music or games that are available for sale in a store or online without paying for them, less than half of the youth surveyed thought it was wrong. These are the pirates of the 21 st century.
But copying or downloading copyrighted works without paying for them or without explicit permission from the creator is stealing – no different than going into a store and shoplifting a software program, CD or electronic game from the shelf…
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