File sharing propaganda distributed to students

File sharing propaganda distributed to students
The nonprofit group the National Center for State Courts has released an "educational comic strip" on the unlawful file sharing of music which it hopes will drive U.S. students away from the "dangers" of illegal file sharing.

On Friday the organization said they had distributed 50,000 copies of the 24-page booklet to students across the States. The booklet, "The Case of Internet Piracy," however, is not at all entirely true, and instead reads as if the RIAA was writing it. Download an unauthorized track and head to jail, as well as losing your scholarship and your friends.



"The purpose is basically to educate kids -- middle school and high school-aged about how the justice system operates and about what really goes on in the courtroom as opposed to what you see on television," said Lorri Montgomery, the center's communications director.

Wired gives a rundown of the entire booklet, which goes something like this:

"The piracy story has two plots. One is of the file sharer's grandmother fighting eminent domain proceedings to keep her house while Megan the criminal file sharer deals with the charges against her.

The story is simple: Megan learns to download music from a friend. About 2,000 downloads and three months later, a police officer from the fictitious City of Arbor knocks on her door and hands her a criminal summons to appear in court.

All the while, her grandmother is trying to save her house from the city that wants to pave it over. When the grandmother gets home from a day in court (she eventually beats the city and keeps her house) the criminal Megan is crying. "Oh, Nana. What have I done? I've ruined everything," she said. "I'll lose my scholarship. I know I will."

The two embrace. "Hush now. We will find a way to get through this. I promise," the grandmother tells her granddaughter, whose parents were killed in a traffic accident 12 years before.

To the criminal courtroom we go …

Megan In the case of Megan Robbins, "Criminal Case Number 67589B," a city prosecutor urges the maximum two-year sentence after Robbins pleads guilty. The city appoints her a public defender. (Criminal copyright infringement is when somebody sells pirated works and not sharing on a peer-to-peer network. And it’s the federal government, not local cities which prosecute the criminal cases.)



The local prosecutor, Terry Williams, tells the judge that the defendant "is charged with theft, at the state level" and adds that the girl faces "stiff penalties – up to two years in jail and $25,000 in fines."

"Many consider downloading music without paying for it to be a victimless crime, but nothing could be further from the truth," the prosecutor says.

The prosecution added that "Her conviction sends a message that illegally downloading music is a crime, and anyone involved will be held accountable."

The criminal is handed a three-month suspended sentence and 200 hours of public service."


If you would like to see the propaganda in its entirety, you can get the PDF here: "The Case of Internet Piracy"

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 26 Aug 2008 11:08
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  • 19 comments
  • r3d2tango

    Not only has the educational system gone left, its become a brainwash process.

    26.8.2008 11:17 #1

  • logan1957

    Just what we need another bunch of ill informed morons touting the party line of the Really Inept Association of Anal types. Why can't these morons just go away and crawl back under the rock from whence they came?

    More lies and half truths by another branch of the above, and for what? From what they claim trying to educate students, not bloody likely!!!

    Watch those morons in the RIAA run amok saying that they've finally found a group of people with common sense and a head on their shoulders in regards to this piece of garbage.

    From what I've read both here and at Wired, this group wouldn't know the truth if it came up and bit them on the butt with six inch fangs. Here they are claiming that the local authorities will prosecute you, and it's not, it's the federales who do that. Plus, from the way things are going in the courts, the RIAA is getting their brains kicked hard, as we all know their brains are located in their glutemus maximus, and everytime they get kicked they lose a bit more. By now they must be darn near brain dead. Oh, wait, THEY ARE BRAIN DEAD!!!

    This whole thing is becoming more than a bit tedious not too mention ridiculous and redundant as they have no proof and never had only the assumption that someone is file sharing. Their demands for hundreds of thousands of dollars for sharing music is patently foolish as a download is something like a 1.00 per song and should be based on that not the amount for Commercial Piracy, that they've been so quick to use. Course then if they had to use real world math instead of the made up math they've been using, they'd not be able to afford their Cayman Island Bank accounts, their new Porsche's, Ferrari's, Condos in the Bahamas, as well as the finest call girls available and still they cheat their own clients out of their music rights and monies.

    What a group!! Let's hope the day is coming that the DOJ steps in finally and investigates these wing nuts and their tactics.

    26.8.2008 11:38 #2

  • beanos66

    Quote:"Many consider downloading music without paying for it to be a victimless crime, but nothing could be further from the truth," the prosecutor says. " yes that record exec will only be able to buy a mercedes and a bmww this year, the ferrari will have to wait until next year, when he rips off his own artists

    26.8.2008 12:22 #3

  • OneMember

    Good stuff in that "The Case of Internet Piracy" :p

    26.8.2008 12:38 #4

  • DXR88

    If i know teenagers and kids, here is what they will get from the message BLah BLaH BLAH Downloads Blah blah blah BLAHS. then after reading it they will want the 2 hours of there life back.

    Cause we as teenagers don't really give a dame.

    26.8.2008 13:06 #5

  • Ragnarok8

    ^And if know teens and kids (which I should, since I was/kinda still am one), they won't even bother to read this stuff (or listen to it should it be presented).

    26.8.2008 14:12 #6

  • 7thsinger

    If it accomplishes anything, it will backfire.

    Put up a fence and the (little) kids will gravitate to it.

    Tell teens not to do something, and they'll try it. There will probably even be a handful of teens that go..."you can do that? Sweet!"

    26.8.2008 14:37 #7

  • stuntman_

    50,000 copies of free toilet paper have hit middle school and high school campus's, Its good to see that the national center for state courts cares about our youths hygiene!

    26.8.2008 15:01 #8

  • mike.m

    Originally posted by r3d2tango: Not only has the educational system gone left, its become a brainwash process.Couldn't agree with you more. Instead of teaching kids valuable information, knowledge and skills that they can use for the rest of their lives, they are completely wasting their time with this crap. This kinda reminds me of the novel "1984", they can try to brainwash kids as much as they want, but eventually kids will use their OWN self coventional wisdom to act for themselfs, not what the government tells them to do.

    26.8.2008 15:07 #9

  • Footie979

    "Don't copy! Don't copy that floppy!"

    26.8.2008 15:09 #10

  • logan1957

    Well, I just finished reading the so-called graphic novel that the National Center for State Courts put out and I can honestly say I have never seen so much drivel in all my life. This thing is nothing more than a load of BS and a big load at that. If any of the judges named on the list as contributors to this rag are still on the bench then they should be ashamed of themselves as they know full well that this story is nothing more than a paid for announcement by the RIAA and their minions. The story is unbelievable at best, and there are so many inaccuracies in it, both legal and factual, that it makes one wonder who was paid off to allow this crap to be written let alone published.

    If this is a legal institution then I'm Uncle Sam, more than likely it's nothing more than a busy body committee that the RIAA has paid to make up this load of BS to try and convince people that downloading is wrong. Well, it ain't gonna work, as most teens will do just the diametrically opposite of what they are told just to see how far they can push.

    Again, it shows just how terrified the RIAA is becoming now that the courts are beginning to see how they work. First off they never have any solid evidence just assumptions. They can't prove that there was any file sharing done by examining the hard drives of confiscated computers and their so-called experts admit that they can't tell if there is anything on the drives.

    All the cases so far have been based on nothing more than supposition and hearsay along with illegal hacking and invasion of privacy.

    This so-called graphic novel is nothing more that a visual presentation much like the movie that they produced to try and convince judges and prosecutors that file sharing is being done by "crack dealing" criminals.

    The only ones I can see on crack are the RIAA and their minions as is evidenced by their track record to date. So far they've managed to sue 20,000 people on nothing more than their word and they contend to the courts that they do not need proof.

    But the courts are now getting smart to their schemes as well as seeing just how they are getting their information and from what I've been reading they are not happy campers that they have been mislead by a bunch of thugs who refuse to grow with the times and come into the digital world of the 21st century.

    26.8.2008 15:23 #11

  • ZippyDSM

    So the CO nazis are left only?
    Is is not the lefties that want to teach proper sex ed and not spam out mindless drivel over "nuh! dun do it!" ?

    27.8.2008 00:32 #12

  • DXR88

    Are sex ed teacher said wear your condoms. never said don't do it just said don't get her pregnant or your life is over.

    27.8.2008 16:15 #13

  • DXR88

    You mean CO Zombies, MMuahhh Brains muaahhu Teenage Brains Muahaghhh.
    Muahuu Piracy Report Muahhhguuu, Suzie Moorrre coffee Muuuahhhg.

    27.8.2008 16:19 #14

  • susieqbbb

    and i hate to tell you.

    Most middle school students are smart enough to block your searches and block you from viewing what they are doing.

    So you can pass these out but most students are going to laugh there butts of at you and start using bittorrent.

    So this really didn't do you any good.

    28.8.2008 00:31 #15

  • ZippyDSM

    Originally posted by DXR88: Are sex ed teacher said wear your condoms. never said don't do it just said don't get her pregnant or your life is over.bah they should teach sex ed as a defensive class give them the information in between heavy propaganda of child hood/rasiing a kid in poverty, + STDs + pregency + garnished wages for 18 years, the kids will become celibate for a life time! AM AAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA!!

    28.8.2008 02:00 #16

  • duke8888

    A lot of the colleges are blocking file sharing programs on their systems that students log into.....

    28.8.2008 10:43 #17

  • DXR88

    Originally posted by duke8888: A lot of the colleges are blocking file sharing programs on their systems that students log into.....i already know how those systems work, and how to get around them.

    28.8.2008 11:10 #18

  • hermes_vb

    Next they are going to hit the churches and claim file sharing has recently been associated with drug addiction and teen pregnancy...

    2.9.2008 00:19 #19

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