Los Angeles Boy Scouts Respect Copyrights
Apparently, boy scouts enrolled in Los Angeles troops can now earn MPAA-approved copyright merit badges. I realize this is not recent news, but I find it absolutely hysterical! Clearly, no sash can be complete without it:
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061020-8044.html )
Aside from all the laughs, though, the patch does raise some concerns. To quote Nate Anderson, “what’s truly disconcerting about the program is that it’s not designed to teach kids about copyright at all. It’s designed to teach them to ‘respect copyrights.’” To earn the patch, scouts are required to read documents about rules regarding copyrighted works and then present on their contents. Moreover, they are encouraged to run a “Parent File Scan” (which basically lists all file-sharing applications) on their home machines, and then proselytize the scanner to other kids. Scary.
November 28th, 2006 at 1:40 am
I was a boy scout. This is typical of the bureaucratic bullshit that goes on in the troops. It’s time for the Boy Scouts to wake up and move into the 21st century. This just seems to come from the “we don’t understand it, so let’s be scared of it and follow the rules book” that every scout is given when the join. Great. Maybe I should create a boys group called the “Anarchists of America for Open Source”… that would really freak some parents out.
November 28th, 2006 at 4:19 pm
respek!