Copyright law & our kids

Our children - whether they're listeners, downloaders, composers, or digital-music mashers - are affected by the copyright-law decisions being made these days, including the one the US Supreme Court is expected to announce in June. "When people are willing to line up for nearly 24 hours to hear a copyright case, something far bigger than accessing free music is taking place," writes Internet law specialist Michael Geist in the Toronto Star. "That something is a dramatic shift in the production and distribution of creative work by millions of individuals who are both creators and users and now see copyright reform as relevant to them. The success of future reform depends upon recognizing this evolution and ensuring that reform processes properly accommodate the largely unrepresented constituency." Children, parents, educators, artists, entertainment companies, tech innovators - everyone who works with intellectual property, which is basically all of humanity - has a stake in this debate. And it's wonderful fuel for family discussion and helping our children develop critical thinking and moral reasoning. See also the Christian Science Monitor on this and "Bigger picture on file-sharing," 1/30/04. Thanks to Michael Geist for zooming in on its importance.