Childnet has responded to the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform’s consultation document regarding options to address illicit Peer-to-Peer (P2P) sharing, drawing on Childnet’s experience in this area.
This is an issue that Childnet has been involved in since 2005, when Childnet first partnered with the Pro Music Alliance to produce advice for parents and carers on P2P, file-sharing and downloading and more recently with the April 2008 launch of Childnet’s updated guidance on this area – including advice for teachers and a detachable credit card style element for young people.
Childnet’s response to the consultation outlined Childnet’s previous activity in this area and Childnet’s fundamental belief that education must be a key part of the solution in dealing with incidences of illegal P2P file-sharing.
Childnet’s response reiterated Childnet’s belief that any education initiative any education campaign should put forward a balanced message carefully outlining the key facts and risks about using P2P technology, but also highlighting the legal ways of sharing music online.
Childnet Communication’s Manager Lucinda Fell said,
“An education campaign cannot be run in isolation focusing on merely the illegal use of P2P technologies and there are other important aspects that should be included in any public awareness campaign on this topic. Looking ahead, Childnet sees the popularity of Web v2.0 services, such as social networking sites, as providing a real opportunity to communicate to children and young people about copyright. Web v2.0 allows for great creativity on the part of children and young people and can provide a useful context for any education work on the value of copyright, making clear how they and their content can be affected or protected by copyright. For example, information on how they can protect their own creations could be very empowering as well as positive and practical.”
Childnet’s response underlined Childnet’s commitment to the protection of children and young people in this area. Childnet is keen to be part of any education initiative resulting from this consultation, and believes that it would be appropriate for Childnet to be involved because of the organisation’s history in this area and also the expertise and authority which Childnet would lend to any such campaign.
Childnet’s full response to the consultation can be accessed by following this link.
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Lucinda Fell:
[email protected] or 0207 639 6967.
