SlashNOT

Matthew writes: RIAA has recently launched a new program to teach teens the evils of disrespecting intellectual property rights. Cleverly dubbed “Teens Respect Intellectual Property (TRIP) Day”, the program travels from school to school teaching Junior High School students the perils of downloading, ripping, burning, and otherwise disrespecting the license agreements that Teens didn’t know they’d made with the the major label publishers when they purchased CDs.
“Yeah, it really hit home with me.” said teen Gary Lowman. “I think I got it when they explained that if I didn’t respect the IP rights of the big labels, then they wouldn’t have to respect my IP rights in the extremely remote chance that I ever create anything copyrightable. I think they called it the theory of reciprocity. I think.”
“Oh yeah, and when they had those kids speak who had been ripping MP3s, and what happened to them, I was totally like wow, that could be me. And when I thought about it, I guess Jesus probably wouldn’t have ripped CDs and uploaded them like they said.”
Chris Rocher, another teen, disagreed. “When they explained that buying a CD doesn’t mean that you’re buying the song, but just that you’re buying some plastic and they still own the song, I was like, F*** that noise. If I’m not getting anything for my money I’ll just keep ripping. Gnutella Rulez!”
RIAA spokesman Howard Berman explained that TRIP was raising awareness. “We think that getting to the kids right as they become consumers is key. We’ve been very happy with the way these kids seem to understand the consequences of IP piracy to the global economy and its dampening effect on knowledge production, and how that applies to them. It’s great to reach a market segment so well known for abiding the law, as well.”