British-based music industry umbrella the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry is now rapidly acquiring the reputation the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has in the US for heavy-handed but thinly-veiled anti-piracy measures. It’s produced a booklet it’s distributing through schools and colleges, libraries, record stores, teaching portals and websites in 21 countries that “aims to help young people use the Internet and mobile phones safely and legally to download music”. In other words, it leverages the education system to teach kids stealing music is bad. The RIAA has previously targeted US schools and university campuses with information campaigns, before launching legal action against some last year.
Good luck – research this month from TNS showed 51 percent of youngsters think illegal P2P music downloading is nothing like as bad as shoplifting. But the IFPI’s “Young People, Music and the Internet” booklet campaign has even wheeled out Ronan Keating to warn about the “constant worry about the security of the internet with children” and child safety group Childnet to sound alarm on the “risks to children including breach of copyright the threat of viruses, loss of privacy and security”. You be the judge…