Garret the copyright propagandist

PR Newswire: "Garret" is the name children selected for the "copyright crusading" ferret, who is featured in "Copyright Crusader to the Rescue."

Having a corporate-sponsored comic book is fine, I suppose, but incorporating this one-sided, misleading propagandist claptrap into the teaching curriculum is an outrage.

Here's the teachers guide and elementary and high school posters (in French, too!).

Also, here's Garret solo. See the full comic here. Sort of a "Reefer Madness" for the digital age, no?

From the release:

The "Copyright Crusader to the Rescue" is the newest addition to BSA's cyber ethics education program. The curriculum was developed to teach children about cyber ethics, including the importance of responsible computer and Internet use, respect for digital creativity and copyright protection. ...

In addition to being available for free download at http://www.playitcybersafe.com, the four-page comic book curriculum and teacher's guide were also mailed nationwide to 30,000 fourth grade teachers who subscribe to Weekly Reader. It has also reached more than one million kids and two million parents and guardians. Also available for free download on the Play It Cyber Safe Web site is BSA's first cyber ethics curriculum, "Play It Safe in Cyberspace." Since its initial distribution in 2002, the "Play It Safe in Cyberspace" curriculum has reached more than 13 million kids, parents and teachers.

Somebody -- the EFF? Creative Commons? -- needs to step up, set the record straight, and add some nuance to this discussion. Will the words "fair use" ever pass the lips of the instructors in this program? Will kids be taught that sharing music with a friend is perfectly legal? Not by the look of things.