Lucky and Flo's North American "education" tour continues to teach children how to respect the copyrights of the multi-billion dollar entertainment industry when somebody should be teaching them how to read and write instead.At at time when many of our elementary school students are suffering from a lack of basic math and reading skills, what else could be more important than educating our kids instead about the "importance of respecting copyrights?" For Lucky and Flo, the bane of Malaysian movie bootleggers and trained in the art of anti-piracy warfare, ended their North American "education" tour with a stop at Douglas MacArthur Elementary school in Alexandria,VA today. “Lucky and Flo are the MPAA’s two most unique employees,” said Dan Glickman, Chairman and CEO of the MPAA. “These two dogs have sniffed their way around the world assisting law enforcement officials in tracking down pirate operations. On top of that they have helped raise global awareness about the problem of motion picture piracy, particularly among young children. These special dogs help us educate children about the importance of respecting copyrights while presenting it in a fun and exciting way.” The "fun" and exciting way is probably a demonstration where they hide a pirated DVD in a students locker for the dogs to sniff out and detect, thereby showing the impressionable young children that there's no hiding from copyrights holders. It's an odd exhibit for children who most likely will NEVER BUY OR SEE a traditional pirated DVD or CD for sale. Buying bootleg DVDs or CDs these days is only for those unfortunate enough to lack a decent PC or internet connection, and even then many would be hard pressed to find somebody willing to sell you such goods in most cities throughout the US. With so many file-sharing programs available and ever increasing broadband connection speeds its surprising anybody would even bother shelling out 10 bones(?) for a CAM copy of a new movie. Would you? "Lucky and Flo demonstrated how they sniff out DVDs hidden in storage containers and luggage, highlighting how they assist law enforcement authorities at raids, border crossings, and customs environments around the world," reads an MPAA press release. This begs the question, "What's the real message behind these 'educational' visits?" Fear - it has to be. It's similar to those "Just say no" to drugs campaigns where the local police bring in their drug-sniffing wonder dogs to warn kids that they must respect drug laws, and that they have the tools to catch anybody who gets out of line. But it gets even better. "The school assembly was facilitated by Dr. Parry Aftab, founder of WiredSafety – the largest and oldest online safety, education, and help group in the world – and her award winning Teenangels and Tweenangels who shared information with the students about responsible technology use," reads an MPAA press release. I guess by "responsible" they mean that they want to make sure that students know how to "responsibly pay" for movies, TV shows, etc.. Too bad there isn't a pair of BS-sniffing drugs available for use wherever the MPAA travels. I mean as |
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