Texas school kids will soon be getting lessons on why file-sharing sites are a bad thing, if the Senate has its say.
On Thursday, Senate Bill 1420, an Internet safety bill, passed out of the Senate Education Committee: In an age of online stalkers, it seems sensible that the Texas Education Agency should teach children about “the potential dangers of allowing personal information to appear on an Internet Web site.”
But it’s not just about foiling any future stars of To Catch a Predator. There are two other clauses to this bill: Apparently, the TEA is supposed to teach “2) the significance of copyright laws [and] 3) the consequences of cyber-plagiarism and theft of audiovisual works, including motion pictures, software, and recordings, through uploading and downloading files on the Internet.”
Of course, there was no way that a bill that turns Texas educators into enforcers for the recording and movie industries was going to escape committee unaltered. Yes, the committee decided that the TEA shouldn’t have to come up with a full curriculum. Instead, they should just use existing Web sites and information sources. According to the fiscal note attached to the bill, that should save the state around $40,000. So that’s fine, then.
This article appears in April 13 • 2007.
