After learning how a bill becomes a law, your kids might also learn about the wonders of copyright, thanks to the MPAA. The motion picture trade group has signed an agreement with the popular Weekly Reader publication for kids that will highlight "canine crime-fighting ambassadors Lucky and Flo." That's right: DVD-sniffing dogs will educate children about the value of copyrights in a "fun and exciting way." Sounds like a blast.

But this sort of thing has become crucial to the MPAA. Take a look at the group's homepage; nearly everything is about copyrights and piracy. The MPAA routinely asserts that the movie business is being decimated by piracy, but the press release announcing the Weekly Reader deal sits just below a far more interesting piece of news (PDF): data that shows the US box office doing its biggest year of business ever in 2007, growing 5.4 percent over 2006 and bringing in $9.63 billion.

A petition urging the Prime Minister not to introduce "three strikes" legislation against illegal filesharing has made its debut on the 10 Downing Street website.

In their campaign for digital freedoms, peer to peer users are demanding that the government doesn't force the issue. But ironically, they are inadvertently wishing themselves a world where their online activities are governed by an opaque industry settlement, negotiated in secret.

The e-petition asserts: "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to not force internet service providers to act as legal representatives for the RIAA and be treated like a common courier."

The UK has been considering a plan that would force Internet service providers to "cooperate" with content owners to curtail illegal file-swapping, and a new document released today by the UK government lays out the timeline for this plan. If ISPs don't voluntarily implement some sort of antipiracy system by April 2009, the government will introduce its own legislation to make them do so.

It's just one part of the government's plan to make the UK a powerhouse in the creative industries. The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport talked up its plan in a paper called "Creative Britain: New Talents for the New Economy" (PDF), and it includes plenty of "carrots" for the creative industries. The government plans to pump plenty of money into special schools focusing on arts and music, developing five new "centers of excellence" in various arts, and making sure there are at least 5,000 apprentice positions in the creative industries by 2013. All children will get access to five hours of "culture" (art, music, theater, dance lessons) a week. Good stuff.

Two years ago, copyright extension in the UK was shot down. Now copyright extension is not only back in the spot light for the British, but it is also drawing concern for digital rights activists as well.

Last time British copyright extension was brought up, the worry was how songs like those produced by the Beatles would fall into the public domain starting at 2012. There was concern, by some, that artists would be at a competitive disadvantage because American copyright laws for sound recordings if far longer then that of their British counterparts.

While the proposal to extend copyright laws in the UK two years ago has been shot down, it may not come to a surprise to some to see the issue brought up again now. It is expected that the Sound Recordings Bill will be into it's second reading early next month. The Open Rights Group, a UK-based group of people who aims to preserve digital rights is urging British citizens to act or risk having the bill go through the Commons without debate.

It’s called In Trial and it starts off with a judge’s gavel slamming down onto a wooden pad.

Hard.

The latest Hollywood courtroom flick?

Lawyer drama, Yes. Hollywood, No —- unless the MPAA had a hand in it which, these days, is entirely possible.

Because In Trial is a flick made jointly by Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG’s RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and the National District Attorneys Association, with Jonathan Lamy, Cara Duckworth and Liz Kennedy (no ladies first at the RIAA) as the points of contact.

Starring ex-prosecutor Deborah Robinson and Frank Walters (right), an ex-Maryland State trooper, it was made to “assist in the training of U.S. prosecutors responsible for handling music piracy cases”.

Coming soon to a European country near you: longer copyright periods! That's the proposal from EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, who wants to extend the copyright term for musicians from 50 to 95 years. His proposal will be presented in the next several months.

Announcing the new plan, McCreevy made two arguments: 1) the "poor artist with no pension" argument and 2) the "it's not fair" argument. Argument number one makes the point that artists who began singing or playing instruments in their 20s could end up as a pensioner with no more royalties rolling in. "I am talking about the thousands of anonymous session musicians who contributed to sound recordings in the late 50s and 60s," said McCreevy in a statement. "They will no longer get airplay royalties from their recordings. But these royalties are often their sole pension."

It appears like British officials are looking to follow French President Nicolas Sarkozy's lead and consider putting illegal downloaders on warning with a "three strikes" law. The proposed law would result in a warning via email if suspected of illegally downloading movies or music, a temporary suspension of their internet service if a second violation is detected, and termination of their internet service upon a third offense.

Details are expected to be published next week in a Green Paper, which is the first step in the process of changing British law. A draft copy reportedly reads “We will move to legislate to require internet service providers to take action on illegal file-sharing.”

By deception or force if necessary

When is a virus not a virus? When its sending your personal data to the Recording Industry Association of America, silly.

Internet advocacy website Public Knowledge has posted a highlight reel from the State of the Net Conference, where RIAA boss Cary Sherman suggests that internet filtering sorely lacks the personal touch of spyware.

While ISP-level filtering dragnets such as those proposed by AT&T have their way of catching the sloppier digital music thieves out there, the technology is more-or-less bypassed by basic file encryption.

That's why Sherman recommends finding a way to install filtering software directly onto people's home PCs.

Last month, the Copyright Office held a closed-door session on the issue of statutory damages. A small affair, the roundtable was a response to the PRO-IP Act introduced in Congress late last year. In the wake of the meeting, eight public interest and industry groups have published a white paper (PDF) arguing against any changes to the "one work" rule and the increases in statutory damages that would result from such changes.

The PRO-IP Act would drastically alter US copyright law by increasing the amount of statutory damages that could be awarded to rightsholders. For instance, someone copying a 50 songs from a boxed set could be liable for $7.5 million in damages instead of the current $150,000. There's more: there would be a new office created within the executive branch that would be responsible for IP enforcement, while the Department of Justice would get a new IP enforcement division.

The IFPI recently published their latest digital music report. Amongst their claims “illegal downloading” outperforms legal downloading by a ratio of 20:1, and that because of this, the recording industry has lost US$3.7 billion. Picking apart these ideas reveal that they may be very misleading.

The very idea that music sales are declining seems to leave record companies scratching their heads. They can’t understand why people who once paid $20 for an album are no longer willing. The industry seems to think that music should be valued similar to movies. Is an album, which costs little to produce, really worth the same as a movie, which costs a fortune, often 200x more, to produce? DVDs and music CDs are often very similarly priced.