Shades of Captain Copyright

The U.S. Library of Congress has put a lesson on the web called “Taking the Mystery Out of Copyright.” Aimed at kids of about ten, I’d say, there is a series of animated movies retailing the party line. In one lesson the history of copyright is set out in such a way as to suggest, to my eye, at least, that things in Europe were in a bad way and then America began to invent copyright and tighten it more and more and more over the years, all as a matter of progress. Not a word about Creative Commons or, indeed, about sharing you toys… stories… paintings… etc.

There’s also a text version in case you don’t need the Dora The Pre-Teen Explorer approach.

For an anxious take on all of this see a blog called ©ollecteana by an IP prof.

[via Digital Koans]