Copyright
The Internet is revolutionizing how we access and listen to music. The development of MP3s, or digital song files, has made it easy to download virtually any piece of music online.
Napster, the wildly popular Web site that allowed users to easily exchange MP3 files, raised the ire of the U.S. recording industry—which succeeded in shutting down the original site for infringement of copyright. Music downloading, or file-sharing, is here to stay however, since many free downloading software have moved in to fill the void left by Napster and the recording industry itself is now exploiting these technologies to sell music online.
Canada was, for a time, the world's number one user of Napster, with 30 per cent of Canadian Internet users downloading music through the Napster Web site. Because downloading music will continue to be one of the most popular online activities for Canadian kids, it's important to encourage them to think about the big picture and the issues involved.
Use the Napster case as a starting point for a discussion about online music and copyright. Is it right to download copyrighted music for free? What about the artists who created the work—should they be compensated? Talk about the positive affects the Internet could have on the music industry.
Access to inappropriate music
It's important that parents supervise their kids' access to music on the Internet. The audio files, video clips and lyrics for many songs can be freely downloaded from the Net by anyone, regardless of age. In some cases, the songs come with additional lyrics that have been censored in the retail version.
The controversial Madonna video What it feels like for a girl,which was banned from television broadcast because of its violent content, was easily accessible online after it was pulled from the airwaves.
Because music lyrics are freely available online, the Internet can also be a handy tool for parents who have concerns about the specific music their kids are listening to. To find the words to any piece of music, simply type the name of the song and the word "lyrics" into your favourite search engine. Keep in mind that if you use filtering software, it may block Web sites containing explicit lyrics.
File sharing programs give children access to pornography
Many of the free music file sharing programs allow users easy access to pornographic pictures and videos. Because these software allow users to connect directly to other users, without going through a central server, most parental filters are not configured to block these files. Some of these file-sharing programs have their own built-in filters which parents can activate. You should also make sure that when your kids are searching for music that their search perimeters only include audio files and not picture or video files.
