They sat in rows on a gymnasium floor, twirling their pigtails and tugging their Pokeman sweatshirts as Dudas warned them not to steal music on the Internet. The crowd of second- through fifth-graders at Westwood Elementary School in Bloomington was well-prepared for the visit, having earlier watched an anti-piracy video provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Theft of intellectual property, on the Internet and elsewhere, costs U.S. businesses as much as $250 billion a year, Dudas said.

"You wouldn't take a CD off the shelf without paying for it," Dudas said, pretending to hide a CD inside his suit coat. "And you shouldn't get music on the Internet without paying for it."

posted by Xeni Jardin at 07:31:26 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments