Boy Scouts Introduce Merit Badge For Not Pirating

The_Slaughter writes "The MPAA has recruited the boy scouts of America to do their dirty work. Scouts will now be able to learn a merit badge for anti-piracy related activities, including creating public service announcements urging others not to steal movies or music. No word yet on if that includes helping the MPAA file lawsuits against 80-year-old grandmothers."

Great

[Who235]

There's another badge I wouldn't have gotten.

Just like the "Don't Stab Hoboes" badge.

I PLEDGE....

[joerdie]

allegiance to the flag of the communist MPAA.

Make sense

[CastrTroy]

It makes sense since the Boy Scouts of America [wikipedia.org] shares its initials with the Business Software Alliance [wikipedia.org]

Preaching to the choir

[LunaticTippy]

Seriously, how big a threat are Boy Scouts to the content cartels? If they get the boy scouts on their side, who next? 80-year old fundamentalist grandmothers?

They need to start something that'll get the cool kids. Like an anti-piracy gang. Complete with drugrunning and cap-bustin.

Re:Scouts Honor....

[Anonymous Coward]

Scouts also must choose one activity from a list that includes visiting a movie studio to see how many people can be harmed by film piracy.

I wouldn't worry. When they see the true extent of the "harm" caused by movie and TV piracy, they'll be heading to thepiratebay.org the moment they're near a computer.

Scouts will be instructed in the basics of copyright law and learn how to identify five types of copyrighted works and three ways copyrighted materials may be stolen.

Cool, they'll be teaching them how to do it, too.

Un-badge.

[Wellington Grey]

Can I get a merit badge for not being a boy scout?

-Grey [wellingtongrey.net]

Re:Scouts Honor....

[rubycodez]

My Republican oongressman would like the ym nick of any teen scouts having such badges.

Re:I PLEDGE....

[hsmith]

ha! ha! i have no idea what communism is!!1

Re:Great

[pluther]

I can see it now:

No, mom, I'm not pirating movies, I'm... um... doing research for my MPAA merit badge! Yeah, it's for the Boy Scouts!

Re:I'm an eagle scout

[Anonymous Coward]

You're a little bit of a nutter, aren't you?

Swift action needed

[digitalamish]

We need to get a Pirate Badge ASAP. Given the choice is some kid going to want to "perform a market study of the impact of copyright infringement on the entertainment industry", or learn how to keelhaul properly?

Avast!

Another Badge

[FrankDrebin]

Perhaps they should also have a badge for not IM'ing your congressman.

How about they teach the scouts the real stuff

[TheWoozle]

How about they create a "Hollywood Accounting" Merit Badge? The scouts can pursue activities like Screwing People Out of Money and Establishing a Distribution Monopoly? Or the "Hollywood Agent" Merit Badge; they can learn about Being A Money-Grubbing, Bloodsucking Parasite?

Re:As I understand them,

[pluther]

It isn't for not pirating, it's for actively opposing piracy:

From TFA:

Scouts will be instructed in the basics of copyright law and learn how to identify five types of copyrighted works and three ways copyrighted materials may be stolen.

Scouts also must choose one activity from a list that includes visiting a movie studio to see how many people can be harmed by film piracy. They also can create public service announcements urging others not to steal movies or music.

Some of this was also quoted in the summary. Now c'mon, we all sometimes respond without reading the article, but to skip the summary??

I need one of those

[computational super]

I want to get one of those merit badges for my son, but they cost too much. Does anybody know somewhere I can download one from?

Re:Scouts Honor....

[networkBoy]

I was going to say, I bet the pirates in the scouts will be the first ones earning a merit badge (in an ironic twist).
-nB

Boy Scout Billy goes to the studio

[russotto]

Scouts also must choose one activity from a list that includes visiting a movie studio to see how many people can be harmed by film piracy. So Billy the Boy Scout takes the tour of the movie studio. While he's there, he sees several groups of people. First it's carpenters, putting together a set.

"Are THOSE the people hurt by piracy?"

"Oh, no, Billy, the carpenters are paid whether the film sells or not. They aren't the ones hurt by piracy".

Later they see some writers, smoking cigarettes and muttering under their breath. "Are those the people hurt by piracy"

"Oh, no, Billy. It's kind of complicated, but we actually don't pay them no matter how well the movie does. It's called 'accounting'"

Then they pass a group of actors. "How about them, are THEY hurt by piracy?"

"Oh, no, Billy, they get paid even if the movie flops, no matter how many people pirate it. They're supposed to get extra if it does well, but, well, there's that 'accounting' again"

Billy then points to a director, sitting in a chair. "Is HE the one hurt by piracy"

"Well, you're getting a little closer. He's a little better at 'accounting'. But piracy really doesn't hurt him all that much either"

"Then who IS seriously hurt by piracy?"

"Well, Billy, it's not normally a part of the tour, but just for you, we'll make a special trip."

So Billy and the tour guide go to the studio offices. Up, up they go to the very top floor. The guide takes Billy to a large office with a door. "Billy, if you stand right here and look through the door, do you see the man there"

"Yes"

"That's one of the vice presidents of the studio. Thanks to piracy, he could only buy 3 Porsches last year instead of 5, and had to cut his cocaine habit in half. He can now only maintain one mistress, and she's in her LATE 20s. This studio alone has 30 executives, and they're all similarly suffering. And THAT'S who is hurt by piracy. NOW do you understand why you mustn't pirate movies?"

"Loud and clear," said Billy, "Loud and clear". Billy then went home, told his parents he was quitting the Scouts, and asked if they could get a faster Internet connection

Three ways

[Anonymous Coward]

three ways copyrighted materials may be stolen.

First there's your basic shoplifting.

Second there's the classic breaking and entering.

The third way is a little tricky. You have to forcibly board a boat and seize their copyrighted materials at swordpoint.

Bonus points for recognising which one involves piracy.

Me too

[jimlintott]

I have one of those badges.

I downloaded it.

As an ex-boy scout...

[DaveJay]

I think this is awesome, because the only thing better than getting a badge for doing something is getting a badge for not doing something.

Here's hoping for an anti-axe-wielding badge, an anti-tripping-old-ladies badge, and perhaps an anti-cynicism badge -- oops, I guess I don't qualify for that last one.

Re:ZONK EARNED THE "BUTT PIRATE" MERIT BADGE

[grub]

Olde Joke

Q: Why was Michael Jackson kicked out of the Boy Scouts?

A: He was going through a pack a day.

Re:I'm an eagle scout

[Anonymous Coward]

Given the link in your sig, I'd say you're quite the expert on inanity.

Re:Scouts Honor....

[Reality Master 101]

Do they also have merit badges for not thinking independently? Or one for having your IQ reduced to a single digit and being converted to a near-mindless automaton?

Hello Kettle, this is the pot, I'm sending you an MP3 of my new hit song, "You're Black and I'm Not".

The LAST people who should be accusing others of not thinking independently are people who mindlessly justify stealing the work of others using some of the lamest excuses ever made. I doubt you can, but try reading some of these dicusssions and look for rational, well-thought-out opinions. Whenever music piracy comes up, it is generally 100% group-think.

Re:Scouts Honor....

[adisakp]

Scouts will still be allowed to sing songs around the campfire during camping trips assuming that all use of music is properly accounted for with performance fees and royalties paid to the RIAA.

Re:Swift action needed

[eclectro]

Ahoy matey! My musings exactly! Here's be a badge [fashion-icon.com] that be given to scouts for helpin' shootin' down big media that be suin' li'l girls and grannies by learnin' the ways of pirates.

Them know how to tie knots pretty good, so learnin' them to hoist a mast an' fire a cannon nary be hard at all.
 

what next? Securing border w/ Mexico Badge?

[Lukasz (Qr)]

what next? Scout Badge for securing the border with Mexico? Send them to Arizona and ask to look for any signs of movement? Use your brain - think - it doesn't hurt!

Re:Scouts Honor....

[scott_karana]

What? All of Congress was involved with the Lewinksy woman? Sheesh, she gets around.

Re:Boy Scout Billy goes to the studio

[hoggoth]

"Loud and clear," said Billy, "Loud and clear". Billy then went home, told his parents he was quitting the Scouts, and will be going for his MBA after high school.
"Forget all this camping crap, I want 3 Porches and a mistress!"

Re:ZONK EARNED THE "BUTT PIRATE" MERIT BADGE

[Anonymous Coward]

Q: When does a Cub Scout become a Boy Scout?

A: After he eats his first Brownie

Re:Un-badge.

[SamSim]

No, but you can get one for merit badge forgery, and that opens up all kinds of doors.

I don't think they recognize

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think they recognize how easy it is to download the pattern online and sew your own anti-piracy merit badge.

Lowering standards

[SuperKendall]

It just breaks my heart to think you can earn a Space Exploration badge without a minute exposed to hard vaccuum and direct radiaton from the sun.

I had an Eagle Scout friend growing up and some of the badges he went for actually seemed rather hard to get...

Re:Scouts Honor....

[Some_Llama]

"While 99% are successfully brainwashed, the wonder about humans is that 1% seem to do what they have to do regardless."

This is why the oracle was introduced, to weed out that 1% that kept rejecting the program so that they might be purged from the system to keep the balance. Then when Zion was destroyed the one would pick 11 people to rebuild and we'd start over again.

Re:Scouts Honor....

[ampmouse]

Demonstrate your knowledge of the following:
a. What is a copyright?

Copyright is a set of exclusive rights regulating the use of a particular expression of an idea or information.

b. Why do copyrights matter?

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

c. Identify five types of copyrighted works (two may be your own). For each, give the author/creator and the date the work was copyrighted.

1. GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE - Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
2. libdvdcss - Copyright (C) 1999-2003 VideoLAN
3. dvdbackup - Copyright (C) 2002 Olaf Beck
4. Linux - Copyright (c) 1991 Linus Torvalds
5. FreeBSD - Copyright (C) 1992-2006 The FreeBSD Project.

d. Name three ways copyrighted materials may be stolen.

1. Go to the location where the copyrighted materials are stored, create a diversion, and run off with the copyrighted materials when no one is looking.
2. Go to the owner of the copyrighted materials, make statments that might suggest his or her life is in danger if you do not have the copyrighted materals, then run off once the person gives them to you.
3. Run in to the location where the copyrighted materials are used, screeming, and waving a bag over your head. Then, grab the copyrighted material and speed off in your car.

Visit a video sharing network or peer to peer website and identify which materials are copyrighted and which aren't.

I visited Jamendo [jamendo.com]. All the material is copyrighted.

Ok, I am done. Now give me my Badge!

Re:Scouts Honor....

[swillden]

I see you're a fan of my sig.

Re:Me too

[Xyrus]

Torrent?

~X~

Re:Scouts Honor....

[Dread_ed]

Right on man.

For instance, have you ever gotten head from a catholic school girl?

I don't know if the priests are teaching them or what but thye're DAMNED GOOD!