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."

Merit _Patch_?

[gauauu]

The article is a little short on details. In Boy Scouts, the official things you work towards are Merit Badges, which are determined by the National Boy Scouts of America organization. The L.A. council/district/whatever doesn't, as far as I know, have the authority to create a new Merit Badge.

What this article makes it sound like is that it's just a patch. Anybody and their uncle can make up a patch and make up their own requirements for it. We had patches made for activities only our troop would do. It sounds like this is just one of those, which if so, is no reason for anyone to get worked up about it. Sure, they're trying to brainwash Scouts, but there's nothing official or magical about it.

Re:As I understand them,

[jamar0303]

Actually it's for promoting the act of "not pirating", not just for "not pirating" (as far as I can tell).

Re:As I understand them,

[Pale-Horse-Rider]

This isn't a Merit Badge for not doing something. It's a Merit Badge for taking the time to learn about the laws of the nation in which one resides-- lots of precedence for this in other Scouting Merit Badges.

Re:Scouts Honor....

[smittyoneeach]

However, I feel that the scout organization has fallen so far from its original intended roots

The organization is no more than the sum of its members.
The two or three scout parents I know are the kind of old fashioned, independent thinking, screw-the-post-modernists sort of people whom you'd want to have around in case of actual emergency. Can't speak for their sons, whom I have not met.
Succumbing to the moral dry-rot so rampant in contemporary America is something we have to eschew individually.

Re:I PLEDGE....

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

Communist? Do you even have any idea what communism means? In a communist state, the MPAA wouldn't even be able to exist. The MPAA is about as capitalistic as it is possible to get.

Re:Scouts Honor....

[Anonymous Coward]

As has already been pointed out, this is NOT a Merit badge, it is a patch. Anyone can create a patch and offer them to anyone. It has nothing to do with whether the LA Boy Scouts want to earn the patch or not.

Ok this is just wrong

[billsoxs]

This is not standard BSA. FYI: BSA webpage is http://www.scouting.org./ [www.scouting.org] You will not find this 'merit badge' there. In fact, it does not seem to fit into what BSA is trying to do.

Also for the comment about a merit badge for 'learning how to think'. That is really the whole point of scouting - to give young men the skills they need for adulthood, including thinking.

Re:I PLEDGE....

[m0rph3us0]

Copyright is while not necessarily communist is definitely not capitalist. It actually goes against the central tennants of capitalism and creates many of the conditions under which capitalism is known to fail. The parts of communism that it overlaps is, state granted monopoly, and planned economy, and enforcement of the planned economy via the state (read: FBI busts for copyright infringement). The "corporation" definitely exists in communist states, it merely takes its orders from the state rather than the consumer / shareholder.

Here is a list of Merit Badges

[NutMan]

This article is inaccurate. A Council (local office) of the BSA cannot create their own Merit Badge. This is some local program to educate the Scouts, but whatever award they earn is not "official", and would not help them earn a rank advancement or anything like that.

Here is a list [meritbadge.com] of the current Merit Badges, along with the requirements to earn each one.

If you are so inclined, consider volunteering at your local Council as a "Merit Badge Counselor". If you have expertise in a particular area covered by a Merit Badge, you may be a counselor. A scout may not earn a badge unless a counselor verifies that the scout has completed all of the requirements. So if a scout cannot find a counselor for a particular badge, they have no way of earning it.

For more information, see this training page [usscouts.org], this guide [usscouts.org] and the application form [scouting.org].

Re:Merit _Patch_?

[Gadgetfreak]

Bingo. I'm an Eagle Scout myself (yeah, there are plenty of us) and most people don't realize that there are all kinds of non-sanctioned "patches" that really mean almost nothing besides the fact that you participated in something.

True merit badges are standardized. They're very much like elective courses in school... you can pick when you want to 'take' a merit badge, but everyone has a standard set of requirements to complete before you get the badge. You also have to take the badge from an authorized instructor. They're obviously not difficult, but some have some significant physical and time-intensive requirements to be done.

They're like mini-classes for real life. If you have a kid in the 10-15 year old range, even with no interest in Scouting, I'd recommend the merit badge books as a good "quick study" intro course to something new.

That being said, here is a list of merit badges [wikipedia.org] that are standardized, and the year they were introduced.

Scouts on the local level have all kinds of extra meaningless crap. It's like getting the volunteer award at college. Cute, but doesn't count towards graduation.

Re:I PLEDGE....

[lurker5]

You needed to grow up in the former USSR to get the joke. The communist party often spread its message through organized youth groups such as pioneers & rewarded those kids with various awards for their political activities.

One thing to point out

[jedijoe9]

One thing to pay attention to is that this is NOT the Boy Scout of America, rather "Boy Scouts of Los Angeles" and that it is a "merit patch" instead of a merit badge. The Boy scouts have an official list of merit badges [meritbadge.com] that have to go through a long process to become official, so this is nothing more than a Los Angeles based program to teach kids about piracy.

The computers merit badge (which I earned while still in scouting) does have a discussion point that states "Is it permissible to accept a free copy of a computer game or program from a friend? Why or why not?" but that is it. The computers merit badge is highly outdated though, with something that looks akin to an Apple 2 on the badge

Re:Scouts Honor....

[kalidasa]

I'm sure he has; beginning with claiming that the US government had absolute proof that Iraq had an ongoing and widespread WMD program, when the evidence suggests that there was nothing of the kind: the worst even the most apologetic can come up with is evidence that they once had a widespread WMD program, and that they might have had tiny ongoing kitchen projects. The whole "preemption doctrine" was dependent upon that absolute proof, but every single non-radical-neocon in the intelligence community was telling him the evidence was very unreliable.

Re:Scouts Honor....

[WilliamSChips]

Don't forget claiming that he would always get a warrant before wiretapping.

Better link

[Vainglorious Coward]

This is not standard BSA

It's local to LA, about 52,000 scouts, according to the MPAA press release [mpaa.org]

Re:Scouts Honor....

[Firehed]

As a (former) Scout, I can pretty much be sure that's the case. The badge requirements [meritbadge.com] for the Computers merit badge look as if they were written in about 1992 last I checked (before electronic mail was shortened to email...), so I never even really considered to bother with it, though that site says they were revised in 2004. The article was incredibly thin on details, though I'd be interested to find out a bit more. Like what the thing is called. Something tells me that "Respecting Copyrights" isn't going to fit between Archery and Citizenship in the Nation, but then again I earned Dentistry and Space Exploration without the use of a dental pick or spacesuit.

I'd just like to know how many people would have any interest in earning the thing. I'm thinking that, aside from those 'have to earn them all' types, there will be very, very few.

BSA has taken stance against piracy since 2005

[slightlytwisted]

Consider the following questions which must be answered in order to earn your Computer merit badge, the requirements of which were updated in 2005:

1. Why it is not permissible to accept a free copy of a copyrighted computer game or program from a friend
2. The restrictions and limitations of downloading music from the Internet
3. Why copyright laws exist

http://www.usscouts.org/mb/mb036.html [usscouts.org]

Re:first its not stealing post

[jZnat]

Sorry, but the legal law of the land (17 USC in this case) doesn't mention the word "steal" or "theft" or any other similar word in the context of copyright infringement. Thanks for playing the Legalese v. Colloquialisms Game; you lost.

Re:Right up there...

[ilctoh]

Just to shed some light on this issue: The BSA does not allow homosexuals to be adult leaders in their organization. However, this issue is seriously debated among the volunteer leadership of the BSA - in my experience, the majority don't care either way, with smaller groups strongly for or against this ruling. The problem is that rules such as this are set at the national level by a "Board of Directors" type group - people from business, religion, etc who likely have a very limited idea of what Scouting actually is (hint: the sexual orientation of the leadership never seems to really play a role). The dues-paying volunteer leaders, on the other hand, have no voice in any kind of decision such as this. In my mind, this is the biggest problem with the BSA - I'm a card-carrying, dues-paying member, but have absolutely no input in national policy. Really, the Boy Scouts could be such a valuable program (I believe this enough to continue volunteering in the organization), but there's some things that just make those of us that actually *do* Scouting grind our teeth.

Lying vs. "Not telling everything"

[Theaetetus]

Lying under oath on the other hand is something I have a huge problem with. I think (although I can't offer any evidence) that most people felt the same way. If he had told the truth from the beginning, I would have defended him instead of calling for his resignation.

Little known fact, thanks to the overzealous media and the Republican Congress, but Clinton did not lie under oath, and did not commit perjury.
Perjury means (a) knowingly (b) making a false statement (c) about material facts (d) while under oath. It's not perjury if you honestly believe what you're saying is true, or if your lie is irrelevant to the issue you're under oath about. Moreover, the Supreme Court has ruled that it's OK for "a wily witness [to] succeed in derailing the questioner--so long as the witness speaks the literal truth."

The judge who found Clinton in contempt of court said she did so because he made misleading statements and did not fully participate in the discovery phase of the trial. But she did say specifically that it wasn't perjury. The most often cited example for "lying under oath" is the "did you have sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky" question. Clinton asked the judge to define 'sexual relations', which she did - as intercourse. He didn't have intercourse, so he truthfully (while misleadingly) said "no". That's not a lie, and it's not perjury. However, it is interfering with discovery, and why he was found in contempt.

The more you know! [star]

As an Eagle Scout

[Anonymous Coward]

As an Eagle Scout, I can certainly confirm that. Outside of the 'fluff' badges, many are quite involved. In particular, I remember Environmental Science, Backpacking and Emergency Preparedness as being fairly difficult.

Re:BSA has taken stance against piracy since 2005

[dufachi]

Quick Answers: 1. It is perfectly legal if the license agreement allows it. Many freeware and/or open-source programs are copyrighted, but the license allows them to be distributed for free. In some cases, the authors encourage you to share their program with others. 2. What restrictions? Several capitalist ventures are profiting daily off music downloads for a fee such as iTunes, Rhapsody, Yahoo, etc. 3. To serve the capitalistic monopoly seekers, naturally. There, now everyone can get their merit badge just by searching /.

Re:Scouts Honor....

[zerocool^]

I am an Eagle scout, troop 171. I also spent time in troop 343.

I loved boy scouts. I really had a good time. I was in it all the way from cub scouts, up till my 18th birthday. I still use a lot of the knowledge I gained in scouting - aside from the camping skills, I learned how to camp, and how to tie knots (which comes in handy more often than you'd think), and a number of other skills. The leadership experience was also very important in building me into the person I am today.

However, before I sound like an advertisement for scouts, the point where it started turning down hill was when they introduced "Family Life" merit badge. I think it was while I was a scout - it wasn't in my handbook, but you had to get it to get your Eagle. We all kind of looked at it like it was just an excuse to have the parents do part of the dirty work - part of the merit badge is having "the talk" (both the sex one and the drugs one) with your parents. I look back now and see that it's the religious influence that was probably slipping talks about responsible abstinence and sexuality into a club which otherwise dealt with how to build a good fire, or which boot and sock configuration would avoid the blisters, or how to splint a finger or put your arm in a sling. It comes from the fact that most of the top scouts decision makers now are Mormons. I think something like 2 out of every 5 scouts, maybe more, are mormons. The mormon church has in part co-opted scouts to be part of it's youth program. There's nothing wrong with Mormons, of course, but organized, denomination-specific christianity should not be an integral part of a scout program.

I'm also very dissapointed with the boy scouts' dual standard of government status. I was never a part of a troop that met in a public building (both my troops, and my pack, were church-affiliates), but some boy scout troops meet in schools, for free. Well, the deal is if you use government property for free, you need to conform to government regulations, which includes anti-discriminatory regulations. However, when the scouts want to keep the gays out, they claim private organization status. You can't have your Jamboree at Fort A.P. hill, and rent a government base (and use a lot of government labor) for free one minute, and the next minute, say that homosexuals can't be scouts. Or that people who don't believe in God can't be scouts (not "a god" or "any god" or "a higher power", but "The GOD(tm)").

Thankfully, if there is a saving grace for boy scouts, it's that individually, on a troop level, most of the crap is ignored. I've never been near a troop that forced any religion on anymore, or that wussified scouting on purpose. Our weekly meetings were either talking about the camping trip that just happened, or planning that awesome cold-weather backpacking trip next month. We ran obsticle courses, we learned first aid, we had discussions of good citizenship and community envolvement. We did service projects - we fixed homeless shelters' food pantries, we made handicapped ramps for churches, we cleared overgrowth for city parks. To me that's what scouting is about.

I think what we have here is a case of individual scouting practices on a troop level probably will forego the crap that people are worried about - it's the top level that is out of line here. Also, let me point out that this story is about boy scouts of Los Angeles, and I don't think this is on a national level.

~Will

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Eagle Scout

[Hahnsoo]

With the Boy Scouts, as with many things, your mileage may vary. It is HIGHLY dependent on the people that you were with, both scouts and leaders. I learned how to live with just a tarp, a knife, and a rope in the wilderness. I had friends who shared my interests in computers, gaming, and various geeky activities. Individuality was encouraged, and we had scout leaders across the political spectrum from liberal to moderate to conservative. We were taught tolerance and the value of freedom. We played capture the flag (real life version, not Quake *grin*), dodgeball, and many games of Magic: the Gathering, Shadowrun, and Battletech. My younger brother learned how to make a campfire in the pouring rain with just 2 matches and some damp wood. I have nothing but fond memories of the time I spent in scouts. Like the parent poster, I was a Life Rank, had a bazillion Merit Badges, and was Assistant Scout Master (never made it into Order of the Arrow). Unlike the parent poster, though, the people who surrounded me were supportive, fun, and not tied to any propoganda or agenda.

Let them know how you feel.

[bobthemuse]

I've written an email to their executives, I suggest that all current and former Scouts do the same. From: http://www.boyscoutsla.org/website/contact_us.htm [boyscoutsla.org] Barnes, Steve Scout Executive 217 Steve. [e-mail] Bonsky, Paul Special Projects Executive 227 [e-mail] Borunda, Lala Finance Secretary 235 [e-mail] Burgueno, Rita Urban Emphasis Executive 272 [e-mail] Brown, James IT Specialist 283 [e-mail] Burton, Kevin Webmaster 283 [e-mail] Chan, Ana Receptionist 0 [e-mail] Chaffers, Tanya Accounts Payable 245 [e-mail] Chicas, Estela Registrar 207 [e-mail] Curtis, Brian Director of Field Services 262 [e-mail] De Jarnett, Cindy Pacifica District Executive 256 [e-mail] Dumani, Maria Administration Secretary 216 [e-mail] Hatch, Wade Director of Camping Services 243 [e-mail] Felcyn, Anna Rio Hondo Senior Executive 285 [e-mail] Forbes, Larry Chief Financial Officer 280 [e-mail] Gonzalez, Leo San Antonio District Executive 220 [e-mail] Hatch, Wade Director of Camping Services 243 [e-mail] Matsuzaki, Lynn Urban Emphasis Executive 269 [e-mail] Maxfield, John Director of Support Services 251 [e-mail] McCarthy, Jim Frontier District Director 282 [e-mail] Monge, Marcos Rio Hondo District Executive 238 [e-mail] Peña, Andrea Finance Director 261 [e-mail] Peralta, Gracie Office Manager 252 [e-mail] Peterson, Trinita Payroll & Benefits Specialist 277 [e-mail] Reck, Roger Executive Finance Director 215 [e-mail] Roberson, Jennifer Field Services Secretary 233 [e-mail] Rojas, Mariela Cashier 254 [e-mail] Rosenberg, Laura Event Secretary 250 [e-mail] Ruiz, Robert Facilities Maintenance 205 [e-mail] Shipp, Gwangi Thunderbird District Executive 226 [e-mail] Spagnoli, Tony Rio Hondo District Executive 273 [e-mail] Sullivan, Hannibol Asst. Director of Field Services 319 [e-mail] Turner, Flynn Pacifica District Executive 223 [e-mail] Verdugo, Danette Camping Services Secretary 257 [e-mail] Villalobos, George Finance Director 240 [e-mail] Zuniga, Victor Pacifica District Director 274 [e-mail]

Re:Scouts Honor....

[noidentity]

I had thought that one couldn't really put something in the public domain nowadays, just grant a license that allows anyone to use the work. Apparently U.S. Government works are in the public domain, and maybe other works made after 1923 as well: Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States [cornell.edu]

Re:As an Eagle Scout

[Firehed]

Well sure. But sucking up to one industry isn't a part of that. In any case, it's already covered in both the Scout Law and Oath, with the first point of "A Scout is Trustworthy" and "morally straight" respectively. The entire premise of Scouting is to live by the Oath and Law; none of the required badges (Camping, Citizenship in the Community, Cit. Nation, Cit. World, Communications, Cycling/Hiking/Swimming, Emergency Preparedness/Lifesaving, Environmental Science, Personal Fitness, Personal Management) are about reenforcing these points, but rather gaining the skills to be successful in life. Come to think of it, none of the badges I earned (35 or so, IIRC) are about anything but gaining skills of varying usefulness, and I can't think of any others that don't fit that model. If that changes, I'll be severely disappointed.

You don't have anything to worry about

[The Wooden Badger]

"I won't get concerned until the "Respect for Intellectual Property" badge becomes Eagle-required. At which point I'll personally go down to headquarters and find out what the hell's going on, and tell them to get back to their proper (ie, founding) values. Scout's Honor."

The article and the summary are from completely different worlds. The thing is a patch that can be earned in the Los Angeles area. There's a museum centered on biology here that offers a patch for visiting. It's not a merit badge. The last paragraph of the article specifically spells that out. The "insightful" submitter put together an amazing summary that makes it seem like this is a nationwide BSA merit badge while it is not a merit badge at all. You've got to love slashdot.

Congrats on the Eagle. I'm a fellow 1%er.

Re:Scouts Honor....

[niiler]

Since you mention it....

I was an Eagle Scout, Senior Patrol Leader, Junior Assistant Scountmaster, and finally, an Assistant Scoutmaster. I was involved with the scouting movement from the time I was seven years old until I was out of college. I would not ever want my child involved with the parsimonious, right wing ideologs that make up scoutings core today This is for several reasons. Units I have seen recently have become increasingly intolerant of difference rather than celebrating it, they have become cheerleaders for the far-right and ultra-nationalism, and they have become decreasingly involved in the outdoors. Much of the adult leadership I have seen is anti-gay, ant-flag burning, pro-marriage amendment, pro-bible-banging, out-of-shape and generally-not-the-sorts-of-people-I-want-my-son-to -learn-from. This anti-piracy merit badge is just in line with the thinking I've seen from Scout leaders.

Finally, with the increase in liability over the years, there are more and more limits to the activities troops get involved with. Fewer troops seem willing to take part in 50 mile afoot/afloat activities or go to places like Philmont Scout Ranch.

As a personal parting shot, I find the BSA's exclusion of martial arts as an acceptable activity to be ridiculous. When I was in scouts, my peers could get the athletics merit badge [meritbadge.com] by: "Tak(ing) part for one full season as a member of an organized team in ONE of the following sports: baseball, basketball, bowling, cross-country, diving, fencing, field hockey, football, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rugby, skating (ice or roller), soccer, softball, swimming, team handball, tennis, track and field, volleyball, water polo, or wrestling (or any other recognized team sport approved in advance by your counselor, except boxing and karate)." The BSA cites safety reasons, however for karate and Chinese martial arts, the medical literature indicates that they are safer in incidence and severity of injuries than the majority of activities listed. See Birrer's article on the results of an 18 year survey [nih.gov]. We can get into a detailed discussion of medical injuries in the martial arts later, but I find it ironic that scouting bans martial activities even though it is descended from using children as messengers on the battlefield in the 2nd Boer War [wikipedia.org].