Here we offer some advice and best practise for downloading from the internet.
Do’s
- Download a music track or some other content yourself, so that you understand how it works – ask your son or daughter to help if you’ve not done it before.
- Recommend that they download content from established online brands like iTunes or the Vodafone Shop – you could direct them to lists of legitimate websites, such as the one Pro-Music provides.
- Explain that online activity is not necessarily anonymous – a copyright owner might be able to get a court order to force their ISP to identify them.
- Make the most of Parental Controls and SafeSearch to help protect them from inappropriate online content – they might not be 100% effective, however, and they aren’t a substitute for parental supervision.
- Check the browser history on your family computer regularly and look for any desktop icons you don’t recognise.
- Make sure your family’s computer is fully protected against viruses, spyware and other security threats.
- Encourage your child to create and innovate – content licensed under ‘Creative Commons’ licences can often be enjoyed, remixed and redistributed.
Don’t’s
- Underestimate how the internet has changed the way young people access and share content.
- Assume that your son or daughter knows what ‘copyright infringement’ is.
- Bury your head in the sand if you think they’re too young to be downloading content – it’s better to talk to them before they make any downloading mistakes.
- Forget the copyright implications if they use downloaded content in their own creations – even if they’re using music or other clips in a video they make, they could be infringing copyright.
- Ignore the fact that file-sharing networks (like many internet systems) could expose your child to strangers and inappropriate content.
- Leave it to them to work out… your whole family could be affected if your child infringes copyright online.
Source: Vodafone
