This Is Your Brain on P2P

Posted by tomo at 10:19 PM in politics . | 1 Comments

The latest issue of Wired Magazine prints a letter I wrote to them concerning an article in their May issue titled "File-Sharing Is, Like, Totally Uncool". The article is about the MPAA infiltrating junior high schools in order to share their "side of the story". Unable to sell CDs by making music sound better, the MPAA has resorted to spending money trying to propagandize a captured, young audience. My response:

Jeff Howe's "File-Sharing Is, Like, Totally Uncool" (Wired 12.05) reminds me of the DARE antidrug program found in many school districts, with the tag line "Just Say No" replaced with "What's the Diff?" In both programs, the role-playing is a lesson less in real life than in regurgitation. It may be of interest to the MPAA and participating schools that DARE failed to show any effectiveness in reducing drug use compared to control groups.