Microsoft recently published some interesting survey results regarding teens and their comprehension of intellectual property. The general summary is that teens aren’t very familiar with intellectual property rights, with 49% of those surveyed saying they were “not familiar with the rules and guidelines for downloading images, literature, music, movies and software from the Internet.” In short, kids don’t know much about the rules governing intellectual property and don’t think of downloading as stealing.

So of course, Microsoft has a solution to the problem: MYBYTES.com. It’s an interesting yet somewhat chaotic site that contains a “music mixer” that is actually fairly fun to play with, “on the street interviews” with teens which show they know nothing about intellectual property, and “viewpoints” where artists and professionals share their thoughts. An interesting idea for a site, but it doesn’t really teach all that much, and fails to really tell teens what they should be learning. Not to mention the lack of discussion about fair use, Creative Commons, and other licensings. Certainly interesting to see the issues tackled in website form, targeted at teens. Whether or not it makes any impact in the long run is a whole ‘nother story.

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