Mrs. Preheim´s Advice

By Nat Entzel

Have you guys heard about the new fancy restaurant downtown?

In a small town called Dogville, there is a public park where all the dogs can go and run around, talk, and meet others. One beautiful afternoon, a group of good friends were talking together at the park.

The group had been conversing for about 20 minutes when one of the dogs notices their friend rushing over to them with a worried expression. Soon the others notice and turn her way as well. They are then to find out that a dog named Jeffery downloaded her recently created song called "WOOF!" and is selling it to others for money.

Whats wrong, Debbie?

"Really? Someone's doing that? Did you know there's a term for that?" Greg the pug comments. All of the dogs then shake their heads "no".

"It's true. It's called piracy. It is any use or copying of any kind of software. In this case Jefferey is copying your song, and distributing it to others."

"I didn't know that. Well, what should I do?" Debbie replies.

They all shrug, until someone finally suggests, "How about we go find Jeffery and talk to him about it." They begin to leave the park.

The dogs decide go to the new restaurant, since everyone is going today for the grand opening. Someone notices Jeffery, and...he's giving out CD's with Debbie's song on them!

"Okay, okay, that's enough," Brandon the yellow lab says before he walks over to Jeffery. He then tells Jeffery all about how what he doing is wrong, and illegal.

"Oh Debbie, I'm so sorry! I just thought your song was amazing and after I showed one of my friends the song he showed more and more. I decided maybe I could make a little money for the frisbee camp I wanted to go to this summer. I had no idea it was illegal. I'll stop right away and tell as many people as possible to stop."

"It's okay Jeffery," Debbie softly smiled, "as long as you make sure to stop. I don't want you or anyone else getting in trouble."

I'm sorry, Debbie!

"Well, I'm sure glad that's done," Debbie comments as the group starts to walk into the away.

"Wait up, guys!" The group turns and sees that the person yelling was in fact, Jeffrey.

Once Jeffrey notices the confused looks from the group, he adds, "Look you guys seem really nice, and I just wanna make sure I don't do this, or anything like this again. So I was wondering if you guys could help?"

"Well I don't know too much about that kind of stuff, but the pug to my left here, Greg, he says he knows most of the basics," Brandon, the yellow lab states.

"Yeah, I do. I took a class about it, my teacher Mrs. Preheim taught me the most important things very well. I'm happy to help in whatever way I can. How about we go eat together now and we can decide what we are going to do," Greg offers. The rest of the dogs smile and nod in agreement, then head inside.

The group had decided that they were going to go to Dogville Middle School where Greg's teacher, Mrs. Preheim, would teach them some of the basic copyright laws. It was the day after yesterday and they were all heading to the school on a Saturday afternoon, which some were a little hesitant about, but they knew it would help them. They head into the her classroom, hoping Mrs. Preheim would be there.

"Hello? Mrs. Preheim? It's Greg, from your 9th period ICT class."

"Oh hello dear, I see you've brought some friends with you! May I ask why you're at school on a Saturday?" She laughs heartily.

"Well we would like to know a little about the basic copyright laws. Greg told us you had a unit where you taught your class about all about it. Are you busy?" Brandon the yellow lab asked politely, hoping it will increase their chances of her helping them.

.

Mrs. Preheim stepped down from her desk chair and introduced herself to the group of friends. After introducing, she started off explaining.

"Okay kids, so I think a good way to start off this discussion is by talking about the term 'copyright' in general. Copyright is basically a form of protection for the creators of an original piece of work. For example, if someone created a song, book, artwork, or something of the sort, no one can copy it and use it for themselves, unless they make sure to cite the source, and author. And they can only use a fraction of it," the listeners nod their heads a little to show her that they understand.

"Also there is even logo for copyright. I taped it to my chalkboard so students know. It's the C with a circle around it. It's often by the titles of work."

"Okay, so next I think I will cover what's called 'Public Domain'. That means there is no copyright on something, or in other words anyone can it as they so choose. Normally when you see the logo, the letter C with a circle and a slash through it, that's when you know it is in the public domain. I also have the logo on the chalkboard as well for my students to see," she uses her front paw to point to the picture also taped to the board. The teenagers turn there attention to it, to get a better look.

"I think I've seen both of those before at some point," Casey the chihuahua states.

Almost everyone else in the group replies with, "Me too."

"See, you all a have at least a little background knowledge with some of those things."