The BPI has welcomed a new initiative to raise awareness of illegal filesharing among parents.
The campaign, being organised by international children's charity Childnet and Pro-music, the industry body charged with the task of promoting legal downloading, will aim to make parents aware of just how evil the illegal of downloading of music really is, urging them to beat their children if they find out they have been sharing copyrighted music over the internet (I'm paraphrasing slightly, but that's the general gist).
The campaign will be based primarily on an information leaflet, tens of thousands of which will be distributed through record stores, libraries and other public buildings.
Backing the campaign, BPI boss Peter Jamieson told reporters: "We are committed to working with parents to make them aware of the dangers of illegal downloading. There has already been huge publicity about this issue, but we are committed to doing even more to get the message across: unauthorised filesharing is illegal and could land you or your child in court."
Emma Pike of British Music Rights, the UK body set with the task of promoting copyright owners' interests, added: "It is fantastic that children are learning to access music in so many new and diverse ways. We are keen for young people to be creative and enterprising with the music they love and the music they create, but it is vital that they do this in a safe and legitimate environment. Parents have a role to play in helping their children to use the internet safely and we would urge them to ensure they understand what their children are doing. We welcome the Childnet leaflet which we hope will highlight any negative pitfalls which might arise through internet use".
Virgin Megastores' Dennis Henderson said: "We believe that is as vitally important to positively inform parents and children how to download legally, as it is to avoid the dangers of illegal filesharing. This initiative targets both of these objectives and we are delighted to be supporting it within Virgin Megastores".
There's more info on the leaflet campaign at http://www.childnet-int.org/