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Talking to your children about downloading music – a parent’s guide
There are many ways you can communicate with others online, like e-mail, chat rooms, bulletin boards and instant messaging. There are also mobile communications such as text messaging that can be conducted offline but with many cell phones now able to connect to the Internet, some problems can travel across to the online environment. In fact, many online safety practices can be applied to your cell phone, even if you do not use it to access the Internet.
We need to balance work, home and parenting. We need to be the math tutor, grammar expert and able to paint the backdrops for the school play. We have to bake (or fake it by buying <g>) cookies and cupcakes, and do science projects last minute.
We also need to be up-to-date on technology, the Internet and safe surfing, when we can’t even set the clock on our VCRs. And now, we are facing subpoenas and lawsuits from the RIAA for what our children are doing online…for what everyone’s doing online! Without hiring copyright lawyers, how do we address the issues with our children? How do we figure out what our kids can and can’t do with music online? And how do we answer their questions. Or our own? Hopefully, this guide will help.
It’s not easy, but our job as parents to teach our children the difference between right and wrong. Even if we disagree with the RIAA’s tactics, piracy is wrong. And downloading and sharing music online is piracy.
This guide is designed to help you understand the issues, and how to talk with your kids about downloading music. You may have additional questions we haven’t addressed. If so, visit WiredSafety.org for updates to this guide or if you still haven’t found an answer to your question, ask Parry yourself at