Education can help youngsters be copyright aware

Although education programmes are effective, more needs to be done to educate young people about what can be legally downloaded from the Internet, says the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS). ALCS has been working with the National Schools Partnership in a project to raise awareness of copyright and mark the bicentenary of copyright advocate Charles Dickens. Director Barbara Hayes said: “The increased awareness of copyright which the “What the Dickens?” project has brought about shows that educational programmes can improve understanding of what copyright means for creators, but more needs to be done to explain to young people what is and isn’t allowed online.”