Leader: IPR - free your mind

In discussions about how to curtail piracy - of music, video, books - the idea of educating children on the issue often comes up.

The UK government is keen on such plans, evidenced by the setting up of an intellectual property rights forum which includes a subgroup dedicated to education and communication, as described by MP Estelle Morris at this week's Westminster Media Forum in London.

The concern of course is what indeed will be taught. Most curricula presented are tantamount to 'teach children why they should uphold copyright law'.

Part of the problem is that the rights holders - music, film and (yes) software corporations - have already co-opted the language of the debate. It's framed around key words (all with negative connotations) such as piracy and crime.

Though perhaps the biggest win in the language arena was inserting the word 'property' in 'intellectual property' when IP could well be argued to be more akin to 'ideas' than real property - the difference being if you tell someone your ideas you still have them, which is not so with tangible objects.

Any acceptable education on IP must include all sides of this very complex issue.

Along with the side so well publicised by big business and many governments of strengthening copyright law and going after 'pirates' with a vengeance, it would do well for children to learn some believe loosening IP laws may do more to eradicate piracy and take it out of the hands of organised crime than tightening enforcement.

Remember Prohibition in the US - how mob activity skyrocketed when alcohol was made illegal in the 1920s and suffered setbacks when those laws were repealed a few years later.

The commercial success of open-source software could be provided as an example of how you can make money from giving away intellectual property.

And educators should present the varying approaches to IP taken around the world - because, as the internet erases borders in sharing content, national laws become less and less effective. Attention could be placed on Asian countries such as China which has recently put in place more Western-style copyright laws but whose cultural values still tend toward a freer approach

The drawbacks to infringing on copyrights are well publicised - it's morally wrong, artists can't make a living, publishing companies can't stay in business etc.

But the benefits of sharing ideas - in a larger societal context - need to be brought up as well. As Open University Professor John Naughton said at the Westminster Forum: "Vibrant societies are about passing on ideas like they're germs."

Perhaps most important is bringing to light the subtext inherent in so much of the debate on IP.

MP Estelle Morris said at the forum: "We have not even persuaded most people that it's wrong to take someone else's ideas... people don't understand it's a crime."

That statement of course implies sharing ideas is wrong - but is it? Law shapes but also needs to reflect people's values.

Teach children the whole story on IP - not just the side that keeps big corporations in the black - then let them decide what the laws should be in 50 years time.