TGIF for the Youth League for Monitoring Internet Piracy

According to Benjamin Wong writing for the South China Morning Post on January 20, 2006, about 200,000 young people have been invited to join the Youth League for Monitoring Internet Piracy, which was to be given its trial run this week.

"Under the scheme, the youngsters will be given a blacklist of websites to monitor when they are using the internet. If they notice anything that infringes on copyright, such as the illicit uploading of files, they can contact customs through a dedicated website.Even if the department does not pursue infringements in the courts, copyright owners will be alerted so they can launch civil action."

According to Managing Intellectual property on January 23, a team from Hong Kong's Customs' IP department was expected to start training around 100 Civil Aid Service (Cadet Corps) members this week as a pilot project. "Members of the Youth League will use a password-protected webpage to point out websites they believe are posting copyright-infringing material," they write.

"Nope, not going to do it," comments Jason Schultz at Law Geek. "Not going to violate Godwin's Law by pointing to other historical efforts to get young people to monitor and punish their peers."

Thank Goodness It's Friday,

--Bill Heinze