The humorous part is that uneducated individuals or those educated by
policing organizations/lobbying groups have gotten schools and other
institutions/organizations to instruct young people that copying is illegal.
Schools and other institutions (even those with a technical angle) are
unlikely to understand these issues and almost certainly going to take the
easiest course of action. Complicated matters like this get simplified and
copying becomes illegal. Even the tools to do it become 'illegal'.
I've seen camps, schools, and other organizations do it numerous times in the
1990s/20xx. In the 1990s one computer camp banned CD burners. If the system
had one you were instructed to remove it before arriving. If you were
“caught” with one you were kicked out. This was after instruction from
the FBI (probably at the instruction of the BSA- business software alliance).
In another instance I saw a school for kids between the ages of 11-13 ban
copying. Again in the 1990s they saw CDs being passed around as illegal.
There was no concept of user generated content being put on CD, fair use,
free software, public domain content, or permissively licensed content.
While I can't recall reading about it anywhere I'm sure that there have been
plenty of detentions/suspensions over the copying of free software. With the
rise of GNU/Linux in particular in the late 1990s and CD burners I can't even
fathom how many young people have been "caught". If a blue screen or DOS can
get a kid in trouble despite no explicit rules against it or deviation from
the mandated task.... imagine what a ban on copying is going to get you?
The arrogance and claims of authority in most schools / organizations
astounds me.
