Ask a U.S. student this question, “Do you think it is ethical for someone to go into a jewelry store, pick up a ring that is displayed on the counter, and walk right out of the store with it?” Any student over the age of 5 will answer correctly – that the person is wrong for stealing the ring.

However, replace the words “jewelry store” with the word Internet. And talk about “music files” instead of a ring, and the student will probably give a very different answer. Results of an i-SAFE survey of high school students show that of the students who download music, 77% do so illegally. At 74%, the illegal downloading rate among middle school students isn’t much better.

Sometimes it seems that there are almost as many reasons to justify their illegal behavior as there are students. Among the most popular: everything on the Internet should be free; that the music files are there for the taking; nobody gets hurt; artists are already rich enough; the chance of getting caught is nil; and everybody is doing it. Educators at all levels must recognise that net ethics, especially in regards to the use of Intellectual property, cannot be isolated from general social behaviour, and therefore is a topic that must become a part of everyday teaching and learning.

i-SAFE programs have demonstrated that education on responsible use of the Internet can raise significant awareness among students and positively change their behaviors. Based on a recent sampling of 10,000 U.S. students after receiving i-SAFE intellectual property curriculum, 55% say that they will never copy music for friends in the future, and 46% say they won’t accept pirated music from their friends. 58% say they now realize people lose money when they illegally download music. And to further gauge the impact of education, of the 61% of students who say they regularly download music, more than half (51%) say they’ll now pay or get permission to do so in the future.

Ethical dilemmas posed by the Internet will continue to face our youth. Education is key! Contact internation@isafe.org to bring the i-SAFE solution to the students in your country.

Jeff Godlis, Director of Communications, i-SAFE Inc