UK industry welcomes campaign to educate parents about filesharing

LONDON, UK (BPI) - The UK record industry has welcomed the launch of a major international campaign to raise awareness around illegal filesharing amongst parents.

International children's charity Childnet have launched the campaign with support from music industry body pro-music.org; which aims to promote the legal downloading of music from the internet.

In the UK, tens of thousands of leaflets will be distributed through record stores, libraries and other public buildings.

BPI chairman Peter Jamieson said, "We are committed to working with parents to make them aware of the dangers of illegal downloading.
'There has already been huge publicity about this issue, but we are committed to doing even more to get the message across: unauthorised filesharing is illegal and could land you or your child in court."

Emma Pike, Director General of British Music Rights said: 'It is fantastic that children are learning to access music in so many new and diverse ways. We are keen for young people to be creative and enterprising with the music they love and the music they create, but it is vital that they do this in a safe and legitimate environment.
'Parents have a role to play in helping their children to use the internet safely and we would urge them to ensure they understand what their children are doing. We welcome the Childnet leaflet which we hope will highlight any negative pitfalls which might arise through internet use".

Virgin Megastores' Dennis Henderson said: "We believe that is as vitally important to positively inform parents and children how to download legally, as it is to avoid the dangers of illegal filesharing. This initiative targets both of these objectives and we are delighted to be supporting it within Virgin Megastores"
For further information contact Matt Phillips or Steve Redmond in the BPI press office on 020 7803 1300.