LaLiga and the Content Coalition present the conclusions from the second edition of the Defend your Rights programme

The Coalition of Content Creators and Industries and LaLiga have successfully run the second edition of Defend your Rights, a series of awareness workshops in schools geared towards informing students between the ages of 10 and 14 about the value of online content and the consequences of piracy.

After the excellent results in the first edition of the programme, the project was extended to the autonomous communities of Madrid, Castile and Leon, Castile-La Mancha and Andalusia, taking the number of participating school children up to 12,000 across 85 primary and secondary schools.

The campaign's main aims are to highlight the importance of workers in the creative industries and promote respect for their rights, motivate students as possible future professionals in these sectors, which are among the best for generating employment in the Eurozone, and show what the commercial world, content-related fraud and piracy mean for society, employment and the economy.

One of the first conclusions drawn from the workshops is that youngsters are consuming more and more information on the internet, but are also content creators who need training in order to publish it safely. Two out of three students share material online and, although the majority stated that piracy harms many people, a considerable 49.5% believe it does not cause damage to anyone or just to some people.

When asked if they are capable of differentiating between legal and pirated content, only 39.5% claimed they were always able to do so, while 38% said they can occasionally and 22.5% admitted that they never distinguish between the two.

Although 71% of students recognised that accessing pirated material is bad, 16.8% had no opinion to offer on the matter and 12.2% could not see any problem in consuming such content. It is noteworthy that the perception changes with age, with older year groups recording a higher percentage of students who believe that piracy is not harmful to anyone.

These workshops have proved to be an effective tool for raising awareness about the serious nature of the issue: while 55.8% of students that did not take part believe piracy is negative, the figure among those that did rose to 71%. Similarly, whereas 30.8% of 10 to 14-year-olds who did not participate think piracy does not harm anyone, only 7.8% of those who did shared that view, a 75% increase in awareness.

Coalition director Carlota Navarrete highlighted: "We're very pleased with the experience. We believe that a good law and its effective implementation are essential, but only if coupled with measures to raise awareness which allow society to say no to online content fraud by way of a zero-tolerance attitude towards illegal content whilst promoting a strategic sector like online content which offers employment and wealth opportunities. Initiatives aimed at school children have been successful in countries like England, France and the United States and we want to call upon state authorities to get involved in raising awareness because they can make a huge contribution to reducing piracy in Spain."

Ignacio Martinez Trujillo, LaLiga's managing director of innovation and global development, said: "We have to be able to build and share, with children and teenagers alike, relationship models and the limits of the digital economy where they will not only become future consumers but also future professionals with rights of their own."

The LaLiga managing director continued that "behind all pirated content is a business model which needs to be understood. Far too often this involves advertising and we must be able to make companies understand that, in order to advertise online, they have to be careful where their adverts appear. Blocking a page isn't enough. As a society we have to question companies' decisions to advertise in such places. This is a much more effective measure."

"The success of the project's two editions makes us reflect on the importance of institutions committing to a clear-cut message, which in other areas such as recycling and road safety has yielded excellent results. Efforts by state authorities and the sector itself to raise awareness over the course of school life could greatly improve the behaviour of future generations," added the programme's promoters.