STEAL THIS IDEA, part V

     This one's kind of a throwback to children's cartoons of the '80s like Captain Planet. The purpose of this show would be to teach children how to use the internet properly, responsibly, and ethically.

     The overarching storyline I see is one where, let's say, a cargo ship from an advanced alien race breaks up in Earth's atmosphere depositing pieces of technology humans are not yet supposed to have all over the planet. Since this would not be a show about adults using this technology in horrible ways, I figure because, y'know...magic, the technology could have been (this could be done in the show's opening narration by the way) "protected" from misuse by adults until it could be collected by the alien detective sent out to find the missing pieces.
     Children, however, being unaffected by this "magic", stumble upon this technology, learn to use it and use it in ways which are hurtful to themselves and/or others until at the end of the show, the alien detective catches up to them and takes the technology from them (or perhaps convinces them to surrender it) but not before explaining why it was wrong they were using it in the way they had been.

     The technology the children find which would serve as the lesson of the week would be an exaggeration of current technology and/or problems with its use. For example, an episode could be done about hot-linking. In this case, the technology involved might force a person to be in more than one place at once against his will, diminishing him by forcing him to expend energy he might not have otherwise. Another example could be about citation of sources. The technology in such an episode could maybe give a student an edge in class but in fact, is actually plagiarizing. Perhaps, the technology steals the knowledge from others so the student can pass it along as his own and preventing the person who originally had it from remember they had in fact done it first. Depending on the age-level of the target audience, examples involving cyberstalking and cyberbullying could be employed as could anonymity and protecting one's identity online.
     The show could also feature a throwback feature with a vignette at the end of each episode showing a child how to properly use such real-life functions online. Using the previous examples, how to properly display a picture and how not to hotlink. Hopefully not done in too preachy (or stupid) a way.

     The alien detective should not be the main focus of these adventures. Merely showing him/her/it on the trail because each misuse of the technology would lead him closer to it. He could have an animal sidekick...probably with dog-like attributes, but I've never been a fan of such creatures. Whatever you do, please don't make the animal sidekick talk...please.

     Any questions? Leave them in the comments and I will happily elaborate.

DISCLAIMER: To anyone reading this, you are welcome to not only use, but claim this idea as your own without giving credit to me. I sometimes have ideas, but I do not have the skills needed to express them. It is more important to me to see these ideas done than to receive recognition for them. That being said, giving me a mention anyway would make me giddy. If this idea has in fact already been done, then I strongly suggest you not actually steal it (at least not without major revisions) :-)