Napster Research Paper
Napster: Revolutionary Program or One-Hit Wonder? Illegally copying and distributing copyrighted material is against the law. This law is widely known, but rarely enforced. However, in recent months an Internet program called Napster has come under fire for aiding in the illegal distribution of music. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), representing 18 record labels, has sued this California-based company for copyright violations. The controversy surrounding Napster is that the program itself does not illegally distribute copyrighted music. The people who use the program are the ones responsible for this illegal distribution. Another problem facing Napster is that universities around the country are beginning to block the program because it takes up too much bandwidth. Despite these problems Napster continues to go strong, adding new users every day. What will be the future of this hot new company?Napster is the nickname of its creator, 19-year-old Shawn Fanning. Fanning wrote the program and obtained a large cash donation from a family friend. This donation allowed him to quit college and move from Harwich, Massachusetts, to San Mateo, California, to start a company with two of his friends. That w
makes no representations or warranties regarding MP3 files possessed by Napster users. Have you heard about Napster?'" (Kover 130). This threat seems very real due to the increasing popularity of CD rewriters in personal computers. " The Chronicle of Higher Education. After a passive beginning, the RIAA is taking action. Secondly, Napster does not actually control any of the music its users share. But the same recordings we advised Napster were infringing then are still available" (Holland 9). They have begun to toy with the idea of advertising or e-commerce, but nothing has been decided yet. Cary Sherman, RIAA senior executive vice president, says, "We contacted the company a number of times, including in writing. "Napster is rocking the music industry The popular Web site has powerful enemies. Although aiding in illegal activity seems to be exactly what Napster is doing, two intellectual property lawyers say the law favors Napster.
Common topics in this essay:
Internet MP3's,
VCR VCR's,
Napster's Fortunately,
Puffy Combs,
Secondly Napster,
Obviously Napster,
America RIAA,
A50 Administrators,
Neither MP3,
Napster Napster,
mp3 files,
college students,
cohen 41,
illegal distribution,
electronic proquest,
napster napster,
illegal activity,
napster users,
napster software,
controversy surrounding,
illegal distribution music,
students copyright laws,
aiding illegal distribution,
napster revolutionary program,
|