Illegitimacy is based upon its user
Nov 30 '00
Napster is software that allows any computer user to search other computer user’s hard drive for music files and to get it by means of trading. When this software wasn’t yet made, downloading songs from the Internet took a long time and needed to be searched in some popular search engines like Lycos.com, Altavista.com or Goto.com. Sometimes you need to pay the website in order to get the song you like.
As Napster came on the Internet, it made music downloading faster and easier. It was made by Shawn Fanning, a nineteen-year-old college student from Boston’s Northeastern University. It became one of the fastest growing software in the entire Net. As a matter of fact, America Online got its 9,000,000 users for twelve years; however, the said software just got it only for six months. It gave millions of computer users a chance of getting rarely played music in radio or television for free. You can even get the latest songs that were just released and even going to be released in just one click of your mouse. That’s the power of technology. You don’t need to purchase Video CD’s and Audio CD’s. You can just get it from the Internet. Basically, without Napster, you would have had to buy that song or its album. Of course, the music industry, including singers, musicians, producers, corporations and everyone else, needs your money to sustain their business and profit. Therefore the legal war against Napster is a very serious affair.
The Recording Industry Association of America filed a lawsuit against it the copyright of the music that was shared all over the world. Even the Napster creator’s favorite band that is called Metallica sued him for giving their music for free. In some of Metallica’s concert they strongly discourage using of this software. On the other hand, the band named Limp Bizkit is one of the big supporters of Napster. They give free concert tours around the country in order to give support to the said software.
Being the illegitimacy of Napster depends upon who uses it. Why? It is because its users were the only one who put non-copyright songs so it became illegal. They make no representations or warranties regarding MP3 files possessed by Napster users. Thousands of MP3 files have been authorized for distribution over the Internet by copyright owners; however, users should understand that MP3 files might have been created or distributed without copyright owner authorization. Neither the MP3 file format nor the Napster software indicates whether a particular MP3 file has been authorized for copying or distribution. Copying or distributing unauthorized MP3 files may violate United States and/or foreign copyright laws. Compliance with copyright law remains the user’s responsibility. Therefore, all of the users of this software should have their own responsibility for putting non-copyright songs on the Net.
People have to remember that the laws in the "real world" apply to the online world. Copyright infringement cannot be allowed online just because it is "easy" to do. If someone parks her Porsche in front of my house and leaves the keys in the ignition, that doesn't mean I am allowed to go and take it, even if it would be easy to do. Moreover, if I believe I deserve a Porsche, but I cannot afford one—that doesn't mean I am allowed to steal one.
Similarly, if the Internet makes breaking the law easy, that doesn't mean the law should be changed. The people who have been using Napster have been stealing the Intellectual Property of the artists who own the copyrights to the songs that Napster makes accessible. Furthermore, there currently does not seem to be any legitimate uses for Napster. It would seem that maybe the solution would be to treat Napster like a radio station. Napster would pay royalties for the right to make copyrighted material available to its audience. If any user of this software doesn’t have any responsibility of what they are putting on the Internet, piracy will occur. And, if this piracy becomes hard to stop, it will become a big catastrophe to all of us.
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