Perhaps the most prolific and widely recognized form of mp3 and file sharing technology is the free piece of software known as Napster, a program that allowed users to access free music in the form of mp3 files by searching and downloading songs which were then able to be stored on PCs and even burned on to CD. The Napster organization is also of particular interest in observing the legal implications of file sharing technology due to its involvement in numerous lawsuits and extensive litigation. By observing a brief background of Napster and the nature of its functions, a better understanding of the controversies surrounding the company can be reached, and the broader legal implications of file sharing can be identified.
Napster developed shortly after the advancements in MP3 technology, which essentially was a digital way of storing music in a format that compressed the data contained within a song, making it easy to send and receive them over the Internet. MP3 revolutionized the way in which we were able to access things like music and movies, with its requirement of minimal storage space allowing us to download songs and clips from even the most basic of Internet connections.
Napster was developed in 1999 by an ambitious 18-year-old Shawn Fanning, then student at Boston’s Northeastern University. Fanning, a long time electronic music fan, was growing frustrated with the state of digital music online, with its lack of reliability and it’s long downloading process due to the fact that MP3 had not yet fully developed, he began experimenting with ways to overcome these problems. By 1999 Fanning had developed a draft of his final program which allowed users free access, and basically enabled them to download songs from other users’ hard-drives while also making their MP3s available to other users, meaning that the more songs that were downloaded, the more that became available.
Like a telephone switchboard operator in the old days, the Napster system would take an enquiry for a specific song from someone, find another person who had a matching offering, connect the two, and then hang up to let them finish the transaction in private. (Menn, 2003, pp. 34) By mid 2001 Napster’s user count was well into the millions, with over 20 million MP3 files available for download at any given time. As the company expanded and grew in popularity, the Record Industry Association of America began to take notice of this revolutionary program and the ensuing lawsuits were quick to follow. Initially there was confusion in terms of the infringements that the company had actually made; this was mainly due to the nature of Napster’s system, which enabled users to access copies of MP3s that others had made, but was not directly responsible for any illegal copying of music.
On the 6th of December in 1999, representing every major record label in the industry, the RIAA filed the lawsuit against Napster, accusing the company of contribution to copyright infringement by observing the company’s assurance to users of anonymity and of a secure place to copy and upload files without being monitored, using this as evidence for Napster’s encouragement of illegal copying and distribution of copyright material. Even prolific bands and musicians filed lawsuits against Napster for fear of the company’s affect on CD sales and lost royalties.
REFERENCES
Menn, J. (2003) "All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster," New York, Crown Business Smith, D. (2004) "The File Sharing Dilemma," CNET News.Com, retrieved on 15 October 2004, from http://news.com.com/The+file-sharing+dilemma/2010-1027_3-5152265.html Cooper, C. (2004) "Apple and the Legacy of Napster," CNET News.Com, retrieved on 15 October 2004, from http://news.com.com/Apple+and+the+legacy+of+Napster/2010-1027_3-5299243.html
