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Jim Gogan on Napster
Thought at least Harry might find this interesting.
So I am reforwarding it w/new subject heading.
Robyn
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> JIm Gogan on Napster & the lawsuits brought by Metallica against
> universities
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Wed, 03 May 2000 06:42:43 -0400
> From: Jim Gogan <gogan@email.unc.edu>
> To: The support mailing list <support@listserv.unc.edu>
> Cc: The support mailing list <support@listserv.unc.edu>
> Subject: [support] Re: Napster, universities sued by Metallica
>
> Well, since I heard my name being called ....
>
> There are two issues associated with this topic: the policy issue and
> the technology issue. Given that the real policy issue here is related
> to copyright violation matters (and that's the more significant issue
> with Napster and similar programs), I'm going to leave the discussion on
> that to Jeanne Smythe, the ATN Director responsible for policy matters
> of that nature. Let me, however, address the technology issues.
>
> First of all, I find it highly ironic that years ago people were touting
> the potential of high-speed networking and the Internet as a means of
> utilizing untapped and underutilized CPU cycles on desktop machines for
> true distributed computing and for developing truly distributed
> databases that spanned millions of computers. Well, guess what -
> that's exactly what Napster and other programs of its ilk do. And now
> that the potential is being realized, many of those same people are now
> running for the hills. We live in interesting times :-)
>
> In terms of bandwidth utilization on campus, yes, we have seen increases
> in bandwidth usage from not only Napster, but all the other
> "Napster-like" programs, as well as from "chat" programs. Would I call
> it a "significant" increase in bandwidth? No, not really. Campus
> bandwidth accessing www.weather.com on Friday afternoons continues to
> exceed almost anything like Napster. When we have over 7000 live
> network connections in residence halls, I would expect to see bandwidth
> utilization increases for anything and everything -- these are students'
> residences, after all. I will point out, though, that not all Napster
> (from this point on, I'm gonna use "Napster" to refer to the many
> programs out there that do similar things) usage comes from residence
> halls -- it is not unusual to see Napster traffic coming from faculty
> and staff machines on campus (which leads to an "appropriate use" policy
> discussion that I'm not going to get into here - I'm the technology guy,
> remember :-) ).
>
> In terms of blocking Napster traffic, given the fact that there is so
> much more out there than just Napster, this becomes, as a co-worker of
> mine once said, "feasless". With a new application of this type coming
> out every week, what are you going to do? Block a different port every
> week? Within a month, you're going to have so many filters on the
> campus Internet router that performance would be miserable from the
> filter processing. And many of the newer applications do "port
> adaptation" - where if the application detects a blocked port on the
> router, it keeps trying different ports until it gets out.
>
> Also, keep in mind that many of the smaller campuses that are
> complaining about Napster stuff the loudest only have T1 (1.5 Mb/sec) or
> 10 Mb/sec connections to the Internet. My thoughts there .... if you
> invest in putting gigabit Ethernet backbone connections and 100 Mb/sec
> to the desktop as most of these schools are doing and don't upgrade your
> Internet link to more than 1-10 Mb/sec, well, what did you expect?
>
> The real solution becomes one of user education as to the legal
> implications associated with Napster programs from a copyright violation
> policy issue and the implications of that. That education process is
> hard work and takes a lot of time. I fear that many sites are looking
> for short cuts so they don't have to do that hard work. Ultimately,
> though, since the technology's always going to stay at least one step
> ahead of the short cuts, you gotta do the hard work and that starts with
> all of us!
>
> -- Jim Gogan
> Director, ATN Networking and Communications
>
>
> edmunds@email.unc.edu wrote:
> >
> > This NEWS.COM (http://www.news.com/) story has been sent to you from edmunds@email.unc.edu
> >
> > Message from sender:
> > OK, it had to happen sooner or later, so I'm opening this up for discussion (see related
> story). I'm not going to soapbox just yet, but I'd like to to know what, if anything, the
> University's policy is on Napster. I'd also be curious to know if Gogan and friends have seen a
> significant increase in bandwidth usage since Napster has gained in popularity. And yes, I do
> think this topic is relevant to this list.
> > -------------------------------------------------------
> > Napster, universities sued by Metallica
> >
> > April 13, 2000, 4:35 p.m. PT
> > http://home.cnet.com/category/0-1005-200-1694163.html
> >
> > Heavy-metal band Metallica sued the Napster MP3-trading software
> company and a trio of universities today, charging that together they were responsible for
> massive violations of the band's copyrights.
> >
> > It is the second time the young company has been brought into court facing charges that its
> popular music-swapping software is being used illegally. But it's the first time that
> universities, which have been struggling to manage their own students' use of the service, have
> been brought into the legal firefight.
> >
> > "Napster has built a business based on large-scale piracy," the band's lawsuit reads.
> "Facilitating that are hypocritical universities and colleges who could easily block this
> insidious and ongoing thievery scheme."
> >
> > Today's suit amplifies the legal questions swirling around Napster and its various clones,
> which in just a few months have created broad new channels for music piracy online.
> >
> > Yesterday, a German judge ruled that America Online and other Internet service providers
> were liable for pirated music traversing their systems in that country, but to date no U.S.
> Internet company has borne the same responsibility.
> >
> > Napster's software allows music listeners to open pieces of their personal hard drives to
> everyone using Napster, sharing whatever MP3 songs they have already downloaded or stored. At any
> time, thousands of people are online, sharing hundreds of thousands of songs, many of which are
> technically illegal to download without the permission of the copyright holders.
> >
> > The Recording Industry Association of America has already sued Napster, contending that the
> firm allows massive copyright violations by facilitating the easy exchange of music.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Watch video That case was scheduled to reach a possible
> early conclusion this week, but the federal judge handling the case postponed her decision.
> >
> > Napster has noted that it's not hosting any of the music and says it is protected by federal
> copyright provisions that shield Internet service providers from being liable for illegal
> material sent over their services. The company also has acted to block some individuals from
> trading large amounts of copyrighted material using the Napster software, its attorneys say.
> >
> > Napster's attorneys had no initial comment on today's suit, other than to say that Metallica
> had moved to court without first trying to settle the issue.
> >
> > "No one contacted Napster for any discussion before they issued the press release or filed
> the lawsuit," said Lawrence Pulgrum, a Fenwick & West attorney representing Napster.
> >
> > Metallica's case throws a new twist into the legal wrangling by alleging the complicity of
> Yale University, the University of Southern California (USC) and Indiana University in music
> piracy.
> >
> > "The universities have elected not to block access to Napster, commenting that their only
> problem is a potential drain on their limited bandwidth availability," the lawsuit reads, "no
> doubt caused by the massive ongoing thefts of musicians' intellectual property."
> >
> > Officials at USC said they had not yet been served with the lawsuit, so they could not
> comment on its particulars. However, an attorney said that the university acts as an Internet
> service provider and therefore does not censor the students' use of the Internet.
> >
> > Napster users, some of whom are feeling increasingly beleaguered by the legal suits targeting
> their activities, defended their use of the service as a way of helping the bands spread their
> music to new listeners.
> >
> > "Some artists are in it for the pure art of music. Others are in it for the money," said
> Wayne Chang, a Haverhill, Mass., student who manages Napster's online community bulletin boards.
> "Metallica just showed which side of the line they're on."
> >
> > Metallica's attorneys said they believed damages could amount to more than $10 million, based
> on $100,000 for each pirated song. The case was filed in a federal court in California.
> >
> >
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------
> >
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