IP: Napster/Gnutella/FreeNet

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

>From: "John Lyon" <jelyon@jelyon.com>
>To: <farber@cis.upenn.edu>
>
>"Music industry can't outwit online outlaws" from the Boston Globe, complete
>article online at:
>
>http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/152/nation/Music_industry_can_t_outwit_onl
>ine_outlaws+.shtml
>
>David Weekly wasn't amused earlier this month when Napster, the digital
>music-sharing service, ousted more than 300,000 users for illegally trading
>songs by the band Metallica. The Arlington native and Stanford University
>senior devised a technical solution to get around the ban and posted the
>instructions on his Web site. He estimates that 95 percent of the outlawed
>users were back on Napster within days.
>
>
>Weekly's quick fix is just one way savvy computer users are circumventing
>attempts by the entertainment industry to stop online piracy. So far, most
>of the attention has been focused on Napster, which is wildly popular on
>college campuses. But if the music industry prevails in its lawsuits against
>the San Mateo-based start-up, users could migrate to other commercial online
>trading services, like iMesh and Scour; they could also turn to underground
>programs that don't rely on a central server and are less vulnerable to
>litigation.
>
>
>
>My favorite quote from the article:
>
>''That is not freedom of speech; that is thievery,'' says Jack Valenti,
>executive director of the Motion Picture Association of America. ''Wherever
>one snake head arises, we will cut it off,'' he adds. ''And if another one
>grows in its place, we'll cut that one off, too.''
>
>My comment on that: Isn't there a mythological creature with hair of snakes,
>whereupon should you cut one snake off, two grow in it's place? I think
>that's a better analogy.