Ahh, the familiar rallying cry of the self-righteous. Railing against the evil tyrants of the "Corporate SuperState." Living in a state of perpetual angst because "the man" is keeping us down. I'm sorry, but I just don't buy it. The fact is that Napster facilitates civil disobedience, allowing users to get copyright-protected music that they might otherwise have to buy, for free. While I applaud Napster boldly pushing the recording industry to rethink its business model, I think they have failed to take sufficient measures to adhere to existing laws governing copywrights and to protect the interests of the artists who own the music shared through their service. Turning a deaf ear (pun intended) to the fact that their users are breaking copyright laws and their claim that "we're just a service provider" is laffable. In the end, however, the true moral burden to steal or not to steal lies with the user. If it's not Napster it will be another method, but regardless of how you rationalize it or hide behind some false ideal of a cyber-utopia, it's no different than walking into a record store and stealing a CD.
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Ahh, the familiar rallying cry of the self-righteous. Railing against the evil tyrants of the "Corporate SuperState." Living in a state of perpetual angst because "the man" is keeping us down. I'm sorry, but I just don't buy it. The fact is that Napster facilitates civil disobedience, allowing users to get copyright-protected music that they might otherwise have to buy, for free. While I applaud Napster boldly pushing the recording industry to rethink its business model, I think they have failed to take sufficient measures to adhere to existing laws governing copywrights and to protect the interests of the artists who own the music shared through their service. Turning a deaf ear (pun intended) to the fact that their users are breaking copyright laws and their claim that "we're just a service provider" is laffable. In the end, however, the true moral burden to steal or not to steal lies with the user. If it's not Napster it will be another method, but regardless of how you rationalize it or hide behind some false ideal of a cyber-utopia, it's no different than walking into a record store and stealing a CD.