Lessons to be learned from Napster

If you really have to have a big master server, put it somewhere that does not give a fuck about Metallica.
Say, Cuba or the PRC. Or some other convenient statal entity with bandwith and no fear of the US.

Also, DO NOT let your current college find out that you are using Napster. Not only will your internet connection be cut off for a full 48-hour period, but in turn, others will find out, resulting in their own personal use of Napster.

Once the University realizes exactly how much internet time is going towards Napster, and how much is going toward actual (cough) schoolwork, the so-called University will terminate all access to Napster.

Then, do not try to get around this little problem by finding other download bases, such as iMesh, to feed your MP3 addiction. Your internet connection will be cut off again; this time, the University claims they mean business and proceeds to cut you off for a 72-hour period. This makes downloading more MP3's and checking your email and doing online (cough) schoolwork a little difficult.

Finally, do not try to have your friend from another University send you fresh MP3's that they have downloaded directly off of Napster to you over that wonderful little thing called AOL Instant Messenger because... I kid you not... THE UNIVERSITY WILL FIND OUT!!!

I think one lesson that you should learn from Napster is that if you send child pornography, illegal drugs, or automatic weapons to people in the United States, it's really the fault of the United States Postal Service. Hell, they were the ones who provided the means for distribution. Same goes for UPS, FedEx, Roadway, Airborne, and Bob's Discount Delivery Service.

Let's sue the telecommunications companies for laying the cable that allows illegal data to move from one place to another. Let's also sue Maxtor, Quantum, and Seagate, since they're the ones that let us store all that illegal stuff... I mean, if we didn't have the hard drive space, we couldn't transfer mp3s back and forth, could we?

Shit, if only John Bardeen, William B. Shockley, and Walter Brattain were alive. Then we could sue their asses for inventing the transistor. I mean, if it wasn't for them, none of this illegal stuff would be happening.

"The Internet" changes nothing. Copyright still exists. Intellectual property still exists. You might not like it. You might even have excellent reasons for not liking it. You might even be right. But technology has nothing to do with changing it!

"There are no technological fixes for sociological problems". Not in your version control system, not in your favourite programming language, not in your country.

Technology just isn't into all those things. You'll still have to do it the hard way. No matter if you're Napster or the RIAA.

Of course, since the Internet changes nothing, this also means you don't need any new laws for it.

We apologise for the inconvenience.