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Show March 13, 2001 The Forum - 6 Napster 'Court Ruling Requires Filtering December 1999 when it charged Napster, not even a year in existence, of violating copyright infringement laws. In January, the first universities began banning Napster ed. i from their campuses as it ate up huge The decision does not shut Napster amounts of the schools' bandwidth. The down, as fans had feared it would. Instead, first serious trouble came when Metallica Napster and copyright owners (mainly and Dr. Dre sued Napster, charging them record companies) will work together to with responsibility of copyright infringeOn Sunday, March 4, Napster impleprevent the illegal use of copyrighted ment. Since May 2000, Napster has experimented an early version of a program that music. Record companies must provide a enced both victories and failures in the looks for specific file names and artist-son-g list of songs to exclude from Napster's servcourtroom as it struggles to stay alive. combinations and blocks them if they ice; currently there is a list of about 135,000 Whether Napster can hang on until appear on the list given to them by record companies. July, when it becomes a paid subscription service, is still unclear. Even with its recent Both parties agree, howhU'MUJ. 'WliH tTHhillilW concession, the company still faces billions ever,, that this is not a final of dollars in damages and possible shut- solution. Napster users . down, depending on the outcome of the complain that the filtering allegations of previous copyright infringeslows down the connection ment. process, and the more songs In the meantime, Napster's competitors that are blocked, the slower are eager to take advantage of displaced it is. The record companies feel . MP3 addicts looking for their next fix. The most likely to pick up Napster's traffic is that the filtering system Gnutella. Unlike Napster, Gnutella does not does not do enough to use a central server to connect users, but eliminate piracy. Since the; instead a network, which screening is based solely on is means more that it protected from legal text, alternative spellings action. slip through the filter. Not However, other only that, but users them- -' programs selves are developing ways don't replace Napster completely in user's to get around the filter. minds. Napster's main selling point, aside from being free was how easy it was to use. For instance, programs Programs like Gnutella do not have the are available that scramble same user base as Napster. On average, filenames and search One of the fastest ways to build a retirement nest egg IT'S EA5YTD SAVE MORE THROUGH hosts about 10,000 people simultarequests in the same way so Gnutella THE POWER DFTAX OEf ERRAl is through Supplemental Retirement neously, only 1 percent of Napster's 64 milthat they evade the filters. lion registered users. Users also hate the Annuities (SRAs) from One of Napster's rivals, slow downloads and complicated sign-u- p Aimster, has already devel$102.06$ procedures. While it may be hard to proseoped a program that turns Your funds are automatically deducted from your $67,514 cute Gnutella and similar programs, users the filenames into a form, it's so build income to supplement paycheck, are not as protected as they sometimes easy to similar to Pig Latin. The it AftriM think. IP addresses of people who serve up your pension and Social Security Especially since your songs look like random files on Gnutella are easy to trace, and peoSRA contributions grow undiminished by taxes until you strings of letters and.num-ber- s $41.232 to Napster's search, ple who willfully violate copyright laws can withdraw the funds. be charged with damages of up to $150,000 $31,933 engine, but users with the per violation. program can find the song And you may even be able to borrow funds against your Rival they are looking for the t( programs continue to $13,052 same. SRA a unique benefit of choosing await the outcome of the Napster case, but way they always have-b- y su for now they are gearing up for the expectsimply typing in the title. ed surge of users when Napster fans can no 10 YEARS JO YEARS So why wait? Let TiAA-- REF's low expenses and investYEARS longer find the songs they want. Napster has been able to ment expertise help you build a , catch a these few of hidden INVEST AS UTTLE AS comfortable retirement. We but as as soon $25 a month songs, they in ihihyposhteal example, selling jvidc StOOonvmh ta 051 MiELI I discover method one through an automatic think you will find it rewarding . of fared iftsextntcni w hit an in & Js lax reiufit ' payroll plant feraOct xNftv. Knter gtmxih than rile wnw net imwnt pm scrambling song titles, in years to come. another method is devell principal talec vf t nu a wvingsacojun. Tal returns "MP3" files are a revolutionizing new investment ill flocwrtr, and kSd may vary, TV fean All involved oped. parties format that compresses huge digital alwe i ptfseoted for tilostratise parpox--s xeily and does xt fear that Napster will forevaudio files at a ratio of 11 to 1. Users teiVet actual petformasce, or predkt future results, of ny Note: Under federal tax kw, wtWra.aH pro to age catch-umay be er be playing with an encoder can take songs from 1 account. or re fleet expenses subject to restriction, and to a 10 additional tax. It seems that industry CDs and make their own MP3 files. analysts were right when Listening to the songs requires a player. Some companies sell MP3 players, but they predicted that Napster and other techmany are available for free on the Web. , : . Winamp is one nology would turn the example. The average Ensuring the future music industry on its head. v MP3 file is 3 or 4 Megabytes, which is for those who shape it. All this has happened in the relatively small. In perspective, a short two since Shawn .www.tiaa-cref.or- g years . Westminster student is given 20 Megs ' on his or her account, which would be Fanning, a profor more corrp'ctc info'rrahort on cur secuni products, an LeC0.842.2m, M. $$09, for prospectuses. Read them carefully before introduced used up by only 5 songs. But that probthe you grammer, invest I . Check with your insw uwn for va Ub.lity, 2. You may be able to invest up to the IRS mawmum of S 1 0.5CQ per year. To receive a software in January 1999. lem is easily solved by web sites that personalis'd ocuUticn of your maximum contribution, call TlAAREF at I.8C0 $42 22? 6 IIAARE? Sr.ddtwl and fcsstutonat Service, When Napster was first give members use of huge amounts of toe and Teachers Personal investors Services, Inc. d sufcote scant cs products. Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAAJ, New space, such as MyPlay, which gives introduced, the recording f Ue insurance Co.. New Yodc. ?1Y issue insurance and anyws. York. NY and Trust Company, provides trust sereaway 3 Gigs, or 300 Megs, of storage. kc$ Investment products are not fOiC insured, may lose value and are not bank guaranteed. O 2001 Teachers industry watched nervously and This technology is available with little as Napster picked up more Annuity AssooatovC oOcge Retirement EguUtesfund. New York, ?W0tC4 trouble and no cost to users. and more users, until Rachel Carlson FORUM Editor According the 9th Circuit court, a good portion of Westminster College computer users are criminals. Not for embezzling funds or looking at child pornography, but for downloading copyrighted music. The latest ruling against the embattled company Napster came Monday, March 5 as the most recent in a frenzy of legal actions. In an effort to stop Napster users from downloading copyrighted music, Napster will now be required to filter its user's files and block songs that have been copyright- songs. Once it receives notice, Napster has three days to block the song from being traded between users. The songs are only blocked from sharing, however. If a user has a song that Napster does not allow, it is not deleted, and they can still listen to it using Napster software. The song simply does not appear to other users. . . -- Deferring taxes with TIAA-CRE-F can be so rewarding, youll wonder why you didnt do it sooner. peer-to-pe- er file-shari- ng tax-deferr- TIAA-CRE- F. JP file-shari- TIAA-CRE- ng cn F. C ux-x- an k p. IAA-CR- file-shari- 1.800.842.2776 TWA-C- TIAA-CRE- F - ng |