RE: Crooks

Because that's all Napster really does. It is one big dynamic searchable list. Napster doesn't store the files anywhere. Their users do.

That's really stretching it. Here's an analogy.

12 year old kids are fighting in the middle east, in kashmir, in africa, in los angeles! They have semiautomatic and automatic machine guns. They have ammo. They're getting killed.

But... are the armies to blame for these kids getting blown to pieces in battle?

What you're saying is the adults, the armies (gangs) don't have any responsibility -- they didn't pull the triggers, they didn't get the kids killed -- they just trained the kids to use guns, gave them guns, gave them ammo, told them where to go, and let them fight.

That's what Napster is doing -- they're giving people all the tools they need to break the law. And they're facilitating the entire experience. They want you to remember they helped you get the music -- they want to be responsible for your pleasant user experience.

Should Napster be the ones to make sure that the contents of thousands of folders on thousands of computers around the world don't contain a single byte of pirated music?

They should not knowingly allow people to break the law. That's aiding and abetting (sp?) a crime. That's illegal. Their policies state you must not break copyright laws, but they let it happen every second of every day. Metallica had the balls to call them on that pathetic crutch of a defense.

If the answer is yes, should Metallica start suing Google or AltaVista or Slashdot or any other list of Metallica MP3s? Should they sue you if I point to an MP3 of One from this post?

Napster is not "just" a dynamic searchable list. Napster is not just a search engine. It's an entire infrastructure. Once you've found a song you want from Napster's dynamic searchable list, what do you do? Do you get that persons e-mail address, or phone number, so you can contact them personally and ask them if you can download their song(s)? Does that person ask you for proof you have the right to download that music, if it's copyrighted material?

No.

Napster has everything built in. It's not like you need to figure out how to use an FTP client, set up an FTP server, any of that. They have a file transfer client built in, and their software does everything it can to make sure you can not only search this dynamic searchable list (just links), but also download the files, even if they're illegally obtained, and then play them.

Search engines don't do any of that. They provide search services. If a page has a link to an MP3 file, whether it's available via HTTP or FTP, you're on your own to download that music. The search engines don't aid you in doing that whatsoever.

Jim