dicting a right that was the main reason for the foundation of this country, the freedom of speech. Americans have the freedom of speech. Napster users also have this freedom. In order to implement the District Courts order, Napster would be forced to terminate is Internet directory, despite the fact that the directory serves numerous lawful purposes. Napster has the First Amendment rights to publish a directory, Napster users have First Amendment rights to have access to such a directory (Reuters, 1999). This statement explicitly states that Napster and its users have the First amendment right to use Napster. In this program thousand of people assemble together at one time to talk about music and trade music. If Napster is shut down, the courts will be infringing on the First Amendment rights of Napster and its users. In concern to the lawsuit, the RIAA is suing Napster for copyright infringement. They are suing for copyright infringement because Napster users are trading music and then burning the music onto CDs without ever having to buy them. Napster has presented a proposal that it would charge a flat one-time fee for the use of Napster (MTV News, 2001, 2). The idea of having to pay for a service may not leave a good taste in some users mouths, but on the other hand, some local users of Napster say they would be interested in subscribing to the popular music-file-sharing Web site if an appellate court shuts down the free service (McWilliams, 2001, 1A). The idea of having to pay or not to use the service is irrelevant to the argument, but if having to pay the artists is the only thing that is going to keep Napster alive and to stop the government from crushing their First Amendment rights, then the act of paying should be enforced, and both side will be satisfied. In conclusion, Napster should be protected under the First Amendment. Napster is a public forum where people can get together to talk to each other and trade music files. ...
