he breakthrough Graphic User Interface that made computers easy to understand and use. Mr. Jobs also flew a pirate flag outside of his offices in California! Bill Gates III followed suit when he and The Microsoft Corporation joined Apple Computer on the premise of helping them. They then stole the code for what we now know as the Windows Operating System. What does this have to do with Napster and the RIAA? Relatively little in the grand scheme of things but it shows a common example of piracy in the right context.What is Napster, and what is the big deal? Napster is nothing more than a database program that exists on a computer server somewhere in San Mateo, CA. What that database houses is the controversy. The database houses the Internet provider addresses for more than ten million users. Each of these ten million users have in their computers an undeterminable number of songs in MP3 format. The songs range from every musical genre, Chopin to Metallica. Consumers can take store-bought compact discs, make their own MP3 files, and then add them to their shared music profile in their Napster software. Again, Napster does not hold the copyrighted material on their servers. It is stored on the computer of John Q. Public. The people are controlling what music they share with the globe. Napster has a disclaimer on its transfer page warning people not to break copyright infringements. Some people think that Napster advertises their software solely for the piracy of copyrighted music. This is not true! Nowhere on their web site do they advocate someone breaking the law. Napster also has the right to ban anyone from using their database service if they are found to have broken the copyright laws. From there, the users of Napster decide if it is worth the risk of prosecution by the Federal Government. This is not groundbreaking litigation; Universal City Studios sued the Sony Corporation in 1984 for copyright infringements. The issue was with t...
