do is prevent programs like Napster from coming out, they gave every teenage hacker the incentive to write their own” (“RIAA…”). Weekly emphasizes that any media attention is good attention. Due to Napster’s success, three other music file sharing sites became known for distributing “pirated” files: MP3.com, ArtistDirect.com, and Launch Media. Dave Goldberg, the CEO of Launch Media, said, “there’s going to be lots of different ways to get pirated music, this is just a different way,”(“Napster…”). Some other ways to acquire pirated music are recording off the radio, recording a compact disc onto a cassette, or burning a copy of a compact disc. The MP3 software promotes piracy and has security problems, but it’s also “still in beta,” (“RIAA…”). Loses in which the recording industry has endured is due to Napster, the RIAA states (Huffstutter). This program is a little more than a year old and causing controversy because of the copyright infringement laws. The contributory copyright infringement, which Napster is being sued for by the RIAA, is solely the user’s fault. “The software user agreement says that ‘copying or distributing unauthorized MP3 files may violate United States and foreign copyright laws. Compliance with the copyright law remains your responsibility” (“Napster…”); this is taken from the contract of the Napster program. The user must read and convey an agreement with the contract, in order to sign on to Napster after the program is downloaded to the computer’s hard drive. The fan who is downloading illegal files is the person who should be sued, not the program. “The downloading of any copyrighted music from the Web without permission-even for one-time or personal use-is illegal” (France). The penalty for “contributory and vicarious copyright infr...
