Re: Napster destroys Western Civilization

On Wed, 10 May 2000, Daniel Lee <dlee[_at_]library.utah.edu> wrote:
>
> Yes the creators of Napster "provide this product/service with the
> knowledge (and even the reasonable expectation) that it will be used
> to make unauthorized reproductions of music." But Netscape and
> Microsoft make web browsers with the full understanding that people,
> minors included, will use it to look at blatantly illegal content.
> Following this argument, we would have the Justice Department going
> after them for contributing to the delinquincy of minors.

You make a good point here. A browser itself performs a similar function to Napster. Netscape or IE are the mechanism that allows an individual to digitize text or images or multimedia and distribute them over the web. A significant difference is the greater proportion of non-infringing uses for browsers.

George L. Abbott
Head, Media Services Department
Syracuse University Library
Syracuse, NY 13244-2010
(V) 315-443-2438
(F) 315-443-9510
Internet: glabbott[_at_]syr.edu Received on Thu May 11 2000 - 18:26:07 GMT