TCLUG Archive
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Re: [TCLUG:14607] Napster
"Eric M. Hopper" wrote:
>
> On Mon, Mar 13, 2000 at 11:20:42AM -0600, Timothy Wilson wrote:
> > Hey everyone,
> >
> > It looks like we're starting to see the Napster flood here at school.
> > I've noticed a number of students trying to install it on various
> > machines. We're probably going to have to end up blocking it to
> > preserve what bandwidth we've got. So, does Napster run on a special
> > port? Is the software available from sites other than napster.com?
> > I'd appreciate any info anyone could provide.
>
> *think* Is there any way to simply traffic shape Napster traffic
> to only consume, say, 10% of your bandwidth, rather than turning it off
> totally? It would be nice if there were some sort of priority queueing
> in routers that would allow you to cause Napster packets to be dropped
> in favor of other traffic.
Personally, I think Tim is doing what he has to do. There is little
reason for students to be downloading all of this music in their High
School computer lab. It just wastes computer time and bandwidth that
other students might need. Not to mention the fact that some people
need to concentrate in those labs (I would rather die than be forced to
work in a computer lab where someone is listening to LFO..)
> I can understand about bandwidth problems, but there were
> similar bandwidth issues with some of the Usenet groups in the early
> 90's, and, for the most part, that didn't result in those groups being
> blocked. It's the record industry's response, and the feeling that
> somehow it's illegal anyway that makes the irritatnt warrant blocking
> instead of some less harsh solution.
I agree that the solution is equivalent to chewing gum and bailing wire,
but it is meant to be a stop-gap solution until more bandwidth can be
acquired, or other changes are made. Like any other such solution, the
restriction should be removed when it is no longer a problem.
Also, I should point out that many Usenet servers have blacklists and
most (if not all) do not carry all of the different groups.
> I've come to the conclusion, after thinking about it for a long
> time (years), that copyright law and patent law are in need of
> fundamental change, and/or elimination. That change won't happen
> without a revolution of sorts. Supressing Napster is supressing that
> revolution.
As the old saying goes, "there is more than one way to skin a cat." It
is my opinion that it is much better to put your energies toward solving
these problems through the channels that are already available, rather
than flagrantly advertising the fact that you are doing something
illegal. Play along a bit, and things just might move a little quicker.
I know that many of the available paths of action are corrupted in one
way or another, but also realize that the music industry doesn't
necessarily have a high standing with the American public. We know that
artists get ripped off, we know that money is going to all the wrong
people, we know that many artists are merely manufactured in an
assembly-line process that boosts profits for the industry and
completely marginalizes the value of the individual artists. In my
opinion, it is best to shine in comparison by doing things the Right
Way.
There are problems with the copyright and patent laws, and I know they
need to be modified in some way. Unfortunately, I think the work up to
this point has been going in the wrong directions, motivated by the
companies that have always been the worst offenders in this area. It
will take years, maybe even decades, to sort out everything and come up
with a set of laws that protect those who actually need the protection
that these laws are supposed to provide.
Of course, this will all be moot by then, since everyone will be using
open source software and reading open source documents, right? ;-)
--
_ _ _ _ _ ___ _ _ _ ___ _ _ __ In an alternate universe,
/ \/ \(_)| ' // ._\ / - \(_)/ ./| ' /(__ their name is Macrohard.
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[ Mike Hicks | http://umn.edu/~hick0088/ | mailto:hick0088@umn.edu ]