'U' won't ban Napster

By David Enders

Daily Staff Reporter

Hank Barry, the Interim Chief Executive Officer of Napster Inc. and a University alum, visited campus to talk to students at the Business and Law schools Friday, the same day University officials announced their decision not to ban the use of Napster.

Napster, a computer program created by then 19-year-old Northeastern University student Shawn Fanning last year, searches computers logged onto it for mp3 music files, and allows users to upload or download them.

University Chief Information Officer Jose-Marie Griffiths took a stance on the issue after receiving a letter from Howard King, the lawyer for artists Dr. Dre and Metallica, who have sued Napster for copyright infringement.

King's letter, which was sent to major universities earlier this month, asked that they shut down Napster because of a "moral, ethical, and legal obligation" to keep copyrighted material from being exchanged over their systems. King cited the Digital Copyright Act of 1998, and asked the universities to respond by Friday.

On Tuesday, Griffiths sent King a letter rebutting that stance and defending the use of Napster for locating uncopyrighted materials.

"This has been an issue we've been looking at a long time," Griffiths said. "We expect individuals to be aware of copyright laws. We are a community of adults."

King did not return messages left at his office throughout the weekend.

Besides the University, eight other institutions announced Thursday and Friday that they would not prohibit Napster for similar reasons. Three of the schools that received letters have yet to respond.

"We're very gratified that the schools have decided to support their students," Barry said. "We think that the decisions are absolutely consistent with the issues of individual freedom and expression, and we hope other students will follow.

"These schools are not endorsing Napster, they are supporting free expression - and that's an important principle."

Instead of the ban, the University is going ahead with a campaign of public awareness, including posters and an eventual symposium on the issue.

"We think at U of M that we have a responsibility to take issues like this and engage our entire community," Griffiths said.

"Our responsibility is to bring this forward this fall into a more formal symposium with different viewpoints," she said. "Then no one on campus will be able to say they don't know what's going on."

Some colleges and universities have banned the use of Napster because of the amount of space, or bandwidth, downloaded music takes up on networks.

"For us, it's not a bandwidth problem," Griffiths said.

Answering questions at Hutchins Hall on Friday afternoon, Barry spoke about his hope for an out of court settlement, the possibility of a record industry-supported Napster-style paysite and why Napster does not violate copyright law.

"It's an index," Barry said. "That's really the service being provided. But I think that's one of the problems I face - that's not obvious.

"If there is substantial non-infringing use of the technology, we're not going to shut it down because there is some infringing activities," Barry said.

"People use Napster as a sample ... that is the behavior of our customers. I think of it as the headphones you can listen to at Tower Records."

Barry said that Napster just makes an already available service easier to use.

"There are tons of chat rooms where you can do the same thing - we're making it more convenient. Facilitate it? Absolutely. We provide location information."

Barry also mentioned the possibility of making Napster available for an "attractive fee" instead of the current free format.

"We want to be able to pay the record companies as some kind of settlement.

"The artists should be compensated," he said.

Barry said if Napster were to become a pay site, he would expect to lose up to 90 percent of its 30 million users immediately.

"We're going to suffer a diminution of content. I won't do it without industry support," he said.

But even with that loss, Barry said he would be able to pay $500-600 million a year to record companies.

Barry added that he would not attempt to become a pay site unless it was an industry-supported move. Although Hummer-Winbald Partners, the venture company Barry works for, bought 20 percent of Napster for $13.5 million, Barry said Napster has yet to earn any money.

"Not a cent," he said.

He also took a shot at the negotiating tactics of the five major label record companies.

"Thirty million people - if you were a guy running a record company, you would have to make a deal with Napster, because if you don't, you competitor would," Barry said. "The only reason no one has made a deal with me is because they know no one else will.

"I told the record companies, don't shut this thing out, plug into it."

A decision on Napster's appeal is expected in San Francisco circuit court Oct. 2. But until then, most students will continue to download.

"Definitely. I just started using it," said first-year law student Stephanie Hu, who had come to see Barry speak.

The universities that on Thursday said they would not comply with the bands' request are the Georgia Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State, Princeton, Stanford and Duke universities, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Officials at Harvard and Columbia universities and the University of Florida system have not yet made their decisions public.

ELLIE WHITE/Daily

Interim Napster Inc. Chief Executive Officer Hank Barry, a University alum, speaks to Business and Law students Friday at Hutchins Hall.