Universities disagree on banning access to Napster

by Michael Bevelaqua staff writer

Colleges and universities are at an indecision on whether to ban access to Napster from their networks. Napster is the popular program, loved by teenagers and young adults and loathed by the record industry, which provides software for users to share music on the Internet.

The record industry is now looking at colleges and universities to ban access to Napster, Inc. So far, 34 percent of U.S. colleges and universities have banned access to napster on their campus networks. Anyone on the Napster network can download any MP3 that any other user has put up. This includes songs and even complete albums. In some instances, an advanced copy of an album can be downloaded from Napster before its actual release date. The record industry charges that the pre-release impedes sales of the album while others contend that it provides publicity and increases sales. This brings up the case that the popular heavy metal band Metallica has against Napster. Unauthorized copying and sharing of their most recent album has caused a considerable drop in record sales for the band.

Dr. Dre now joins Metallica and most of the record industry in their efforts to shut down or at least regulate Napster. Their efforts, however, have been stifled somewhat by major colleges and universities.

A lawyer representing the musicians sent a letter to 25 major schools seeking to ban access to Napster from their networks. So far 15 schools have answered no.

Judith Rodin, president of the University of Pennsylvania, said in a letter, that Penn "found the request troubling because it requested a blanket ban on access, not simply to specific unlawful material.

Rodin also went on to say that, "Although Penn respects the intellectual property of others, the university believes that free inquiry and expression also are important to its educational mission and should not be impeded."

Penn may refuse to ban Napster. However, the recording industry, which considers Napster's service wholesale piracy, won a preliminary injunction in federal court against the company.

Among the institutions that have banned access to Napster, include the University of Notre Dame, Yale University, University of Southern California and the University of Texas.

Among the institutions that have not banned access are Harvard University, University of California at Los Angeles and Villanova University.

Villanova University actually restricted access because it slowed their network, but reversed this decision when the ban did not alleviate this problem.

Villanova now has restricted access to music sharing sites in order to observe Napster's effect on the performance of the network. Villanova did not restrict access because of the copyright infringement issue.

When asked if Cabrini should ban or restrict access to Napster, first-year student, Scott Elkisch, said, "No, it's the easiest and most affordable way to get the music I want."

Dr. Ronald Becht, the vice president for graduate and professional studies said, "As of now, there is no policy or talk of a policy to ban Napster (from the Cabrini College network)." He also went on to say that; "If a court rules that Napster is illegal that the college will respect the court's decision."

Anyone on campus will agree that there are problems with the network being down. When asked if this could be due to the excessive use of Napster, Dr. Becht, replied, "It is a possibility and will be looked into if the problems with the network persist."

A technical expert from Drexel University has been hired for three days a week to locate and eliminate any problems with the network.