Word: napstering
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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This isn't how it was supposed to be. A little more than three years ago the Recording Industry Association of America (R.I.A.A.), which represents most U.S. record labels, filed suit against Napster, the granddaddy of file-sharing services, for "contributory and vicarious copyright infringement." The R.I.A.A. won; Napster lost. A judge ordered its servers shut down. End of story...
Hardly. The file-sharing services didn't go away. They evolved, getting smarter and more decentralized and harder to shut down. Napster's network relied on a central server, an Achilles' heel that made it easier to unplug and shut down. But Kazaa, now the most popular file-sharing software, is built around a floating, distributed network of individual PCs that has no center. There's no single plug to pull. Kazaa has savvily chosen a decentralized business strategy too: it's a mirage of complicated partnerships with the official owner, Sharman Networks, tucked away on the South Pacific island...
...that otherwise honest folks blithely steal music? For me, it started with Napster. I was desperate to hear an old Loudon Wainwright III tune that hadn't yet been rereleased on CD. I found it one day online--someone had converted the entire record into MP3s and kindly uploaded the songs. I downloaded the tune and then helped myself to a rare Duane Allman rendition of Please Be with Me. I had begun my descent into hell, or wherever it is that music pilferers go at the Final Download. I'd have been thrilled to pay for them, I rationalized...
Alas, these seem only the most recent manifestations of Yale’s determination to close its students off from the world outside its gates. In 2000, caving to pressure from Metallica, Yale banned the once extremely popular but now unfortunately defunct Napster file-sharing system. Of course, when the world outside those gates is the veritable paradise of New Haven, Yale’s actions are somewhat more understandable...
...does this stuff get onto your machine? Most often, it hides behind other software as you download it. If you're a heavy user of post-Napster file-sharing programs like Morpheus or Kazaa, both known distributors of spyware, you're probably already infected. Sometimes spyware masquerades as cookies, those little files websites leave on your computer so you don't have to type your name and password every time you visit. Once on your PC, spyware can sequester itself deep inside your operating system in what are called registry files. Anti-virus software won't spot it, because...