Word: napstering
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Davis would not say how HASCS was limiting network traffic, but a message from FAS Network Operations to the HASCS newsgroup yesterday said HASCS had placed restrictions "limiting the bandwidth of packets matching the signature of the Napster application...
...move came four days after Harvard officially announced that it would not block access to Napster in response to a request by a lawyer representing Dr. Dre and the rock group Metallica...
Harvard's recent refusal to block student access to the Napster music trading service is commendable. The University's reply, along with similar refusals by other universities such as Stanford and Princeton, provides a welcome contrast to the sad cowardice of Yale, which fully blocked Napster access last April in response to a lawsuit. More importantly, the decision reaffirms the principle that universities should be allowed to trust students with responsibility for their online conduct. The question that Harvard must now confront is one of enforcement when students make the wrong decision: The University must use discretion when addressing accusations...
Harvard's decision was correct on both practical and principled grounds. Metallica and Dr. Dre, the recording artists who had requested the Napster ban, have not yet taken legal action against the University, nor are they likely to do so before Napster's own legal battle is resolved. Furthermore, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) affords protections to service providers such as Harvard that would make such a lawsuit difficult to pursue. However, we are glad to see that Harvard did not make its decision only because of its secure legal position--Assistant Provost for Information Technology Daniel D. Moriarty...
Although the Napster system may frequently be used to access copyrighted material, the same could be said of telnet, ftp, HTTP, NFS, Windows networking and every other electronic communications protocol yet devised. A ban on Internet traffic directed through Napster might create a precedent that would force the University to take steps more restrictive of student freedoms...