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http://www.macnn.com/articles/01/03/05/napster.filtering/

Napster filtering falling short

updated 08:20 pm EST, Mon March 5, 2001

 
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Even as Napster begins to institute a filtering technology which attempts to prevent users from trading select copyrighted music, many of the most popular songs continue to be freely swapped on the service. Metallica and Dr. Dre alone still have over 200 songs available, and users are taking advantage of the lack of a fuzzy filtering mechanism by using simple alphabetical and numerical combinations to work around the filters.


by MacNN Staff

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  1. 0

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    03/05, 08:37pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    Wow, great workaround!

    They're still getting the songs that have been explicitly catagorised as pirated. I'll bet those people feel soooo clever when the system is shut down completely because they've proven the service to be unworkable to the extreme.

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    03/05, 08:58pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    Love it

    Love it. Okay, so that's about all I had to contribute, but have a good day anyway!

  1. 0

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    03/05, 09:38pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    Hmm...

    Well, sure will be sad when Napster is shut down and we are forced to turn to one of the MANY other programs available to listen to songs. The only thing shutting Napster down is going to accomplish is to funnel people away from Napster and expand a medium where not only songs can be traded, but movies as well. Ironic.

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    03/05, 09:52pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    MxEaTaLsLiChA.mp3

    is it that hard for you to tell that it's metallica? how about if people just resort to spelling everything backwards? haha

  1. 0

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    03/05, 10:19pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    Macagator!!!!!

    Just use Macagator ( avalable at www.download.com ) to connect to opennap servers, they will never be shut down because they are not controled by napster.

  1. 0

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    03/05, 10:22pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    opennap

    Opennap servers will be shut down. RIAA will threaten their ISPs using the DMCA.

    Same with gnutella, they will threaten the small number of users that provide the majority of the content.

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    03/05, 10:43pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    Just curious?

    Why doesn't Napster remove songs using the Internet music database, rather than trying to do it using group names and song titles? Can't the service just scan the Napster database, check the Internet music database, then remove songs if they are in violation?

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    03/05, 10:59pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    1st Ammendment Issues

    If the RIAA actually forces these ISPs to shut down users or filesharing protocols, they will have a major case against them on the basis of freedom of speech and privacy, due to the fact that they are using coercive measures to prevent individuals from accessing information and or their ability to freely distrubte non-copyrighted music. Furthermore, the RIAA should not have access to an individual's transfer logs, nor should it be able to obtain them without going through legal channels and obtaining a search warrant. No such warrant can be obtained as it would require pouring over many thousands of innocent users' download records, thus infringing on the implied right to privacy delineated in Federal Wiretapping law and the Roe v. Wade decision (yes, it's about more things than just legalizing abortion, like guaranteeing a right to privacy).

    Basically, the RIAA can shut down Napster b/c Napster is a corporate entity which has a defined arena of control and responsibility, as it's network operates on the basis of its server support. Gnutella and OpenNap are legally distinct in circumstance and the RIAA has no more right to force the ISPs in question to divulge which users have transmitted copyrighted files than it would to force the phone companies to divulge the phone numbers of people who talk with the radio on in the background.

    It is simply a question of a big, rich group of companies trying to use their corporate weight to scare much smaller companies into waiving their legal rights. I guarantee you they will never go after Sprint, AT&T Worldnet, or AOL users, as they will not be able to leverage those companies. And the first time that they succeed in booting someone smart enough to challenge that pressure, they will lose a major case (and possible class-action suit).

    Now some will say that copyright law is the key legal standard here, but it is a simple case to make that unlike Napster, the developers and distributors of OpenNap and Gnutella have no basis by which to make a profit on the exchange of these files. To make a case that all the individual users, or a majority thereof, are making a profit off of the transmission or subsequent use of copyrighted MP3s would be prohibitively expensive. Furthermore, pursuit of the ISPs as methods of illegal transit will fail as they have no right, under Telecommunications Privacy legislation, to monitor and censor the content which their clients transfer (unless otherwise stated in a contract) and therefore are no more liable than the companies which maintain the phone lines and backbones on which the signals are transmitted.

    The RIAA is blowing smoke. It is a paper tiger. When Napster succumbs to the legal pressure, millions of indivdual users will take its place.

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    03/05, 11:12pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    thanks

    For the cogent argument. I've felt the same way for quite some time - the sooner Napster dies, the better (because what fills the gap it leaves behind will not be vulnerable to the same legalities). Plus it's a pretty poorly designed protocol IMO; like many new network protocols, it looks like a second-rate Windows programmer designed it (oh wait ;).

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    03/05, 11:33pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    Napster and CDDB

    CDDB (the "internet music database" mentioned in an above post) tells the contents of a CD by doing this:
    example CD: track 1 is x length, track 2 is y length, track 3 is z length
    In the CDDB database only 1 listing has tracks of x, y, z length (in that order) so this must be the proper listing for this CD. It's brilliant, how likely is it two CDs will have 15-20 songs, each song exactly the same length (that is CD 1, track 1 has the same time length as CD 2, track 1...it ain't likely to happen).

    Anyhow, on Napster (just do a search for any random popular song, one that hasn't been filtered already that is) there are many different lengths of each song. Some people cut the songs off early, some record from CD the exact length of the track, many add a 1 or 2 second blank space before and/or after. So using CDDB wouldn't effectively eliminate all copyrighted songs, it would also eat up a lot of bandwidth on Napsters servers.

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