DEBATE2000

and welcome to Debate2000. No Bush vs. Gore here. This is the real deal; the main event. Napster, Gnutella, MP3 vs. the RIAA and Copyright laws. Were talking Metallica and Dr. Dre here dude, how kewl is that. To nap or not to nap, that is the question. Is it a black and white issue? Is it a red, white and blue issue? We want to hear your voice America. Actually, anybody who has a voice will do. You will not be graded on spelling or grammar. We just have one request, try to keep the language as clean as possible. We want to be able to welcome those who are not able to vote. Are you laughing? This is a passionate issue, so anything goes. So read the position statements below and tell us what you think. It is your First Amendment right!

Napster & Gnutella - Back off man, I can use them any way I want to. It is my right. Sure, you can use Napster or Gnutella, but if you steal from me.... Hey I have a copyright.

Napster and Gnutella - Hey! Leave Napster alone. Napster and Gnutella (and all the other similar products and services) are great. They provide a much needed service for MP3 (or any other file type) starved fans. But out of nowhere musicians, most notably Metallica and Dr. Dre, along with the RIAA have gone to the American Judicial system to put a stop to Napster. Why? Are they money grubbing fat assholes? No. They are just a bunch of misguided individuals who have no clue when it comes to the digital revolution. I understand that they want to protect their copyrights and their royalties. I know I want my favorite bands to get all that is due them. But come on. Everybody borrows, swaps, and copies their friends music collections to see if they like what their friends have. Just a simple try before you buy. And thanks to our federal government and the cold war, a system was put in place that vastly increased our circle of friends. But, as with any innovation their are the usual suspects called bad apples. They are everywhere and they are in all walks of life. We all are being punished because of them. Ask yourself this question, How many people have Smith & Wesson killed last year? Zero? That would be a good guess, but guns they make have been involved in the premature expiration of many people. Is it their fault? Of course not. The only guilty party is the one pulling the trigger. Napster and Gnutella is not pulling the trigger, they are just providing the gun. And in this case a very loaded gun and surprisingly Napster includes trigger locks. For example, more than 317,000 Napster members were expunged from the system in May for Metallica abuses and Dr. Dre provided Napster with 239,612 members who were violating his copyrights. How many times has Mr. Xerox been sued for copyright? Well I do not know, but I am sure he never was. How many times were you given school materials from a photocopier in lieu of the actual materials? A lot and all of those most likely are a violation. How many schools or teachers have been sued? How many libraries have been sued? What about libraries that have CDs that can be borrowed? I am sure people are taping those. How many libraries have Metallica, Dr. Dre or the RIAA sued? I rest my case. I think?

What is your viewpoint. Click on the link below and add your own opinion or read those of your brethren. L

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E OK it's time we all stopped and took a real close look at these so called Service Sites namely Napster and Gnutella. These sites say that they are just there to let the average American and in fact the whole world, freely trade music namely MP3 files. Hello? Isn't there something that says that I as an artist who create music has a right to maintain the control of the work that I produce and to earn a living off of that work if I so choose to? Oh yes, it's called COPYRIGHT LAWS!!!! This is not about money. It's about the rights of artists to control how their materials are used and distributed. If the record companies decided that this was the new way that music will be distributed, across the net at instantaneous speeds, so be it, as long as those artists and those record companies make their well deserved income from the production of their works. But the folks at Napster especially and those involved in Gnutella open source project, would have you believe that this is just a service and that we cannot control what our users distribute. This too is a fallacy, if these groups wanted to they could simply not make their service available. Now we know that is not going to happen. They could block those file types from being distributed across their service. Groups like Metallica and rapper Dr. Dre are both in positions where they have more then enough money from the sale of their respective millions of albums. What they are concerned about is how their work is distributed. Metallica is a group that has worked incredibly hard to achieve the success that they have reached. They are one of the few groups that has earned the right to own their own Master Tapes. Now that this will earn them money well in to the future we all know. If they own the material outright then why then is it not their right to own how this material can be distributed. Don't get me wrong, I think that what the Internet has offered the world is immeasurable. Our lives have been forever changed, for the better I believe, but with all change there are bumps in the road, challenges that we have to overcome. I think that we can and will work past this situation between Napster and Gnutella and the RIAA and those artists that choose to take an action that this person is right and just. Let me know what you think. ARTISTS RIGHTS!!!!!!!!

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Napster & Gnutella - Back off man, I can use them any way I want to. It is my right.		Sure, you can use Napster or Gnutella, but if you steal from me.... Hey I have a copyright.
Napster and Gnutella - Hey! Leave Napster alone. Napster and Gnutella (and all the other similar products and services) are great. They provide a much needed service for MP3 (or any other file type) starved fans. But out of nowhere musicians, most notably Metallica and Dr. Dre, along with the RIAA have gone to the American Judicial system to put a stop to Napster. Why? Are they money grubbing fat assholes? No. They are just a bunch of misguided individuals who have no clue when it comes to the digital revolution. I understand that they want to protect their copyrights and their royalties. I know I want my favorite bands to get all that is due them. But come on. Everybody borrows, swaps, and copies their friends music collections to see if they like what their friends have. Just a simple try before you buy. And thanks to our federal government and the cold war, a system was put in place that vastly increased our circle of friends. But, as with any innovation their are the usual suspects called bad apples. They are everywhere and they are in all walks of life. We all are being punished because of them. Ask yourself this question, How many people have Smith & Wesson killed last year? Zero? That would be a good guess, but guns they make have been involved in the premature expiration of many people. Is it their fault? Of course not. The only guilty party is the one pulling the trigger. Napster and Gnutella is not pulling the trigger, they are just providing the gun. And in this case a very loaded gun and surprisingly Napster includes trigger locks. For example, more than 317,000 Napster members were expunged from the system in May for Metallica abuses and Dr. Dre provided Napster with 239,612 members who were violating his copyrights. How many times has Mr. Xerox been sued for copyright? Well I do not know, but I am sure he never was. How many times were you given school materials from a photocopier in lieu of the actual materials? A lot and all of those most likely are a violation. How many schools or teachers have been sued? How many libraries have been sued? What about libraries that have CDs that can be borrowed? I am sure people are taping those. How many libraries have Metallica, Dr. Dre or the RIAA sued? I rest my case. I think? What is your viewpoint. Click on the link below and add your own opinion or read those of your brethren.	L E A R N M O R E C L I C K H E R E	OK it's time we all stopped and took a real close look at these so called Service Sites namely Napster and Gnutella. These sites say that they are just there to let the average American and in fact the whole world, freely trade music namely MP3 files. Hello? Isn't there something that says that I as an artist who create music has a right to maintain the control of the work that I produce and to earn a living off of that work if I so choose to? Oh yes, it's called COPYRIGHT LAWS!!!! This is not about money. It's about the rights of artists to control how their materials are used and distributed. If the record companies decided that this was the new way that music will be distributed, across the net at instantaneous speeds, so be it, as long as those artists and those record companies make their well deserved income from the production of their works. But the folks at Napster especially and those involved in Gnutella open source project, would have you believe that this is just a service and that we cannot control what our users distribute. This too is a fallacy, if these groups wanted to they could simply not make their service available. Now we know that is not going to happen. They could block those file types from being distributed across their service. Groups like Metallica and rapper Dr. Dre are both in positions where they have more then enough money from the sale of their respective millions of albums. What they are concerned about is how their work is distributed. Metallica is a group that has worked incredibly hard to achieve the success that they have reached. They are one of the few groups that has earned the right to own their own Master Tapes. Now that this will earn them money well in to the future we all know. If they own the material outright then why then is it not their right to own how this material can be distributed. Don't get me wrong, I think that what the Internet has offered the world is immeasurable. Our lives have been forever changed, for the better I believe, but with all change there are bumps in the road, challenges that we have to overcome. I think that we can and will work past this situation between Napster and Gnutella and the RIAA and those artists that choose to take an action that this person is right and just. Let me know what you think. ARTISTS RIGHTS!!!!!!!!

DEBATE2000

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