Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2000 22:34:22 -0700
Subject: Re: kmfdm




OOTSONATI-AT-aol.com wrote:

> Speaking of Metallica, a few weeks ago they blacklisted their fans
> that have downloaded MP3's of their songs. They sent out a list of
> names to several telecommunications companies. Kinda nice of them too,
> considering bootlegs were how they became so well known in the first
> place. Much like the Grateful Dead.

Erm... that's not quite the right story...

Metallica (or, properly, Metallica's lawyers) surveyed a few days of
Napster use, and compiled a huge list of usernames of people who had
exchanged Metallica songs. They sent this list to Napster (and only to
Napster), saying, in effect, do something or we're coming after you. So
Napster banned the usernames listed in Metallica's document.

Metallica only had the usernames - the handles that people using Napster
go by. They had no other information on the users - there's no way to
get them bar subpeonaing [er... spellcheck!] Napster to release personal
information - a very, very unlikely scenario unless that person is an
mp3 kingpin or something.

I also saw an interview on either the Fox News Channel (don't ask) or
MSNBC (don't ask) with Lars Ulrich of Metallica where he explicitly
stated that the band has no problem, and in fact encourages exchanging
mp3s of their live performances.

And the whole banning of usernames is a bit of ruse anyway. Just
uninstall and reinstall Napster and voila! new username.

joshua h