US colleges ban access to Napster

More than one third of US colleges will block students from accessing Napster, the controversial music swapping site, as the new academic year begins this week.

According to research from Gartner, 34 per cent of colleges have banned Napster including fee paying colleges Yale, Notre Dame and Seton Hall, and the universities of Arizona State, Georgia State and Texas.

Those that will allow access to Napster include private colleges Duke and Stanford, and the universities of Florida, Michigan and Oregon.

Gartner also found that the campuses of some university systems do not agree on whether to ban access. The University of California at Berkeley and Los Angeles will allow their students to download music, but authorities at San Diego will not.

According to a survey of 50 US public and private higher education establishments, log jams are no longer the chief reason for banning the technology as universities become more concerned with the legal and moral issues.

"This is a real-world class lesson on campuses nationwide," said P J McNealy, a senior analyst at Gartner. "This is where the school policies must address the student or consumer behaviour, and national copyright and censorship laws will help shape the outcome for the music industry."

Robert Labatt, a principal analyst at Gartner, said legal liabilities should also be a major consideration. "I would not want to be the university president who neglected to update the school policy regarding music downloads this year. Long legal battles can be costly, and one school could easily be singled out to set a legal precedent this year," he said.

Hank Barry, chief executive at Napster, said: "We are pleased that two thirds of the schools polled in the survey will allow their students to participate in the Napster community."

"On the bandwidth front, Napster is working in a variety of ways to manage bandwidth issues at college campuses. Our Bandwidth Management Resource Guide, which has been in place since June, is designed to help guide IT professionals to product-based solutions for various network architectures," he added.

See also:

Napster: A musical revolution online

Napster, the website, was built as a central host for users wishing to swap MP3 music files. It has sparked an almighty legal battle over its legitamacy and has changed the way people obtain music.  01 May 2001

Policy-based networks prevent data standstill

Organisations wanting to stop their networks grinding to a halt due to high demand should consider a policy-based strategy.  15 Nov 2000

Student's PC seized over MP3 files

Campus police at a US university have confiscated the computer of a 19 year-old student following claims that he was distributing downloaded MP3 music files. He is believed to have downloaded the files from music sharing website Napster.  21 Sep 2000

Napster support won't wane, say analysts

File sharing websites such as Napster will continue to grow despite the introduction of digital security and the threat of legal action, according to two separate studies.  20 Sep 2000

Napster hits back at record industry

Lawyers for controversial MP3 file sharing service Napster have accused the US record industry of withholding licensing terms, and disputed claims that the company violated copyright law.  14 Sep 2000

Napster quadruples user base

Music swapping website Napster quadrupled its user base in the US to almost five million between February and July, representing the fastest-growing application ever tracked by a research company.  12 Sep 2000

October date set for Napster trial

The lawsuit filed by US record industry representatives against MP3 file swapping software firm Napster was yesterday scheduled by a US federal appeals court for the week beginning 2 October.  30 Aug 2000

US groups slam Napster verdict

Several US web and media industry groups have filed separate legal briefs slamming last month's court verdict that controversial music file sharing site Napster is liable for copyright violation.  29 Aug 2000

MP3: making sweet music on the net

The music industry has been shaken up by the emergence of MP3-based music websites such as Napster. Critics accuse them of facilitating piracy while advocates say they make it easier for unsigned musicians to have their music heard. We look at what all the fuss is about.  08 Aug 2000

Like this story? Spread the news by clicking below:

 del.icio.us     Digg this     reddit!