Downloading music has evolved from the depths of one college student’s dorm room to become an almost integral part of the college experience as today’s graduating seniors have lived through – and been a part of – the early history of online file-sharing. “I think the cultural awareness and cultural knowledge about … these kinds of files has increased dramatically,” said Jim Davis, associate vice chancellor of information technology. UCLA students have certainly been involved in the movement, though it is impossible to tell the extent of their participation.
Davis said the university keeps no records of who participates in file-sharing – it only responds to notifications of violations from copyright holders. The recent efforts of those music and motion picture industry officials are the latest result of more than four years of discovering just how the law, the university and art can co-exist in the ever-evolving digital media era.
Almost four years after the end of Napster, file-sharing is still going strong. The makers of the legendary file-sharing software – including former Northeastern University student Shawn “Napster” Fanning – were ordered by a federal judge to stop allowing the trade of copyrighted materials on its network in June 2000. The ruling effectively shut the service down, bringing the online music debate to the masses in the process. Dozens of other file-sharing applications emerged in Napster’s wake, including such programs as KaZaA, Morpheus and Limewire, and music downloaders continued sharing with virtually no inhibitions.
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