The Napster technology is not the only way to get free music from the internet. Free music has been available via Gnutella, and because Gnutella is a technology and not a company, it can't be sued and can't be shut down. Napster, however, is being sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) which is trying to shut down Napster so that people cannot get copies of songs without paying for them ("Napster: The Hot Idea of the Year," retrieved at library.northernlight.com). However, since free music is already available though other sources, the lawsuit, if successful, will not prevent users from obtaining songs via the Internet free of charge.
The current lawsuit is a major legal battle over whether Napster promotes music piracy by making available at no cost the transfer of d
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