Cryptography Reference
In-Depth Information
Now, if Alice wants to download a specific song, she executes the following.
Alice Downloads via Napster
1. She opens her Napster utility, which verifies the Internet connection, and
logs her onto the central server. This Napster server has the purpose of
indexing all Napster users, but is not used to hold MP3 files. Once the
connection with the Napster server is made, Alice's shared music files also
become available to other Napster users, in essence turning Alice's com-
puter into a small server in the Napster network. This is accomplished via
Alice's Napster utility informing the central server which files are available
on her computer for sharing.
2. She types the information concerning the song she wants, and the Napster
utility on her computer
queries
the index server for other Napster users'
computers online storing that particular song. For each match found, the
Napster server informs the Napster utility on Alice's computer and builds
a list in her results window.
3. She chooses a file and selects download. Alice's Napster utility establishes
a connection with the host system that hosts her target file, and once
accomplished, the file downloads.
4. After the downloading is completed, the host system disconnects with Alice's
system. She now has the desired song stored on her shared file for her to
access.
As long as Alice is online with the central server, other Napster users may
access music files on her computer for download. Fanning's idea was to eliminate
the use of a server in the above fashion. Given that Napster grew to literally
billions of songs available, there was no server capable of holding them. (At
its height, Napster had sixty million users per month.) The central idea in the
above is that there is no copyright violation since “friends” may share music
with “friends”. However, the courts disagreed. The central gap in the logic
was the Napster central indexing server. Once the courts ordered Napster to
stop using the central database, the Napster network was dealt a lethal blow. In
July of 2001, the lawsuit filed by the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) was successful. A judge ordered that Napster's servers stop operating.
Napster tried to rectify the situation by offering to pay millions to copyright
owners but by September 2, 2002, Napster was forced to liquidate its assets
under U.S. bankruptcy laws. At a bankruptcy auction in 2002, the Napster
name and assets were sold to Roxio, a Silicon Valley software organization.
On October 29, 2003, the Napster division of Roxio made the announcement
of their launch of Napster 2.0 where users could purchase a song to download
for about a dollar or about ten dollars for a CD, or for a monthly (unlimited-
listening) subscription. Although the new Napster is not a peer-to-peer service,
it still offers shared playlists, interactive radio, music videos, general access to
their “world's largest” musicstore, and other features. As with the old Napster,
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