b.cognosco

According to this press release, the University networks have been usurped by hardened criminals flouting the rights of artists worldwide and dragging network performance down to the point that simple e-mail is no longer available to poor, honest students.

This is a travesty! A travesty, I say!

As the trade group representing America's only legalized extortion racket, no one is better suited than the RIAA to recognize evil doers, or to bring them to justice. Thank God they are on the case. I will sleep better tonight.

[...] Because of the sophistication of the technology and the expertise needed to install and manage such systems, Napster network operators can't help but be aware of the copyright infringement they facilitate. Indeed, each of the accused operators has seeded his services with hundreds -- and in some cases, thousands -- of copyrighted works. And in fact, they often monitor the infringement and, in several instances, have publicly bragged about it.

Given their bandwidth and high-speed connections, college computer networks are a frequent haven for illegal file-copying. As a result, many have become so clogged -- often because of file-copying by users from outside of the college community -- that such legitimate uses of the network as email or academic research have dramatically slowed. [...]