Editor's Note: Some names have been altered to conceal the identities of persons interviewed in the article.
When Napster lost its ability to allow users trade commercial music online in June 2000 after a court injunction, many programs sprung up to fill the void.
Hugh Merola '05 said he first switched to the program Morpheus after Napster.
He now uses Kazaalite, an advertisement-free version of Kazaa in addition to getting music off the campus network.
Napster let millions access to a large range of music files at no cost. Users could easily download the music to personal computers.
As Napster gained popularity, the recording industry became concerned about the possible loss in revenue from CD sales. The industry had worried no one would buy music if it were available for free online.
The culmination of the legal battle between Napster and the recording industry came in May 2000 when a federal court curtailed Napster's functions after ruling the program violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.
The DMCA prohibits evading copyright protection devices, such as digital watermarks.
After the crackdown on Napster, many University members shifted to Kazaa, which performs essentially the same functions of Napster, but also includes video and software.
Services like Kazaa have persisted because of their slightly different models. Napster used a central server that stored a list of the files held by each user.
In contrast, Kazaa uses what it calls "peer-to-peer technology," meaning that individuals can swap files directly. Thus, when one user searches for a file, his computer contacts the computers of other users rather than going through a main server.
This system is more difficult to regulate because there are multiple copies of the program, rather than a single version that can be feasibly eliminated.
While many users have made the switch, they often still mourn the fall of Napster.
"Kazaa is not nearly as good as Napster. There was a much wider variety on Napster," music professor Glenn Waldron said. "It's harder to get successful downloads on Kazaa."
Luis Brinker '05 said he agrees Napster was a superior service. However, he still often uses Kazaa.
Brinker said he also uses the University's network to get music.
"After I got to Princeton, I wanted to take advantage of the fast Internet. I just heard about Kazaa through the grapevine, because a lot of people also wanted to download free music fast," Brinker said.
Some in the University use sleep.Princeton.edu, a website that describes itself as "a glorified clipboard."
The site assembles a list of shared files on the University network. It works in the same manner as Kazaa but only among University computers.
Sites like wake.Princeton.edu and gank.Princeton.edu have similar functions for students.
Russell Mori '04 said that rather than using a service like Kazaa, he mainly uses gank.Princeton.edu.
In addition, he uses sleep.Princeton.edu and manually searches through files.
"I hear Kazaa is very worthwhile, but our network is so vast," Mori said.
While the recording industry has tried to prevent theft of copyrighted music with copy protection devices, it has not been successful.
Computer science professor Edward Felten has extensively researched copy restriction technologies.
He said he believes the discovery of a technology that would work in practice is not imminent.
"The implication is that people will continue to be able to rip movies and CDs. There are no workable technologies to prevent people from doing it, and it may be that there never will be," Felten said.
"A lot of people are working on that, but fundamentally, it's really hard to do. All attempts so far have failed," he said.
While the recording industry has not been able to shut down sharing of copyrighted music, Waldron said he believes it "has succeeded in pouring water on the fire."
"The music industry has dampened the spirit of sharing," he added.
One of the University's steps to prevent illegal use of the campus network has been to notify students about legitimate conduct through email.
These emails warn students with file-sharing programs on their computer that uploading multiple files simultaneously will get them placed on a slower part of the network.
Kazaa encourages users to share files. On its website, it explains that it ranks users on the level at which they share. Those who do not share their files are placed on a low level. The website says those rated "high" have more downloaded from them than they actually download. The website also commends those people and says they are practicing "good peer-to-peer behavior."
While the University focuses on the network, University representatives insist they are equally concerned with illegal downloading.
In a letter to The Daily Princetonian this year, OIT Policy and Security Advisor and University DMCA Agent Rita Saltz wrote that students are expected to act in accordance with University policy.
"Both 'Rights, Rules, Responsibilities' and 'Guidelines for Use of Princeton University Information Technology Resources and Internet Access' make it clear that violation of copyright is also a violation of University regulations and that disciplinary action may result," Saltz wrote.
"We all are members of the University community, expected to be familiar with, and to comply with, the policies and regulations published in the two documents cited above."
Saltz declined to comment for this article, citing a need to wait for clearance from the Office of Communications.
Should the University or the recording industry choose to enforce copyright laws on campus, it could, Felten said.
He added that the legal firepower of the recording industry has been directed at the people who build the file sharing networks.
However, it is possible to track particular file sharing activity to individuals, he said.
"Existing file sharing techniques are not anonymous," he said.
"It has been the strategy of the movie and music industry not to enforce against individual file sharers. But, there have been persistent rumors that that is going to change."
Some question the morality of downloading music without purchasing it. Felten said he believes the lack of technology obliges the individual to comply with the law.
However, Merola said he has no moral qualms about downloading music, movies or TV shows.
"Aside from a few CDs that I really really want, I wouldn't buy them anyway. If it wasn't on mp3, I'd just surf the radio or MTV," he said.
The recording industry is trying to limit services like Kazaa primarily because it wants to avoid a loss in CD sales.
If consumers can easily and freely download songs, they may have no incentive to purchase an artist's CD.
"I just download songs that I hear on the radio. I don't buy CDs, but I didn't buy CDs before," Haston said.
Brinker said that downloading music can be an incentive to buy a CD.
"I still buy CDs. The music I listen to is generally hard to find, so I still love the intimacy of finding an obscure artist and buying their CD," Brinker said.
"If I hear about a new CD, I try to sample some songs by downloading them to see if the music is worth my money."
Waldron makes a distinction between what is good for the music industry and music companies and what is good for music and music lovers.
"In the short run, there will be limited sales," he said.
"But, in the long run, there's a wider audience for music."
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