Napster should not be regulated

Last week, alumnus Mark Cuban offered to pay for the bandwidth to support Napster for students' use. Also, Georgia Tech decided not to ban Napster because their students "are bright enough to find ways around it." Other universities have made the same decision, albeit for different reasons.\nIU will continue its Napster ban, despite the precedent set around the country to keep Napster available to students. But it is not the place of this administration to regulate content on the Internet.\nAs of now, the courts have not given their final word on the case filed by the music industry against Napster. Under the U.S. legal system, a party is innocent until proven guilty. In other words, Napster is legal until proven illegal.\nMost colleges, even in the Big Ten, are citing academic principle as the justification for keeping Napster available to students. \n"Limiting Internet access and making content-based decisions for our university community runs counter to our fundamental and cherished concepts of academic freedom and free speech," wrote University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor David Ward in response to recording artists' request for a ban, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. \nSome might argue Napster has nothing to do with academia and that these arguments are nothing more than a smoke screen for those who want to download free music. But another place exists where students can use copyrighted material for free -- the library. But the book publishing industry does not seem crippled by the billions of people who have visited libraries instead of purchasing books. \nNot only does IU's Napster ban set bad precedent, it is ineffective in stopping the behavior it intends to discourage -- copying MP3 files and using University bandwidth. There are ways to skirt the ban. And if the administration really wanted to stop MP3 copying and trading, it would have to ban the hundreds of other sites where MP3s are available. \nA more academic approach to the problem would be to instruct the students on the ethical implications of the situation. Then students could make an informed, ethical decision about what sites to use. This approach might not be as effective as some would like, but it is more effective than ignoring the problem and allowing access to sites until someone's lawyer complains.\nThe University's administration seems to be caving in on the Napster issue just to avoid a lawsuit. But this administration has proven it is not afraid to go to court. Since the University does take on some legal battles, it should also consider also fighting for academic freedom and access to information for students, as do other universities.