Remembering with some enthusiasm the 1960s riots at Columbia and Berkeley, I rang back Chad and his nemesis, Indiana University's computer czar Mark Bruhn to find out what was happening. And, I looked backward to a story I covered for InternetNews.com last Pearl Harbor Day. The original, from one of the wire services, before editing, ran:

<<RECORDING INDUSTRY SUES NAPSTER FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

WASHINGTON, December 7, 1999 - The RIAA announced today that, acting on behalf of its member companies, it has filed suit against Napster, a company the RIAA has alleged is operating as a haven for music piracy on the Internet.

"We love the idea of using technology to build artist communities, but that's not what Napster is all about. Napster is about facilitating piracy, and trying to build a business on the backs of artists and copyright owners," said Cary Sherman, Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel, RIAA. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, charges Napster with contributory and vicarious copyright infringement and related state laws. RIAA alleges in its filing that Napster has created, and is operating, a haven for music piracy on an unprecedented scale. By its own admission, the company is responsible for making millions of MP3 files widely available to countless Napster users around the world. As alleged by the RIAA in its complaint, the overwhelming majority of those recordings are pirated.

Napster has claimed it is trying to promote unknown artists, but its own Web site advertised that, with Napster, "you can forget wading through page after page of unknown artists" and "you'll never come up empty handed when searching for your favorite artist again!" "Many companies on the Internet are promoting artists without also trading in pirated music files," Sherman said. "Companies like UBL, IUMA, Farm Club and MP3.com prove that there are many creative ways to promote new artists online without infringing on the rights of artists and copyright owners." Pirated copies of the recordings of every artist on the current Billboard charts can be located and downloaded from Napster.

Accusations:
According to the complaint, Napster is similar to a giant online pirate bazaar: users log onto Napster servers and make their previously personal MP3 collections available for download by other Napster users who are logged on at the same time. Napster provides its users with all the facilities and means to engage in massive copyright infringement. For example, Napster provides users with a hub of central computer servers to which they connect; a continuously updated database of "links" to millions of pirated recordings; software that allows fast, efficient identification, copying and distribution of the pirated recordings; and a host of other services -- all of which enable and encourage Napster users to download millions of pirated songs as well as make available their own music library for others to copy.