Yes, I think it probably is (using Napster that is).
I wonder, though, whether using Napster is so different from copying a friend's album onto a cassette. If I personally, one time, log on to Napster and download "Rock Lobster" for my personal listening pleasure, how is that different from me borrowing my friend's B52's album and recording it onto tape? Technically, both actions constitute what you call "stealing." Similarly, most people would not think twice about taping a baseball game on NESN, or the Sopranos on HBO, or a PPV boxing event...and sending the tape to a friend or relative that did not purchase it. Again, I think that would fit the definition of stealing you are using.
I guess the biggest difference between Napster and the old analog copying onto cassettes is that with Napster we have evidence of the grand scale of copying. Before, nobody knew how many pirate tapes of various albums existed. I do recall, however, that among my friends in the 70's, everybody had dozens of mix-tapes and copies. Maybe the blatancy of Napster is what has everyone so upset.
I really have no interest in defending free Napster use (and I have personally only used it once or twice out of curiosity) but I simply don't see how it is anything more than this young generation's version of cassette tapes or VHS, and I will admit that as a kid I never once considered it wrong to tape an album.
Which brings up the larger picture, being....that the question of whether or not it is stealing is probably moot. The books are filled with laws that go unenforced because of changing social standards, or difficulty of enforcement. All of these kids that are using Napster and loving it, will tomorrow be voters, and after that legislators.
Just my two cents, since you asked.
Quahog |
