Legally, the U.S. ruling pertains only to the U.S., so there is little to stop Napster setting up shop in Canada, which has a spiky history of thumbing its nose next door. O.K., recording companies have big operations there too, and the media industry last year successfully put another cheeky start-up from Toronto out of business that was streaming network TV shows online without getting permission. So Napster can set up shop somewhere else, where American law is considered an ass. The world wide nature of the Web, however, makes this sort of thing very difficult to police. And teens and 20-somethings are proving extremely inventive these days.
Media companies hate that kind of talk.
But the music industry is forever changed, which it seems to recognize. While what happened in the San Francisco District Court today is bad for Napster, it's also a wake-up call for the media establishment to adapt their distribution systems for the Internet Age, or spend most of it in the courtroom. Time Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines .