The site matches users looking for a particular genre, artist or song with other users who have the desired file, allowing them to transfer a copy of the MP3 to their computer. The service has raised hackles among some in the music industry, who argue that Napster makes it easy to pirate music. Since releasing the beta version of its software late last year, San Mateo-based Napster has rocketed to popularity among college students. Popularity may prove its downfall. Thus far, Oregon State, Northwestern University, Washington State, Harvard, UC San Diego and many others have banned the service.
Students say that s censorship.
But the schools say it s not about censorship it s about bandwidth. Officials at Indiana University said the school cut off access to Napster after they discovered the service was consuming 61 percent of their bandwidth, slowing network speed and costing the university thousands of dollars. Northwestern University banned the service when it found Napster was taking up a third of its bandwidth. Paulson has set up a petition on his site to try to pressure schools that have banned Napster into reinstating the service, hoping to collect 10,000 signatures by mid-March. At press time, he claimed nearly 2,700 people had signed on.