Napster filters go under court scrutiny

Earlier this week US District Court Judge Marilyn Patel Described Napster's efforts to prevent copyright infringement thus far as "disgraceful" and threatened to shut the music-sharing site down if the situation doesn't improve.

However, further decisions are now on hold while a court expert examines the technology and processes being employed by Napster for excluding copyright infringing files from its site.

In its defence, Napster has claimed it is doing its best to filter out the offending files. Using filtering technology to search for song titles and artist names and common misspellings thereof. Napster claims it has reduced the number of offending files significantly.

However, Thomas Raschke, Program Manager European Internet Security at research group IDC, believes the Napster community will always find new ways to describe files that avoid detection. He said: "It's never going to get 100 per cent."

Shaun Fanning, founder of Napster, is featured in silicon.com's Agenda Setters 2001. For more information,see: http://www.silicon.com/agendasetters2001

By Andy Favell