MS Multimedia Skills | MS Academics | Middle School | The American School in Japan

Napster Investigation, Spring 2001

Napster is both a company and a software program. It allows people connected to the Internet to easily share files with anybody else on the Internet. However, music artists and recording companies have sued Napster claiming that the Napster is actively allows people to get around copyright laws. Your assignment as a class is to develop a website explaining the Napster issue to Middle School and High School students.

In your groups determine, as objectively as possible : 

1. What is meant by "intellectual property"?
2. What is the  history of the Napster suit.
3. What are the key issues.
4. What are the proposed remedies.

Then:

5. Relate this to a similar situation involving two people and intellectual property.
6. Suggest your own proposed remedy for the Napster issue.

As a class, 

7. determine the structure of a web and decide who is responsible for what pages. 
8. Create the web site using a common theme and design. The web site must follow all of the middle school technical standards.

Interesting web sites:

• Copyright (Multimedia Skills page)
• Napster Web Site
• Recording Industry Association of America-Napster pages
• Department of Justice, Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section
• CNN Napster Stories
• Intellectual Property Law Server