Users Outwit Napster’s Effort to Block Copyrighted Songs

Controversial song-swapping service Napster Inc. began blocking access to thousands of copyrighted songs this weekend, but users quickly discovered that the company’s filtering program is full of holes and that most songs are still available.

Just hours after the blocking program was put into place, Napster subscribers began saving their MP3 music files with slightly misspelled song titles and band names to circumvent the company’s attempt to police itself.

Rock act Metallica, for example, has now become “Matalica,” and the act’s popular track “Enter Sandman” has been dubbed by thousands as “Enter The Sandman.”

Fans are also flocking to “translator” Web sites, where they can type in the name of an artist or a song title and learn what permutations are being used on Napster.

“Consumers will not be thwarted,” said Bruce Forest, vice president of the media entertainment and communications practice at Sapient Corp. “People want their free music and, when the protection is so weak, they’re going to fight back and get it.”

Napster announced last week that it would begin blocking access to copyrighted songs after a federal appellate court ruled that the Redwood City, Calif.-based company could be held liable for copyright infringement and that an injunction was warranted.

Napster attorney David Boies told U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel in San Francisco on Friday that the company would launch its song-blocking initiative over the weekend, preventing an estimated 64 million users from accessing certain tracks.

Now, the court will decide whether Napster’s solution is thorough enough, or whether stricter measures must be taken, such as shutting down the service.

“Napster’s plans looked good on paper, but results are all that matter,” said Anthony Berman, a San Francisco-based entertainment attorney who specializes in new-media issues. “In court, good intentions don’t mean anything.”

Indeed, the fight over who will police Napster--and how it will be done--continues to be hotly disputed. The issue is expected to be debated Friday, when Napster, the record labels and music publishers meet with a court-appointed mediator.

The record companies argue that it is up to Napster to block the songs, no matter how the files are named. Hilary Rosen, president of the record labels’ trade group Recording Industry Assn. of America, said the music industry expects Napster to “honor the representations they made to the court.”

Napster insists that the labels must identify each file name to avoid the chance of filtering out material that can legitimately be shared on the service.

Yet even Napster is aware that its filter is still in its infancy and falling short of a complete solution. Company staffers were working Monday to expand the screening process and make the filter more robust, sources said.

Fans, however, also have been hard at work to thwart the system. Napster users started exchanging ideas late Sunday on ways to get around the filters, both in the company’s chat rooms and on bulletin boards. At least one rival, Aimster, released a free software program to aid them. Dubbed the “Aimster Pig Encoder,” the program uses pig Latin to rename all of a Napster user’s MP3 music files.

As of late Monday, Aimster officials said, about 3,000 people were downloading the program each hour.

“The file names on your hard drive are your personal property and should not be monitored by anyone without your permission,” the Albany, N.Y.-based company wrote on its Web site. “Any resemblance between pigs and the people who are attempting to violate your privacy is purely coincidental.”

Despite such enthusiasm for outwitting the system, some Napster fans warned that renaming the files ultimately will kill the pleasure of using the service.

“How are you possibly going to create a way of letting everyone know how to find these files, but still keep Napster and the labels in the dark?” asked one Napster user in a chat room. “I’d rather stop using Napster and go on to some other service.”

That could be bad news for record labels, who are starting to warm up to the idea of a legal version of Napster. Media and entertainment giant Vivendi Universal said Monday it might join Napster’s new online music venture with Bertelsmann, which cut a deal earlier this year with Napster to develop a legitimate, fee-based music service.

A key factor would be how effective Napster’s move is to block free trade of various copyrighted tracks, said Vivendi Universal’s Chief Executive Jean-Marie Messier.

“If a legitimate [Napster] service that demonstrates secure technology is developed, we may license . . . [our content] to Napster,” Messier said.

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Reuters was used in compiling this report.