Blast from the Past: Clay Shirky on Napster in Feed
We join the chorus of people thanking Lawrence Lee and his Tomalak's Realm for being the Web's group memory. He pointed out that Clay Shirky wrote a great piece on Napster that was published by Feed way back in April.
Likening the debate between Napster and the RIAA to the futile attempt by state and Federal governments to enforce the 55 mile per hour speed limit, Shirky wrote:
"As with the speed limit, Napster
shows us a case where millions of people
are willing to see the law, understand the
law, and violate it anyway on a daily basis.
The bad news for the RIAA is not that the
law isn't on their side. It plainly is. The bad
news for the RIAA is that in a democracy,
when the will of the people and the law
diverge too strongly for too long, it is the law
that changes."