I'm certainly not the only Penn State student that was outraged to find the e-mail concerning the use of Napster on Penn State's network in my mailbox last week. The e-mail warned students that the use of Napster to "infringe copyrighted works" could leave them subject to suspension or a permanent ban from the Penn State network. The e-mail raises a number of questions in my mind, as well as the minds of many of my classmates I'm sure.

First of all, exactly which files are copyrighted and which ones aren't? The Napster Web site and program do not have any such information listed, and individual files definitely don't have any identification as "copyrighted" or "not copyrighted." So how exactly does Penn State determine that the MP3 files a student has on his or her computer are copyrighted or not?

Also, Penn State claims that it doesn't examine the content of computers on the network, it merely "examines network traffic." Then how exactly did it determine that about 80 students on campus had copyrighted material on their computers? What are our rights as students using the Penn State network? Are school officials allowed to look at individual files on our computers? Do we not have a right to privacy with regards to the files and materials we have saved on our computers' hard drives?

The use of the Napster program has not been ruled illegal by any court of law. It is still available for download and use on the Internet. Do you think that Penn State honestly cares about copyright laws and the rights of bands and artists? Graham Spanier recently received a warning from the lawyers of Dr. Dre and Metallica (whom I've lost all respect for, by the way), who are concerned about possibly losing a few bucks because of their songs being traded on Napster. Spanier doesn't want to risk any sort of lawsuits or court battles with these millionaire crybabies, or the bad press that might come along with them. So he and Penn State officials start going after us students, threatening to take away our network connections, in the hopes of "speeding up the network" and getting the lawyers off their backs. Give me a break. Maybe instead of policing the network in search of copyright infringers, Penn State should devote more attention to policing students who are arrested for assaulting police officers or harassing female dorm residents. Besides, why is Spanier so worried about costly lawsuits? I'm sure our increase in tuition next year will be able to cover any expenses. Long live Napster!