Napster like processes have existed for a long time in the real world. Sharing stuff like computer software, music CDs etc is prevalent even today, especially in Asia. And now we have vast corporations screaming how it’s not okay for us to do so any more on the Net, and are moving to enforce it. (Actually they’d love to enforce In Real Life too, if it were not for the financial costs.) This piece by Peter Wayner leads me to ask: will the (inevitable?) commercialisation of the web lead to the death of one of the Net’s earliest functions: to be an effective information sharing tool, even in the face of hostile environment? Will the system designed to withstand war outages succumb to copyright law and the RIAA?