The Napster program actually connects to the other machine and grabs the selected files. When you are finished with downloading, you close the program like you would any other; you click on the X on the top-right hand corner.

Things are not as they appear, however. When you installed Napster, if you selected to find MP3's on your machine to share, which is the default selection, then you just became a distributor. The Napster program is both the client and server program. Meaning, anytime you start up the program you are acting as a server for whatever MP3 files you have on your machine. So while your searching for files to download, someone could be downloading MP3 files from your machine. Even if you chose against sharing files when you installed Napster, you could still be sharing files. The default directory for downloads is a folder in the Napster directory, which is always shared when you run the Napster program. Also, as soon as you download the file, you start sharing with other Napster users.

The company that makes Napster has declined to comment about the existence of a change root command, which would allow someone to change your MP3 sharing directory to your computers main directory, giving them access to all of your files. They also will not confirm if they keep a log of the IP activity on their servers. Such information could be very valuable to Recording Industry Association of America's lawyers. The RIAA is the organization that pushed for legislation like the NET Act and is currently involved in lawsuits with Napster and MP3.com for "facilitating piracy."

Facilitating Piracy is exactly what Napster does. Napster, Inc tries to protect themselves by claiming that since distributing MP3 files that are used with permission is not illegal, and that because none of the files reside on their server that they are not doing anything illegal. What they don't do is deny the fact that Napster is primarily used to distribute copyrighted materials.

The Napster program forces one to evaluate their ethical values. The program makes it easy to download and distribute copyrighted MP3 files. The company that created the program attempts to downplay certain key security issues, which makes one wonder about their ethical values. How would you feel if you were trying to sell something that you created and someone else is has created a way to get your product for free? In reality, it all comes down to your own views on piracy and your own ethical values-- along with how much faith you put in someone else's ethical standards.