Senator opposes Clinton admin's Napster stance

Two weeks ago, the US Justice Department and Copyright Office filed briefs with the Appeals Court hearing the Napster case, deriding the file-sharing service's legal and intellectual positions. Many headlines reported that the US Government had taken sides against Napster. Notwithstanding, the powerful Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who chairs the important Senate Judiciary Committee that influences copyright law, has sent notice to the court that those who purported to speak on behalf of the full US government were doing so inaccurately. Hatch and other members of his committee have taken a far more sympathetic view toward file-sharing technologies and his involvement is expected to reduce the weight that the administration's briefs will have on the case.

For various perspectives on this story, see wired.com, news.com and/or idg.net.