AOL's Accidental Napster

AOL's Instant Messenger provides the foundation for a new Napster-like program that lets users download copyrighted music and other files. An AOL spokesperson said, "We do not authorize attempts to use our system or our software without our permission." Unfortunately, authorization and the ways of the Internet don't always go hand-in-hand.

By Nico Detourn
August 10, 2000

With its fingers in so many Internet pies, it's no wonder America Online (NYSE: AOL) is typically found up to its elbows in controversy. And the often overlapping nature of these controversies suggests that one meaning of its famous "AOL Anywhere" strategy is that the company can't always keep track of which pie it's eating from at any given moment.

New evidence of this came out earlier this week with the launch of Aimster, a third-party Internet application that works with AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and lets users swap music and other files among their AIM "buddies." The unauthorized, Napster-like technology integrates with AIM and allows only users already on each other's buddy lists to search and share files between computers.

Being based on AIM, Aimster has instant access to a pre-existing user base of over 61 million users, while piggybacking on AOL's technology helps the application appear familiar from the start. The product is thus being positioned as a friendlier and more controlled and secure experience than Napster. In addition to the AIM version, versions that work with ICQ, Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) Messenger, and Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) MSN Messenger are expected by October.

Unauthorized twists
Commenting on Aimster, an AOL spokesperson said, "We do not authorize attempts to use our system or our software without our permission." Unfortunately, authorization and the ways of the Internet don't always go hand-in-hand.

One twist in the story is that the Gnutella open-source protocol used by Aimster to exchange files was originally developed by programmers at AOL's Nullsoft unit, which makes the popular Winamp audio player. Specifications for Gnutella were posted on the Web for a time until AOL declared it an "unauthorized freelance project" and pulled the plug on the site. But the beast was out of the bag, and Aimster essentially results from the rogue mating of one of AOL's prized calves with one of its black sheep.

Further twisting the tale, AOL has taken down a search engine at its Winamp site that allowed users to find music files in the MP3 format. Although the service was authorized by AOL, Wednesday's decision to shut it down was made under some pressure from merger-mate Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) Warner Music group, employees of which The Wall Street Journal described as "incredulous" that the service was created in the first place. Among the artists indentured to the Warner labels are Metallica, who earlier this year sued Napster for copyright infringement.

Of course, Metallica's lawsuit and the appearance of the band's mediagenic drummer at congressional hearings only added wattage to the spotlight on the music-sharing phenomenon. And that, along with some apparent incongruities among AOL's spinning pie-plates, is just more evidence of the Internet's penchant for irony and its delight in unintended consequences as technology, commerce, and law collide.

Your Turn:
Can Napster, Gnutella, Aimster, and their ilk be brought under control? Will intellectual property prove to be the ultimate commodity, available for free download at the high-speed blink of an eye? Upload your thoughts to the AOL discussion board

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