Napster: White-trash technology of the Aughties?

Tyler Hamilton, one of the “kids” begrudgingly hired by the Lou Grants at the Toronto Star, distinguishes himself as the only nonstupid “E-biz” (sorry, “@Biz”) columnist in the benighted technology backwater known as Canada. (The presence of digital telephone lines and cable TV in every household proves nothing.) The jury is still out as to Hamilton’s cuteness (we lean toward a designation of “rather quite”), though his name is certainly of boy-band calibre.

En tout cas, Hamilton discloses the facts of a supersecret study by some thinktank or other that shows Canadian Napster users are poorer and less educated. What a surprise. “ ‘Napster appeals to groups that have traditionally been laggards in adopting the Internet,’ the study concludes.” (“Laggards.” Nice.) “ ‘There are content types that will attract late adopters to the Internet.’ ”

In other words, the people more likely to use Napster in Canada are those unlikely to be sophisticated enough to know that stealing copyrighted works is wrong.

Ever heard the expression “Your readers are our shoplifters”?

Posted on 2001-03-21