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So much Internet, so little time: Grokster

In catching up the blog grading, I again came across Erin's comment at the end of her post:

Another thing I found interesting in the Valenti interview was about how the RIAA has forced Verizon to hand over the names of customers who were swapping copyright-protected content. I guess my question is, why isn’t the Verizon company being targeted for creating and implementing devices that allow this swapping to take place in the first place??

There were two major suits over this very issue: A&M v Napster and MGM v Grokster. Both tried to settle the same question Erin asks: “Is the creator of a technology responsible for the uses it is put to?” We didn’t cover these lawsuits here because there was only so much time and space in the course, but if you’re interested in the topic, click through on those links and do some additional googling.

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