Why Napster matters to writing: Filesharing as a new ethic of digital delivery

Abstract

This article discusses the Napster phenomenon and its cultural significance, traces some of the threads of the current “copyright crisis,” and connects these cultural and legal dynamics to show how the current filesharing context of digital environments pertains to issues affecting writing teachers. The article (1) urges writing teachers to view the Napster moment—and the writing practice at the center of it, filesharing—in terms of the rhetorical and economic dynamics of digital publishing and in the context of public battles about copyright and intellectual property and (2) argues that digital filesharing forms the basis for an emergent ethic of digital delivery, an ethic that should lead composition teachers to rethink pedagogical approaches and to revise plagiarism policies to recognize the value of filesharing and to acknowledge Fair Use as an ethic for digital composition.