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Angry Napster users and people tired of all the back and forth between the company and the music industry are voicing their displeasure.
Two days after Napster denied access to 317,377 people who Metallica claims are illegally offering its music for trade, the creator of a user-run Napster support site said he has been blocked from using the service because he provides links to an open-source website.
"Napster is fighting against censorship, but they are trying to censor everybody else," said Diego Hayes, a London-based computer consultant. "All my messages on the forum were erased. There were over 400 messages. I get about 1,000 messages a day from people, and suddenly I didn't exist anymore."
Hayes runs Naphoria, a non-commercial website where people can learn how to access Napster from outside the United States. The site also provides links to other commercial file-sharing applications such as Scour Exchange.
But when Hayes added a link to Napigator, a website promoting open-source programming that allows people to create clones of the Napster software, he said he was denied entry into Napster's system.
"I've been supporting Napster for quite some time, but they have stopped supporting me," Hayes said. "It's like they think that I'm trying to get a piece of the pie, only they don't have any moneymaking business plan."
But Napster spokesman Dan Wool said the company wouldn't ban anyone because of a link to an open-source website. The only reason someone would be denied access would be if they were pirating music files, Wool said.
On Thursday, Napster user Tamara BaVincio said that she was unfairly denied access to the system despite having no music on her hard drive.
BaVincio and other users denied access can challenge the validity of the ban.
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