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Steve

Heckler, VP of Information Technology

has issued a chilling threat against Napster, and the development

of any sort of technology outside of the major entertainment conglomerate’s

grasp.

After giving a speech

at California State University, Heckler told the Summer Forty-Niner

(the student newspaper) that " The music industry will take

whatever steps it needs to protect itself and protect its revenue

streams. It will not lose that revenue stream, no matter what."

Then, sounding just

like a programmed corporate robot for Sony, and basically saying

Corporations will stop the development of any threatening technology,

he said: "Sony is going to take aggressive steps to stop

this. We will develop technology that transcends the individual

user. We will firewall Napster at the source – we will block it

at your cable company, we will block it at your phone company,

we will block it at your [Internet service provider]. We will

firewall it at your PC. These strategies are being aggressively

pursued because these is simply too much at stake." Sony,

like all of the other giant labels, are trying to play catch up

to the internet music revolution.