Steve
Heckler
, VP of Information Technologyhas 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.
