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the audience afterward, Parker was coy to the point of appearing smug. The rest of the time, Paulson felt, he was interested in being the guest big shot at college parties. And Paulson realized his politics were very different from those held by many Napster fans. He got e-mails in support of his campaign that he felt were Marxist in tone, including statements opposing all property rights.

After a couple of weeks of talking about his concerns with Parker and Barber and getting nowhere, Paulson wrote an open letter to both Metallica and Napster on his website, explaining that his views had evolved. "There are many kids out there today that do not respect the fact that artists work long and hard to put out albums. They take quality music for granted and they don't fully realize that even though a musician may be popular and on the radio, it doesn't necessarily mean they are full of money. Even if they are, there is no excuse to break the law, and copyright infringement is breaking the law," Paulson wrote. "I saw much potential with Napster, yet at the same time I had many issues on how Napster was used as a haven for piracy, something that I abhor." Paulson said that he "got to know more about the music business, as well as the Silicon Valley way of doing things" and decided that "the company is knowingly facilitating the transmission of copyrighted material, and they are making a profit from that without any crackdown." Napster was giving the MP3 format a bad name by disingenuously issuing statements against piracy without doing anything about it. "I personally want to see a plan that explicates (in detail) what the company plans on doing about the rampant illegal use" that he estimated made up 90 percent of Napster's traffic.

Since Paulson had been newsworthy before, his about-face brought even greater media attention. Napster employees were livid. Parker phoned Paulson and called him a traitor as an employee screamed in the background that Napster was a revolution that couldn't be stopped, Paulson said. Brandon Barber sent him a fiery e-mail: "I'm struggling to understand your logic on this shit. Are you looking for new press angles to support? . . . Your negative campaigning is the least of our press worries—we have larger fish to fry. However, I think it's safe to say that the sentiment around here is shock, disbelief and betrayal. On a personal level, I vouched for your ass internally and now you've called my judgment into question." Barber signed off, "It's a small world. Have fun."

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