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Napster founding developer Jordan “Nocarrier” Ritter, Matt “Shok” Conover, and Napster founder Shawn “Napster” Fanning in Ritter’s San Mateo, California, apartment. The three met online in a hacking and security group that Conover founded in high school.

From left to right: Seth McGann, Andrew Reiter, Dug Song (flashing a sign for Matt Conover’s computer-security group, w00w00), and Jan Koum at the DefCon hacker convention in 1999. Several members of the group, including McGann and Song, helped Shawn Fanning develop Napster. Later, McGann nearly stole the source code for chief Napster rival Gnutella, backing off only when he learned the computer he broke into belonged to Song’s friend.

Business-minded Napster cofounder Sean Parker, with FreeNet founder Ian Clarke in the background, at a San Francisco dinner for the digital elite. (Photo courtesy of Edge Foundation Inc.)

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