New York University sophomore John Paul Denning is learning the hard way what post-Columbine America can do to the dark-humored - not to mention what your dorm mates can do if you're dumb enough to let them use your computer while you're out of town. In his case, it got him a stretch in the funny farm. No sooner did he come back from a trip to visit his girlfriend at Smith College than police surrounded him and carted him off to Bellevue Hospital, even removing his shoelaces to prevent a potential suicide attempt before committing him to the ward for the mentally disturbed. A paramedic in the ambulance showed him printouts of e-mail with dark humored passages about shooting, including, "Maybe I should stop showing people my new gun, but I'm so proud of it - makes me feel like a real New Yorker" and references to shooting people and himself. Dorm mates who noted he was occasionally depressed - and had once speculated that "if they'd checked their e-mails more" Columbine might have been prevented - opened his computer and saw the sent dark humored e-mails, fearing the worst. He'd meant them for his friend, whom he said had a vulgar turn of humor and would understand the meanings - and not violent ones. Denning only spent three days at Bellevue, but he was suspended from NYU for breaking a campus policy against "violence, actual or threatened, against another person or oneself." Denning was cleared by an NYU board of inquiry this week and readmitted. Not an auspicious first year at NYU for the student who transferred from the University of Iowa "for a change of pace," as he told the media. "I figured I'd have an amazing amount of interesting experiences." A Harvard University official told reporters he thinks NYU "might have" overreacted. As for NYU, officials refused comment - citing federal privacy laws - except for one who said taking action based on stolen e-mail makes everyone uncomfortable but "doesn't change what you learn."
LOS ANGELES - Metallica not only takes names, they chat with fans to explain their battle against MP3 music-swappers Napster. Various reports this week have claimed Metallica identified over 335,000 people sharing the heavy-metal band's songs online, violating copyrights. The band's attorneys were due to submit 60,000 pages of documents to Napster May 3, asking the company block those individuals from their service - the first time Napster or any other file-swappers have been named in bulk as probable copyright violators. "I don't know if it's going to put a chill on the user end," said Metallica attorney Howard King. "But it certainly is going to show other artists what they can do to get their work out of Napster." And it could also send a jolt through cyberspace, since many who use Napster or comparable music-swap softwares think they do it anonymously, or at least unnoticed. And Napster, at least, transmits enough information to track many to their own computers. NetPD, hired by Metallica to keep an eye on Napster, identified the over 335,000 named by the band's representatives. Napster, however, maintains they only act as a directory for individuals trading the files - but they also say they'll eject any users they find identified as copyright violators. Meanwhile, Metallica themselves chatted online with fans at Artistdirect.com May 2, to explain why they were waging war against Napster.
NEW YORK - Did Time Warner dump ABC for a while this week because Disney kvetched to Congress about the potential Time Warner/America Online merger? Disney is reportedly saying as much - the mouse had told Congress it was concerned that a Time/AOL deal would keep Disney from a fair Internet access. And Time yanking ABC for awhile this week - at the threshold of the all-important spring sweeps period for television - may have done a little damage for Time Warner with the regulators who, essentially, say yes or no to an AOL deal, some analysts say. Georgetown University professor William Kovacic said he would have thought Time Warner would want to stay out of the headlines until the merger is a done deal, even if a beef with Disney is irrelevant to merging with AOL. "There is always some danger that this will be seen as a way for regulators to justify reviewing this case for exclusivity issues," he told CNET. "It can make it somewhat more difficult to gain acceptance for the transaction." Time Warner's Michael Luftman, though, said his company lacks the luxury of lying low. "Disney was counting on that," he told CNET and other news sources. "They were basically blackmailing us...Our chief negotiator said they said they could make (their complaints to Washington) go away if (Time Warner would) agree to the rest of the deal." One key in the Time/Disney dispute - Disney wants Time Warner to carry more of its programs as basic and not premium service. And Time Warner doesn't expect to finish the AOL merger before it finally resolves the Disney situation. Meanwhile, the FCC is mulling whether to make sanctions against Time Warner for trying to dump ABC during sweeps period. ABC returned to the eleven Time Warner markets May 3.
--- Compiled by Humphrey Pennyworth
