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Police raid Napster users

Graeme Wearden ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 16 Feb 2001 11:10 GMT

Belgian police have been raiding the homes of suspected Napster users since December 2000, the Belgian authorities admit Friday.

ZDNet Belgium reported Thursday that the Belgian arm of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) claimed to be giving police the names of thousands of suspected users of song-swapping site Napster. According to reports the Belgian police have been searching the homes of suspects since late December 2000.

The IFPI has been a vocal critic of services like Napster which allow Internet users to copy digital music from each other's computers for free. Napster lost its right to offer such services in a trial which ended Monday. It intends to appeal.

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