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Napster Goes Political

NPR's Rick Karr reports that Napster, the controversial online music-sharing service, has upped its profile in D.C.: It's retained a prominent GOP lobbying firm, hired as its chief counsel a former staffer for GOP copyright stalwart Orrin Hatch, courted right-libertarian think tanks, and encouraged users to call their members of Congress. Can the electoral power of 70-million Napster-users be harnessed to trump the established lobbying clout of the (mostly-Democratic-leaning) recording industry?

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