WASHINGTON -- With rare exceptions, congressional hearings are staid affairs, populated by septuagenarian legislators in bad suits and witnesses who dutifully recite their prepared statements.
In other words, they're decidedly not-exciting places to spend your morning.
Napster hopes to change all that. The increasingly imperiled firm hopes to transform file-swapping addicts into a new generation of political activists by encouraging everyone it can to show up at a "teach-in" at Catholic University and a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week.
To generate this kind of Million Geek March, Napster has created an Action Center inviting its subscribers to gather at the Union Station subway stop and march about four blocks to the Dirksen Senate Office Building. As a bonus, the company says, "the first 1,000 people to RSVP and come to the hearing will receive a free Napster T-shirt" as well as tickets to a concert at a local club.
The only problem: There's only room for a mere 125 audience members in room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, the 1,600-square foot gathering spot for the Judiciary Committee's Online Entertainment and Copyright Law hearing next Tuesday at 10 a.m.
"There's no way we can fit that many people in," an amused committee spokeswoman said about Napster's plans.
Manus Cooney, a Napster vice president and lobbyist, says next week's festivities should be viewed as an opportunity for users to meet with their legislators, and not as a rally or march.
"We're going to encourage people to talk with their members of Congress," Cooney said. "We want people to come to Washington and educate them.... All we're trying to do is educate (our users) about how the system works and get them involved."
Napster founder Shawn Fanning is supposed to show up for Monday's teach-in, and Napster CEO Hank Barry is scheduled to testify on Tuesday. The rest of the witnesses are not finalized, but consumer groups and the recording industry are likely to be represented.
"For politicians looking for an issue that resonates with the next generation of voters, this is a pretty good one," said Cooney, former chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary committee. "We see this as being fun. God forbid, someone says, 'Let's get involved. Let's go to Washington and have a good time.'"
First, however, Napster has to get past the U.S. Capitol Police, who lack any sense of humor about protests -- geek or other. The police say that any gathering of 20 or more people that wants to walk from Union Station to Capitol Hill must take a number and stand in line.
"That's going to border on a demonstration activity," Lt. Dan Nichols of the Capitol Police said. "We're going to have to contact the organizers."
Capitol police regulations restrict what kind of signs people can carry and the size of the signs. Complicating matters is that Union Station itself comes under the jurisdiction of the Amtrak police, the Napster-assembly area by the subway is patrolled by Metro Transit police, and city police are responsible for nearby Massachusetts Avenue.
Says Nichols: "They need to apply for a permit. We'll process the permit and issue it. There are certain regulations they need to follow."
Hollywood might well say the same thing. The Napster imbroglio stems from what music companies view as the company's willingness to countenance file-swapping in violation of U.S. copyright laws, and record labels are complaining that Napster has not complied with a court order requiring it to filter songs.
Since Napster's future in the courts looks increasingly dim, the company is turning to Congress instead.
Napster's Cooney likened the Napsterization of D.C. to the lobbying trips organized by nearly every other special-interest group or professional organization. The usual practice is for members of a group to arrive in Washington and receive "talking points" handouts and briefings from lobbyists to use when meeting with their legislators.
"This is no different, in my view, from when there's an education bill being marked up and teachers come to town," Cooney said.
Judiciary chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has expressed moderate support for Napster -- but he has also said he does not want to rewrite copyright law, and it seems unlikely that a horde of Napsterites in the audience will change his mind.
A Hatch spokeswoman said: "I'm not sure if they're going to move the hearing or not. Sometimes there's an overflow room."
Another option would be the Caucus Room in the next-door Russell Senate office building, which at 3,600 square feet would be the largest possible meeting space. But even that room can only hold 350 spectators.
"Oh, we can't accommodate that many people," said Lt. Nichols of the Capitol Police, about Napster's talk of thousands of attendees. He suggested they may rotate people through the back of the room, in the same way the Supreme Court does during well-attended sessions.
It's tempting to see Napster's day in D.C. as an example of a free-wheeling company meeting unforeseen restrictions in Washington bureaucratelia, and there's some truth to that view. Even the company's well-intentioned offer of free tickets to the concert at the 9:30 Club to the first 1,000 users who show up at the hearing may get Napster in trouble.
Says Nichols: "I'll have to look into that to see if there were any violations of rules."
