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to its potential new backer. It was alarming enough to a true believer like Ritter that Napster could become an arm of a record company. Personally, it was more insulting to learn about chief operating officer Milt Olin's perks: a $50,000 signing bonus, a $1,500 monthly car allowance, and $3,200 in monthly rent for an apartment. In addition to the raft of litigation, the unresolved issues that had to be disclosed included Tom Carmody's claim "through John Fanning" that he still had the right to sell Napster-brand clothing; Draper Atlantic's recently reiterated claim of a right to get in on any new round of funding; the company's failure through June to defend the rights to its trademark; and numerous accounting and tax headaches, including the fact that Shawn, Parker, and others had never turned in receipts for their original moving expenses.

BARRY RETURNED TO PROMOTING Shawn as spokesman, albeit more carefully watched than before. Far better a likable teenager than a corporate lawyer, as far as swaying the public was concerned. That fall, in a controlled setting free from hostile questions, Shawn testified before Orrin Hatch's committee at a field hearing in the senator's home territory in Provo, Utah, laying out his intentions in creating Napster and some of how the technology worked. On September 7, 2000, Shawn appeared on the MTV Video Music Awards show, introducing Britney Spears. Shawn had been nervous about it, since he tended to clam up before crowds. He sent a message to Ian Rogers, formerly of Nullsoft, explaining that his nerves might be a problem. Rogers begged him to say something significant: It was the most prominent positive exposure for a hacker in history. "Say something; I'll even write it for you. Don't just say, 'Thanks,'" Rogers implored him.

Shawn didn't end up saying much. "I was about as nervous as I've ever been," he remembered. He even called his mother, telling her he couldn't go through with it. But he did, and he was glad. "When I was walking on stage, there were a lot of people in the crowd who were in the front area, and they were saying really nice stuff," Shawn said. "I just had to read the TelePrompTer and not freeze up." After MTV show host Carson Daly introduced Shawn to massive applause, his main message was a visual appeal for peace: He wore a Metallica T-shirt, which he told Daly had

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