The enormous popularity of file-sharing technology such as Napster is a revival of the Internet's main function before it moved into the mainstream in the mid-1990s and dot-com because analogous with instant millionaires and venture capitalists prowling for the next big thing.

Long before e-commerce became trendy, the Internet was a worldwide network mostly used by universities and researchers to share information. The Internet - created by the U.S. military in the mid-1960s as a bombproof network to connect military bases and other military agencies - functioned as an efficient way for academics to exchange ideas, thoughts and documents.

After Netscape introduced the Navigator browser software in 1995, the Internet was opened to the rest of the world. With an easy-to-use interface that let people surf through cyberspace rather than type out instructions, the Navigator sparked the dot-com boom. It was not long before businesses and investors were scrambling to get on the e-bandwagon, trying to figure out how to capitalize on this global network.

File-sharing technology, meanwhile, slipped into the background. Sure, e-mail lets people exchange documents but it is mostly seen as a communications tool. It was not until Napster burst onto the scene last year that file-sharing technology began to garner more attention.

 As Napster president Hank Berry recently put it: "Napster ... is a return to the original information-sharing approach of the Internet."

Napster is an awesome - and terrifying technology, depending on your perspective - because it lets computer users share digital information such as music files for free. For the music, movie and software industries, file-sharing technology means that there is no need for a consumer to ever make a purchase again. Why buy a new CD when you can download it for free from a computer user living in Paris?

After months of litigation, the music industry scored a big victory against Napster yesterday, July 26, when a U.S. judge issued a preliminary injunction that ordered the online music company to stop permitting the exchange of copyrighted music owned by the major music labels.

The ruling may lead to lead to the permanent closure of Napster, but it will not stop the explosive growth of file-sharing technology. New file-sharing applications that are more difficult, if not impossible, to legally tackle is being introduced on a regular basis. If the music industry thinks itis bad now, theyive seen nothing yet.

The most interesting file-sharing technologies these days are Gnutella and FreeNet. Unlike Napster, they do not have centralized directories that track the songs that being downloaded or the identities (names and/or e-mail addresses) of the people sharing information. That makes it impossible for artists like Metallica or Dr. Dre to pursue legal relief.

Gnutella, which was developed by rebel programmers at America Online Inc., is a lot like Napster. Although the interface is not as elegant or easy to use, it is a powerful tool to find all kinds of digital information on otheris peoples computers. The same goes for FreeNet, which was created by Ian Clark, a student at the University of Edinburgh.

Gnutella and FreeNet are known as peer-to-peer networks - now, of course, described as P2P networks - that let people trade information with complete anonymity. There is no way to tell who is providing and receiving files. If senior executives at music, movie and software companies are terrified now, they should be.

In a sense, the Internet is on edge of anarchy. If you think about it, it will not be long before everyone has the tools to easily acquire digital information - much the same way that people use their Netscape and Microsoft browsers to easily access Web sites.

And that's a frightening thought. ]