Shawn Fanning (born November 22, 1980) is an American computer programmer, serial entrepreneur, and angel investor. He developed Napster, one of the first popular peer-to-peer ("P2P") file sharing platforms, in 1998. The popularity of Napster was widespread and Fanning was featured on the cover of Time magazine.
The site in its initial free P2P incarnation was shut down in 2001 after the company's unsuccessful appeal of court orders arising from its encouraging the illegal sharing of copyrighted material. A paid subscription version of the site followed, and was purchased by Rhapsody on December 1st, 2011. Following his involvement with Napster, he joined, and invested in, a number of early-stage technology startup companies.
Read more about Shawn Fanning: Snocap, Rupture, Path, Personal Life, In Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the word fanning:
“I am renewed by death, thought of my death,
The dry scent of a dying garden in September,
The wind fanning the ash of a low fire.
What I love is near at hand,
Always, in earth and air.”
—Theodore Roethke (1908–1963)