Shawn Fanning

Programmer, Organization leader

1980 –

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Who is Shawn Fanning?

Shawn Fanning is an American computer programmer, serial entrepreneur, and angel investor. He developed Napster, one of the first popular peer-to-peer 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 1, 2011. Following his involvement with Napster, he joined, and invested in, a number of early-stage technology startup companies.

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Born
Nov 22, 1980
Brockton
Also known as
  • Napster Fanning
Parents
Nationality
  • United States of America
Profession
Education
  • Northeastern University
    ( - 1999)
  • Harwich High School
    ( - 1998)
  • Northwestern University
Employment
  • SNOCAP, Inc.

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

Citation

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"Shawn Fanning." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/shawn_fanning>.

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