Music Group To Sue Students Over Internet2 Downloads

The super-fast “Internet2″ network that connects universities researching the next-generation Internet has found new followers in college students who download pirated music and movies.

Entertainment groups said last month they intend to sue hundreds of students accused of illegally distributing copyrighted songs and films across college campuses using the private research network, which boasts speeds hundreds of times faster than the Internet.

How much faster? Internet2 researchers once demonstrated they can download a DVD-quality copy of the popular movie “The Matrix” in 30 seconds over their network, a feat they say would take roughly 25 hours over the Internet.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the recording industry's heavyweight lobby, filed federal lawsuits last month against 405 students at 18 colleges with access to the Internet2 network. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) said it will file an unspecified number of lawsuits against Internet2 users.

The recording industry says it found evidence of more illegal activity at 140 more schools in 41 states and sent warning letters to university presidents.

Internet2 is used by several million university students, researchers and professionals around the world, but is generally inaccessible to the public.

“We don't condone or support illegal file-sharing,” says Internet2's chief executive, Doug Van Houweling. “We've always understood that just like there is a lot of file-sharing going on on the public Internet, there's also some file-sharing going on on Internet2.”

The recording industry says some students were illegally sharing across Internet2 as many as 13,600 music files ' far more than most Internet users ' and that the average number of songs offered illegally by the students was 2,300 each.

“We cannot let this high-speed network become a zone of lawlessness where the normal rules don't apply,” says Cary Sherman, president of the recording association.

Van Houweling cautioned universities against filtering data to block illegal activity in ways that would slow the network's performance.

He says Internet2 does not attempt to screen illegal files from the vast amounts of data flowing over the network because of technical limitations and privacy concerns. He says Internet2 also enjoys liability protection in the courts as long as the organization can't be shown to be responsible for material flowing over the network.

The lawsuits illustrate the aggressiveness of the entertainment industry in trying to stifle piracy even on up-and-coming technologies, as it continues to individually sue thousands of computer users accused of sharing copyrighted songs and films over the public Internet.

The recording industry says the lawsuits also pierce the perception by Internet2 researchers that they operate in a closed environment that entertainment groups cannot monitor.

“We are putting students and administrators everywhere on notice that there are consequences for unlawful uses of this special network,” Sherman says.

The RIAA declined to explain how it could detect piracy over Internet2 except to say it acted lawfully. Internet2's corporate members include Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., a leading music label.

Even Internet2 officials say they were unaware how the entertainment companies traced the purportedly illegal activity on their network.

“They haven't shared with us,” Van Houweling says. “We have provided no special access to any of those organizations that would enable them in some nonstandard way to gain access to this information.”

The super-fast “Internet2″ network that connects universities researching the next-generation Internet has found new followers in college students who download pirated music and movies.

Entertainment groups said last month they intend to sue hundreds of students accused of illegally distributing copyrighted songs and films across college campuses using the private research network, which boasts speeds hundreds of times faster than the Internet.

How much faster? Internet2 researchers once demonstrated they can download a DVD-quality copy of the popular movie “The Matrix” in 30 seconds over their network, a feat they say would take roughly 25 hours over the Internet.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the recording industry's heavyweight lobby, filed federal lawsuits last month against 405 students at 18 colleges with access to the Internet2 network. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) said it will file an unspecified number of lawsuits against Internet2 users.

The recording industry says it found evidence of more illegal activity at 140 more schools in 41 states and sent warning letters to university presidents.

Internet2 is used by several million university students, researchers and professionals around the world, but is generally inaccessible to the public.

“We don't condone or support illegal file-sharing,” says Internet2's chief executive, Doug Van Houweling. “We've always understood that just like there is a lot of file-sharing going on on the public Internet, there's also some file-sharing going on on Internet2.”

The recording industry says some students were illegally sharing across Internet2 as many as 13,600 music files ' far more than most Internet users ' and that the average number of songs offered illegally by the students was 2,300 each.

“We cannot let this high-speed network become a zone of lawlessness where the normal rules don't apply,” says Cary Sherman, president of the recording association.

Van Houweling cautioned universities against filtering data to block illegal activity in ways that would slow the network's performance.

He says Internet2 does not attempt to screen illegal files from the vast amounts of data flowing over the network because of technical limitations and privacy concerns. He says Internet2 also enjoys liability protection in the courts as long as the organization can't be shown to be responsible for material flowing over the network.

The lawsuits illustrate the aggressiveness of the entertainment industry in trying to stifle piracy even on up-and-coming technologies, as it continues to individually sue thousands of computer users accused of sharing copyrighted songs and films over the public Internet.

The recording industry says the lawsuits also pierce the perception by Internet2 researchers that they operate in a closed environment that entertainment groups cannot monitor.

“We are putting students and administrators everywhere on notice that there are consequences for unlawful uses of this special network,” Sherman says.

The RIAA declined to explain how it could detect piracy over Internet2 except to say it acted lawfully. Internet2's corporate members include Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., a leading music label.

Even Internet2 officials say they were unaware how the entertainment companies traced the purportedly illegal activity on their network.

“They haven't shared with us,” Van Houweling says. “We have provided no special access to any of those organizations that would enable them in some nonstandard way to gain access to this information.”