By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Record label and movie studio investigators
said on Tuesday they plan to sue more than 400 college students who
used a special high-speed network to copy songs and movies.
Broadband networks made college campuses hotbeds of illegal copying,
but students now use an even faster network known as Internet2, trade
groups for the two industries said.
Designed for academic research, Internet2's extremely fast speed
allows users to download a movie in 5 minutes or a song in less than
20 seconds. Existing cable or DSL broadband networks usually take an
hour to download a movie and 2 minutes to download a song.
"Internet2 is increasingly becoming the network of choice for students
looking to steal songs and other copyrighted works on a massive
scale," said Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry
Association of America.
Those targeted in the lawsuits made an average of 3,900 files
available for copying over the network, Sherman said on a conference
call.
Users logged on to the network on Monday were sharing 99 terabytes of
material, the equivalent of an entire video-rental store, said Dan
Glickman, who heads the Motion Picture Association of America, on a
separate conference call.
The group said it sued 405 students at 18 schools. The MPAA declined
to say how many lawsuits it had filed.
Individuals were not named in the lawsuits, but their names will
likely be uncovered as the cases move forward.
Over the past two years, the RIAA has sued more than 9,000 individuals
who distribute and copy their songs using "peer to peer" software like
Grokster and Morpheus. The MPAA began to sue individuals in November.
Media companies also have sued the software makers, but so far, courts
have found they can't be held responsible for the actions of their
users. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the case by June.
Those targeted in the latest round of lawsuits used software called
i2hub, which was specifically designed for use over Internet2.
The RIAA has not sued the makers of the software, Sherman said, adding
"we are making no decision at this time about future action."
Glickman said he had a message for the creators of the software: "We
know who you are, and we strongly encourage you to stop what you are
doing."
Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.
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[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Someone please correct me if I am wrong
on this, but I thought that 'Internet2' was designed for use mostly
by sites in the '.edu' domain as a way to get around, as much as
possible, the mounds of spam and scam that has taken over so much of
the 'regular internet'. I understand 'Internet2' is by and large not
reachable from the 'regular internet' except through certain gateways,
etc. Am I right on this? PAT]
Lisa Minter (lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com)