RIAA to Sue Internet2 Users

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: jfguerra <jfguerra () cinci rr com>
Reply-To: <jfguerra () cinci rr com>
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 13:33:30 -0400
To: <dave () farber net>
Subject: RIAA to Sue Internet2 Users

Dave:
This appeared in today¹s Wall Street Journal.  It is of interest since it
seems organizations not directly using/connected to Internet2 are becoming
aware of illegal file sharing.  I am not sure this is something for IP but I
thought I¹d pass it on.
 
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111332296709604743,00.html?mod=home_whats
_news_us 

 
RIAA to Sue Internet2 Users

Hundreds of College Students Accused
Of Using Research Network to Swap Songs
Associated Press
April 12, 2005 12:57 p.m.

The recording industry intends to sue hundreds of college students accused
of illegally distributing music and movies across Internet2, the super-fast
computer network connecting leading universities for researching the next
generation of the Internet, industry officials said Tuesday.

The Washington-based Recording Industry Association of America, the trade
group for the largest labels, said it will file federal copyright lawsuits
Wednesday against 405 students at 18 colleges with access to the Internet2
network, which boasts speeds hundreds of times faster than the Internet.

Researchers at Internet2 once demonstrated they can download a DVD-quality
copy of the popular movie "The Matrix" in 30 seconds over their network, a
feat they said would take roughly 25 hours over the Internet.

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," said 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 said 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. It said it found evidence of more illegal file-sharing at
140 more schools in 41 states and sent warning letters to university
presidents.

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

The Motion Picture Association of America also was expected to file federal
copyright lawsuits Wednesday against college students with access to
Internet2.

"The high performance of Internet2 makes it attractive for a lot of
applications, not just file-sharing," Mr. Van Houweling said. He cautioned
universities against filtering data to block illegal activity in ways that
would slow the research network's performance.

"It's possible to attack this problem in ways that do compromise the
performance," he said.<snip>

-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org
To manage your subscription, go to
  http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/