NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that the students were allegedly using a special Internet service available only on campuses which is supposed to be used only for research. The site, www.I2Hub.com, was allegedly used to download pirated material because of its speed.
"It's specifically was built for research and for connecting universities. You can't just call up Comcast or Verizon and say, 'Hey, I'd like to have Internet 2 at my house,'" computer expert Jim Rapoza said.
Downloading a DVD-quality version of a popular movie such as "The Matrix" on regular Internet usually takes about 25 hours. On Internet 2 it takes about 20 seconds.
"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."
In order to send a strong message prevent people from downloading movies from the Internet for free, RIAA is filing federal lawsuits against more than 400 students at 18 different colleges across the U.S., including those in the Bay State. There are 25 students who will be sued at Boston University, 11 at Harvard, 22 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and 25 at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. All were identified by their internet protocol or IP addresses.
"The students were very naive thinking that they could basically transfer 100 movies a day and no one would notice," Rapoza said.
The RIAA noticed and said they will sue anyone who violates copyright laws.
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I actually find it Ironic and funny that MIT kids got caught.
but man oh man, thats one fast connection.