APPLICATIONS

Record companies have sued another Indiana University (IU) computer-user for sharing music files, this time as part of a batch of lawsuits targeting users of the super-fast “Internet2” network. The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, identifies the IU user only as John Doe. It was part of a batch of lawsuits coordinated by the Recording Industry Association of America targeting 91 users at 20 colleges and universities that accuse Internet2 users of copyright infringement. The Internet2 is used by several million university students, researchers and professionals around the world but is generally inaccessible to the public. The action follows similar lawsuits last month against Internet2 users who shared an average of 3,900 music files, the industry group said. “The network has been hijacked, because of its speed, for massive illegal file-sharing,” said Jenni Engebretsen, a spokeswoman for the recording industry group. Arista Records and Interscope Records sued the IU network user, alleging illegal sharing of music files including “So Fresh, So Clean” by Outkast, “What’s the Difference?” and “Still D.R.E.” by Dr. Dre and “U Remind Me” by Usher. The companies also subpoenaed IU records to learn the network user’s identity. Most, but not all, file-sharers are students. In March 2004, record companies sued five IU users for illegal file-sharing. Four of the cases were resolved by negotiation, but in one case, a student did not settle and was ordered by a judge to pay $6,750.