In a new wave of lawsuits launched Wednesday by the Recording Industry Association of America, 405 students at 18 universities across the country were targeted for illegal file sharing through the new high-speed infrastructure, Internet2.

According to Internet2 spokesperson Lauren Kallens, Internet2 is a not-for-profit consortium consisting of 206 universities, 70 corporate members and several government agencies including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The group has dedicated themselves to developing and deploying next generation Internet technologies.

Kallens said such technology could be used to allow individuals to hold DVD-quality video-conferencing in real-time.

The high-speed network, although closed to higher education facilities and other research institutions, was exploited sometime last year by the file-sharing utility i2hub.

I2hub, like its predecessors, relies on peer-to-peer technologies to transfer data. However, unlike Kazaa or Napster, i2hub can transfer a movie in less than five minutes, whereas DSL or cable could take as long as one to two hours, RIAA president Cary Sherman said in a teleconference.

Although lawsuits were filed against 25 students at each of the 18 universities, the University of Wisconsin was not part of the group.

However, Brian Rust, UW communications manager for the Department of Information Technology, said despite not receiving subpoenas from the RIAA, it could be possible the RIAA would be sending out “cease and desist” letters instead to individuals at 120 universities who were not subpoenaed in the first round of lawsuits.

Rust said he did not understand why this new set of lawsuits was any different from previous RIAA lawsuits against students.

“They want to keep this issue in the news; they want to keep students from primarily sharing [illegally download files],” Rust said. “The only thing different about it is that students are downloading faster because they’re using Internet2.”

In fact, Rust pointed out, students often use Internet 2 without realizing it when connecting to websites or IP addresses at other member schools such as Boston College or Duke University.

Many universities have policies discouraging illegal file-trading practices. Additionally, representatives from Internet2 have said they do not condone such activity, and all member universities are required to agree to Internet2’s code of conduct.

“[Illegal file sharing] is clearly not a part of our mission,” Kallens said. “The innovation that’s going on within our community is a platform for innovation; it is used for those positive purposes and the purposes it was intended for.”

Still, Sherman made it clear illegal file sharing was hurting the music industry. According to Sherman, the average subpoenaed student had 2,300 music files, the equivalent of 175 CDs. Combined, the students had more than 1.5 million audio, video and software files and 930,000 music files, the equivalent of 70,000 CDs.

“Available for instant download, illegally and without no musicians [sic], songwriters or record company earning a cent,” Sherman said. “With this action we are putting students and users everywhere on notice that there are consequences to illegal uses of this special network.”

Just prior the RIAA’s early lawsuits in 2001, RIAA officials claimed the music industry had taken a 30 percent hit in business; by 2004 the decline had leveled off and the RIAA measured a 2 percent increase in business. However, Sherman claimed the RIAA has already faced an 8 to 9 percent hit to the music industry this year compared to 2004.