I2hub
Encyclopedia
i2hub was a peer-to-peer
file sharing service and program
designed and intended primarily for use by university and college students. The program was created by Wayne Chang
, a student at University of Massachusetts, Amherst
. Wayne Chang had previously worked at the original Napster
while attending high school in Haverhill, Massachusetts
.
The main advantage of i2hub was its utilization of Internet2
, which was a special network that connected universities around the world. It allows for data transfer rates much faster than typical Internet connections. Because of this, download speeds through i2hub were usually much faster than through other peer-to-peer networks. The service gained traction quickly.
also had just launched in February 2004, a month before i2hub. Both i2hub and Facebook were gaining attention from the press. In August 2004, Mark Zuckerberg
, Andrew McCollum
, Adam D'Angelo
, and Sean Parker
of Facebook launched a competing peer-to-peer file sharing service called Wirehog
. Traction was low compared to i2hub, and Facebook ultimately shut it down.
. A partnership allegedly formed between i2hub and ConnectU. The partnership, called The Winklevoss Chang Group, jointly advertised their properties through bus advertisements as well as press releases. i2hub integrated its popular software with ConnectU's website, as part of the partnership. The team also jointly launched several projects and initiatives, including:
(RIAA) for its ability to share copyrighted materials through a faster medium. On October 5, 2004, Cary Sherman
, the president of the RIAA, talked about i2hub in a statement to the United States House of Representatives
. On April 12, 2005, the RIAA announced it was suing 405 i2hub users, students at 18 colleges and universities, for copyright infringement
. On September 22, 2005, the United States House of Representatives
had another hearing to discuss i2hub. On November 14, 2005, i2hub was shut down with the message "RIP 11/14/2005. It was a good run. Forced to shut down by the industry."
On January 17, 2006, the Wall Street Journal wrote that UMASS students that were sued for using i2hub wanted founder Wayne Chang to pay for their lawsuits. Wayne Chang and his attorney, Charles Baker, who also represented StreamCast Networks (makers of the Morpheus
P2P software), responded saying that i2hub has no liability in the matter and is protected by the EULA. The lawsuit was never filed by the UMASS students.
project, and named among the defendants ConnectU, Cameron Winklevoss
, Tyler Winklevoss
, Divya Narendra
, and Wayne Chang
. Settlement was reached where Facebook acquired ConnectU for 1,253,326 shares of Facebook stock and an additional $20 million in cash. On August 26, 2010, New York Times reported that Facebook shares were trading at $76 per share in the secondary market, putting the total settlement value at close to $120 million. Another lawsuit was filed to undo the settlement as Facebook allegedly misrepresented the value of the stock by more than 4x. If the settlement was adjusted to match, the total value would be over $466 million.
and The i2hub Organization launched a lawsuit against ConnectU and its founders, Cameron Winklevoss
, Tyler Winklevoss
, and Divya Narendra
, seeking 50% of the settlement. The complaint says "The Winklevosses and Howard Winklevoss filed [a] patent application, U.S. Patent Application No 20060212395, on or around March 15, 2005, but did not list Chang as a co-inventor." It also states "Through this litigation, Chang asserts his ownership interest in The Winklevoss Chang Group and ConnectU
, including the settlement proceeds." Lee Gesmer (of prominent law firm Gesmer Updegrove, LLP) posted the detailed 33-page complaint online.
On May 13, 2011, it was reported that Judge Peter Lauriat made a ruling against the Winklevosses. Chang's case against them could proceed. The Winklevosses had argued that the court lacks jurisdiction because the settlement with Facebook has not been distributed and therefore Chang hasn't suffered any injury. Judge Lauriat wrote, "The flaw in this argument is that defendants appear to conflate loss of the settlement proceed with loss of rights. Chang alleges that he has received nothing in return for the substantial benefits he provided to ConnectU, including the value of his work, as well as i2hub's users and goodwill." Lauriat also wrote that, although Chang's claims to the settlement are "too speculative to confer standing, his claims with respect to an ownership in ConnectU are not. They constitute an injury separate and distinct from his possible share of the settlement proceeds. The court concludes that Chang has pled sufficient facts to confer standing with respect to his claims against the Winklevoss defendants."
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
file sharing service and program
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
designed and intended primarily for use by university and college students. The program was created by Wayne Chang
Wayne Chang
Wayne Chang is an American entrepreneur and computer programmer. He is best known for creating i2hub, a peer-to-peer filesharing network.-Personal life:...
, a student at University of Massachusetts, Amherst
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...
. Wayne Chang had previously worked at the original Napster
Napster
Napster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files that were typically digitally encoded music as MP3 format files...
while attending high school in Haverhill, Massachusetts
Haverhill, Massachusetts
Haverhill is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 60,879 at the 2010 census.Located on the Merrimack River, it began as a farming community that would evolve into an important industrial center, beginning with sawmills and gristmills run by water power. In the...
.
The main advantage of i2hub was its utilization of Internet2
Internet2
Internet2 is an advanced not-for-profit US networking consortium led by members from the research and education communities, industry, and government....
, which was a special network that connected universities around the world. It allows for data transfer rates much faster than typical Internet connections. Because of this, download speeds through i2hub were usually much faster than through other peer-to-peer networks. The service gained traction quickly.
i2hub is launched
The service was launched in March 2004 and ultimately expanded to over 400 universities and colleges both in the United States and abroad. It rapidly gained both users and publicity due to its speed and ease of use.Competition from Facebook
FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
also had just launched in February 2004, a month before i2hub. Both i2hub and Facebook were gaining attention from the press. In August 2004, Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chief executive and president...
, Andrew McCollum
Andrew McCollum
Andrew McCollum is a co-founder of Facebook and an angel investor. He attended Harvard University with co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and others on the founding team. He worked at Facebook from February 2004 to September 2006...
, Adam D'Angelo
Adam D'Angelo
Adam D'Angelo is the chief executive and co-founder of Quora, an online knowledge market based in Palo Alto, California.He was chief technology officer of Facebook, and also served as its vice president of engineering.He left Facebook in 2008...
, and Sean Parker
Sean Parker
Sean Parker is an American technology businessman and entrepreneur. He co-founded Napster, Plaxo, Causes, and Airtime, and was Facebook's founding president. His net worth is estimated at $2.1 billion.-Early life:...
of Facebook launched a competing peer-to-peer file sharing service called Wirehog
Wirehog
Wirehog was a friend-to-friend file sharing program that was linked to Facebook and allowed people to transfer files directly between computers.- History :...
. Traction was low compared to i2hub, and Facebook ultimately shut it down.
The Winklevoss Chang Group
As users flocked to the service, it attracted the attention of ConnectUConnectU
ConnectU was a social networking website launched on May 21, 2004 that was founded by Harvard students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra in December 2002. Users could add people as friends, send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about...
. A partnership allegedly formed between i2hub and ConnectU. The partnership, called The Winklevoss Chang Group, jointly advertised their properties through bus advertisements as well as press releases. i2hub integrated its popular software with ConnectU's website, as part of the partnership. The team also jointly launched several projects and initiatives, including:
- Jungalu.com, an internet-based book exchange
- StallScribbles.com, an online "anonymous confessions" board
- Digital Flyers, a portal for purchasing advertisements to be placed on the various WCG websites and on i2hub
- ConnectHi (also known as ConnectHigh and theyearbook.org), an effort to penetrate the high school social networking market
- ConnectGroups, an initiative to provide clubs and organizations with a means for their members to communicate online with each other about their organizations
- The Winklevoss Chang Representative Program, a sales representative program which WCG used to establish a presence on college campuses and to promote ConnectU and the other WCG properties
- The Rep Center, an internet-based portal, accessible through ConnectU.com, providing a centralized location for the representatives of The Winklevoss Chang Representative Program to communicate and earn points (redeemable for prizes) by recruiting and signing up new users for all of WCG's properties
- Social Butterfly, a feature added to ConnectU to enable users to consolidate their accounts at various social networking sites, such as Facebook, and make that information accessible through ConnectU
- US Patent Application 20060212395, related to a method of purchasing of copyrighted computer files through affinity programs, such as using points from a credit card to purchase copyrighted movies.
Legal pressure
The network was criticized by the Recording Industry Association of AmericaRecording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA) for its ability to share copyrighted materials through a faster medium. On October 5, 2004, Cary Sherman
Cary Sherman
Cary H. Sherman is currently the President of the Recording Industry Association of America as has been for the past 13 years.-Education:Sherman graduated from Cornell University in 1968, and Harvard Law School in 1971.-Career:...
, the president of the RIAA, talked about i2hub in a statement to the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. On April 12, 2005, the RIAA announced it was suing 405 i2hub users, students at 18 colleges and universities, for copyright infringement
Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :...
. On September 22, 2005, the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
had another hearing to discuss i2hub. On November 14, 2005, i2hub was shut down with the message "RIP 11/14/2005. It was a good run. Forced to shut down by the industry."
On January 17, 2006, the Wall Street Journal wrote that UMASS students that were sued for using i2hub wanted founder Wayne Chang to pay for their lawsuits. Wayne Chang and his attorney, Charles Baker, who also represented StreamCast Networks (makers of the Morpheus
Morpheus (computer program)
Morpheus was a file sharing and searching peer-to-peer client for Microsoft Windows, developed and distributed by the company StreamCast, that originally used the Opennap protocol, but later supported many different peer-to-peer protocols...
P2P software), responded saying that i2hub has no liability in the matter and is protected by the EULA. The lawsuit was never filed by the UMASS students.
Facebook lawsuits
ConnectU had sued Facebook in early 2004. Facebook countersued in regards to the team's Social ButterflySocial Butterfly
Social butterfly means a gregarious person.It may also refer to* Social Butterfly, a character in the comic book series Livewires...
project, and named among the defendants ConnectU, Cameron Winklevoss
Cameron Winklevoss
Cameron Howard Winklevoss is an American rower and entrepreneur. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner Tyler Winklevoss. Cameron and his brother are known for co-founding HarvardConnection along with Harvard...
, Tyler Winklevoss
Tyler Winklevoss
Tyler Howard Winklevoss is an American rower and entrepreneur. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner Cameron Winklevoss...
, Divya Narendra
Divya Narendra
Divya Narendra is an American businessman. He is currently the CEO and co-founder of SumZero. He also co-founded HarvardConnection with Harvard classmates Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss....
, and Wayne Chang
Wayne Chang
Wayne Chang is an American entrepreneur and computer programmer. He is best known for creating i2hub, a peer-to-peer filesharing network.-Personal life:...
. Settlement was reached where Facebook acquired ConnectU for 1,253,326 shares of Facebook stock and an additional $20 million in cash. On August 26, 2010, New York Times reported that Facebook shares were trading at $76 per share in the secondary market, putting the total settlement value at close to $120 million. Another lawsuit was filed to undo the settlement as Facebook allegedly misrepresented the value of the stock by more than 4x. If the settlement was adjusted to match, the total value would be over $466 million.
The Winklevoss Chang Group lawsuit
On December 21, 2009, i2hub founder Wayne ChangWayne Chang
Wayne Chang is an American entrepreneur and computer programmer. He is best known for creating i2hub, a peer-to-peer filesharing network.-Personal life:...
and The i2hub Organization launched a lawsuit against ConnectU and its founders, Cameron Winklevoss
Cameron Winklevoss
Cameron Howard Winklevoss is an American rower and entrepreneur. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner Tyler Winklevoss. Cameron and his brother are known for co-founding HarvardConnection along with Harvard...
, Tyler Winklevoss
Tyler Winklevoss
Tyler Howard Winklevoss is an American rower and entrepreneur. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner Cameron Winklevoss...
, and Divya Narendra
Divya Narendra
Divya Narendra is an American businessman. He is currently the CEO and co-founder of SumZero. He also co-founded HarvardConnection with Harvard classmates Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss....
, seeking 50% of the settlement. The complaint says "The Winklevosses and Howard Winklevoss filed [a] patent application, U.S. Patent Application No 20060212395, on or around March 15, 2005, but did not list Chang as a co-inventor." It also states "Through this litigation, Chang asserts his ownership interest in The Winklevoss Chang Group and ConnectU
ConnectU
ConnectU was a social networking website launched on May 21, 2004 that was founded by Harvard students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra in December 2002. Users could add people as friends, send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about...
, including the settlement proceeds." Lee Gesmer (of prominent law firm Gesmer Updegrove, LLP) posted the detailed 33-page complaint online.
On May 13, 2011, it was reported that Judge Peter Lauriat made a ruling against the Winklevosses. Chang's case against them could proceed. The Winklevosses had argued that the court lacks jurisdiction because the settlement with Facebook has not been distributed and therefore Chang hasn't suffered any injury. Judge Lauriat wrote, "The flaw in this argument is that defendants appear to conflate loss of the settlement proceed with loss of rights. Chang alleges that he has received nothing in return for the substantial benefits he provided to ConnectU, including the value of his work, as well as i2hub's users and goodwill." Lauriat also wrote that, although Chang's claims to the settlement are "too speculative to confer standing, his claims with respect to an ownership in ConnectU are not. They constitute an injury separate and distinct from his possible share of the settlement proceeds. The court concludes that Chang has pled sufficient facts to confer standing with respect to his claims against the Winklevoss defendants."