BitTorrent is popular among college students. That, of course, is as obvious as saying the sky is blue or freshman will gain at least 15 pounds of beer and pizza weight. Although many universities have made curbing torrenting a primary focus (via government mandate), it’s hard to stop such a long standing tradition like collegiate file sharing.
If you ever wondered which U.S. Universities were the most torrent-happy, you’re in luck. TorrentFreak (with the help of ScanEye) has produced a list of the top 50 institutions for BitTorrent use.
And New Jersey’s Rutgers University takes to top spot.
Rounding out the top 10: NYU, University of Houston, USC, Texas A&M, George Washington, University of Minnesota, State University of New York at Buffalo, University of Maryland, and Tennessee State.
According to the study, the most downloaded files at Rutgers were Fast Five, Cars 2 and Puss in Boots, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (game), and the album The Dreamer, The Believer (Common).
Check out the top 25:
Of course BitTorrent use doesn’t necessarily equate to unauthorized file sharing. But TorrentFreak confirms that it’s that kind of use that’s the most popular.
If you don’t see your current college of alma mater on the list, that probably means one of two things – either your school is not very torrent-happy, or they’re just really good at hiding their tracks. Evidence of the latter? Another recent study said that Gainesville, Florida was the piracy capital of the United States. Absent from this list? The University of Florida, which is located in Gainesville.