Sydney University's posh residential colleges are running a secret computer network for sharing pornography and pirated movies and music.

The ''peer to peer'' file-sharing network, set up by students, is operated using the intranet provided by the colleges. According to the local tabloids thousands of hours of movies, smut and music being shared on the network.

The school has admitted that the amount of allegedly illegal sharing of movies and music between students on the network was headed towards the levels of a criminal investigation. Students' Representative Council president Elly Howse said she was aware of the network's existence, but since the colleges remained outside the university's jurisdiction there was nothing that could be done about it.

A spokesman for the Vice-Chancellor said that a network was closed on Friday but no disciplinary action had been taken. He claimed that the network was not hosted on the university network, but on a student's individual computer, has been identified and shut down.