Anecdote from my MSc year in 2003. In the dorm room I had 10Mbps Internet connection via the University's network which was quite amazing for the time. So among the real Linux ISOs, I tormented also the other kind of ISOs. At some point the Uni NOC reached out telling me that I'm consuming lots of BW for torrents which is against the policy, at which I replied that I download Linux ISOs and I'm happy to schedule it for after midnight, outside of peak hours. After some days I get a reply that please do so from another guy who forgot to remove the quote from his previous colleague which went something like "hey we have a problem with this guy's answer"

So yes, Linux ISOs is an old thing indeed

Thanks for clarifying. I've not encountered the use before, maybe because here in the Nordics piracy has been -is- very normalized.

The other reply told about a uni tale. I've heard about a similar story about someone torrenting actual Linux ISOs on university network. That resulted in a stern warning else the student would be barred from using the network and computers. Basically an automatic fail for future studies.