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An invitation-only site has been closed down following raids in Middlesbrough and Amsterdam.
How the raid was done The recent raid on TV Links has been followed by one on OiNK, as The Guardian reports.
Interview with NForce, oink.cd's hosting provider in the Netherlands, who had 4 servers confiscated
For some reason, the BBC headlines its web story Huge pirate music site shut down,which is odd. I thought it was just a Torrent site like Pirate Bay, andonly offered links, not files. Anyway, the BBC reports that "A flat onTeesside and several properties in Amsterdam were raided as part of anInterpol investigation into the members-only website OiNK."
A 24-year-old man from Middlesbrough was arrested on Tuesday morning. The IT worker was led from his home in the town's Grange Road and isbeing questioned on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and infringementof copyright law. At the same time his employer -- a large multi-national company -- and his father's home were also raided.
Perhaps the police had a bit of free time between raids on a militantextremist bomb factory and busting a gang of crack cocainedistributors. Or perhaps they've just been watching too muchtelevision. The fact that they billed this as "Operation Ark Royal"suggests the Cleveland Police have a perception problem.
Following a 2 year investigation (or 3 month investigation, depending on the source)which involved Interpol, Police are insisting that OiNK was a pay site.Members were given the option to donate but this insistence that OiNKwas some sort of criminal network where people paid to be a member isclearly untrue but it's likely that this is the reason the real police(as opposed to the 'copyright police') and FIOD-ECD are involved. Jeremy Banks of the IFPI said: "This was not a case of friends sharing music for pleasure." Yes it was Jeremy.
Indeed, the Cleveland Police's press releaseclaims: "This is big business, with hundreds of thousands of poundsbeing made." It will be interesting to see the evidence, because itmust be true, mustn't it? Maybe the 180,000 OiNK members were moregenerous with their donations than I'd have expected.....
Users attempting to access the site are presented with the message:
Quote:
This site has been closed as a result of a criminal investigation by IFPI, BPI, Cleveland Police and the Fiscal Investigation Unit of the Dutch Police (FIOD ECD) into suspected illegal music distribution.
A criminal investigation continues into the identities and activities of the site's users
The Telegraph writes... An IT consultant suspected of operating one of the world’s biggest pirate music websites from a Middlesbrough bedsit said he had done nothing wrong. Alan Ellis, 24, was arrested on Tuesday as part of an Interpol-led operation to shut down a music file sharing website which has attracted around 180,000 members. Mr Ellis set up the website, called Oink, three and a half years ago. advertisement He was detained on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and copyright infringement and has been released on police bail for two months. Computer equipment and documentation seized from his home, his place of work and his father’s home in Cheshire and are undergoing forensic examination. But speaking after his arrest he claimed it was no more illegal than search engine sites such as Google which could also direct users to illegal music downloads. Police and music industry investigators have suggested that hundreds of thousands of pounds a year could be made by the site. Mr Ellis declined to comment on whether users had made financial “donations” to the site. Mr Ellis was contracted to work as an IT consultant for Virgin Media’s contact centre in nearby Stockton-on-Tees, but was dismissed on the day of his arrest. He told The Daily Telegraph: “I haven’t done anything wrong. I don’t believe my website breaks the law. They don’t understand how it works. "The website is very different from how the police are making it out to be. There is no music sold on the site - I am doing nothing wrong. "When I set up the site I didn’t think I was doing anything illegal and I still don’t. There are 180,000 users and there has been an outcry about what has happened to me. "People who download music also buy CDs as well. A lot of people download music on the internet to get a taste of it and then later buy the CD. "But I don’t sell music to people, I just direct them to it. If somebody wants to illegally download music they are going to do it whether my site is there or not. "If this goes to court it is going to set a huge precedent. It will change the internet as we know it. "As far as I am aware no-one in Britain has ever been taken to court for running a website like mine. My site is no different to something like Google. "If Google directed someone to a site they can illegally download music they are doing the same as what I have been accused of. I am not making any Oink users break the law. People don’t pay to use the site.” Oink, which used a cartoon of a pink pig as its logo, was one of the world’s biggest “peer-to-peer” music download sites, which have been targeted by music publishers and police because they allow users to swap music for free. Anyone accessing it is met with the message: “This site has been closed as a result of a criminal investigation by IFPI, BPI, Cleveland Police and the Fiscal Investigation Unit of the Dutch Police into suspected illegal music distribution. A criminal investigation continues into the identities and activities of the site’s users.” The website’s server, based in Amsterdam, was closed down by Dutch Police last week. Among allegations being examined are that more than 60 major albums were leaked on an OINK site weeks before the CDs’ were officially released by record companies. According to users, Oink had a daily throughput the equivalent of five million songs and registered members were able to download around 1,000 songs. Detectives are thought to be analysing the databases for details of the invitation system and members’ downloads. Users were offered the chance to buy a range of branded merchandise bearing a pink pig Logo and the slogan: “Music so good it could make your tail curl”. A spokesman for Cleveland Police, responsible the Middlesbrough inquiries, said: “It is too early to tell if we will go after individuals, it all depends on what we find.”
The Northern Echo wrote:
A man arrested as part of an inquiry into one of the world's largest music sharing web-sites has been released on police bail.
The 24-year-old IT worker was arrested at his flat in Middlesbrough during a dawn raid by Interpol and Cleveland Police yesterday (TUES).
Cleveland Police revealed this morning that the man has been released on bail pending forensic examination of seized computer equipment and further inquiries.
The Force also revealed the home of the man's parents in Cheadle have also been raided by Greater Manchester Police and computer equipment and documentation recovered.
Meanwhile, thousands of music lovers are now waiting to learn if police will go after them.
Detectives believe about 180,000 people were members of the invitation-only music sharing forum at www.oink.cd
the 24-year old was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and infringement of copyright law.
At the same time, Dutch police raided an office in Amsterdam, where they seized the site's servers and database details.
Forensic computer experts will now examine the servers, looking for information about users and the music they uploaded. advertisement
OiNK, which used a cartoon of a pink pig as its logo, was one of the world's biggest "peer-to-peer"
music download sites, which have been targeted by music publishers and police because they allow users to swap music for free.
According to users, OiNK had a data throughput of two terabytes every day - the equivalent of five million songs.
Having been invited to join, following registration members could download five gigabytes of music - approximately 1,000 songs.
They did not have to pay a fee, but could make donations to keep the operation running.
The site had a huge database of music. It even operated a request system and was also working on an internet radio station.
Fans could also buy a range of branded merchandise bearing the pink pig logo and the catchline: "Music so good it could make your tail curl".
OiNK became so big that music companies were appalled to find albums were being made available to members before they went on general release.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said more than 60 major album releases had been leaked so far this year.
Police declined to reveal details of the man they had arrested.
However, the domain name www.oink.me.uk, used by oink until it recently switched to www.oink.cd, is registered to a UK citizen called Alan Ellis.
Police said the 24-year-old man arrested yesterday worked for a multi-national company based on Teesside.
His father's home and that of his employer were also raided.
Yesterday's operation, carried out by Cleveland Police and Interpol, sent shockwaves through computer users worldwide.
The database had details of member downloads and the complex invitation system. But police may not need access to the database to track down users.
The raids were the culmination of a long-running investigation by police and the music industry.
Working with co-operative internet service providers, undercover officers who infiltrated the membership would have had plenty of time to harvest the details they needed for individual prosecutions.
But with 180,000 members across the world, police may decide the logistics of launching such an operation are too daunting.
A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: "It's too early to tell if we will go after individuals. It all depends on what we find. If the punters run into their thousands, interviewing them all will be clearly beyond our capacity.'' OiNK users expressed shock and concern last night.
One said: "I'm a little bit worried about them coming after the individual users."
Another added: "I'm terrified."
But many remained defiant, one saying: "I don't think it is quite the end. They backed up the site every day, and the admins knew full well it was a matter of not if they got raided, it was a matter of when."
Detective Sergeant Tony Keogh, of Cleveland Police, said: "The site specialised in sharing music and media including pre-release material.
Quote:
"We have been working closely with Interpol and our Dutch colleagues in Amsterdam where the website server is based, to ensure that it too was secured at the time of arrest.'' Jeremy Banks, head of The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry Internet Anti-Piracy unit, said: "This was not a case of friends sharing music for pleasure.
"This was a worldwide network that got hold of music they did not own the rights to and posted it online."
Oink used software technology called BitTorrent to distribute music.
Chief Superintendent Mark Braithwaite, head of crime for Cleveland Police, said: "While some might view this type of act as a victimless crime, there is no such thing - as the cost of an enterprise such as this will be added to the cost of any legitimate purchases further down the line."
Following the bust of the OiNK BitTorrent tracker, most of its 180,000 members are keeping their heads down and trying to stay inconspicuous. However, Trent Reznor, frontman of Nine Inch Nails isn’t worried: “I had an account there†he said. “it was like the world’s greatest record store.â€
Quote:
The driving force behind the Nine Inch Nails isn’t frightened of talking about file-sharing. Back in May 2007 he admitted to sharing himself: “I steal music too, I’m not gonna say I don’t†he said.
Now Trent has gone public and admitted where he did a lot of sharing - OiNK.
In an interview with New York Entertainment he sent his clearest pro-sharing stance yet. When asked what he thought about OiNK being shutdown, he had this to say:
“I’ll admit I had an account there and frequented it quite often. At the end of the day, what made OiNK a great place was that it was like the world’s greatest record store. Pretty much anything you could ever imagine, it was there, and it was there in the format you wanted.â€
Everyone knows that OiNK was free to use and this fact was backed up by Trent: “If OiNK cost anything, I would certainly have paid, but there isn’t the equivalent of that in the retail space right now.â€
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