It's a sad day in the BitTorrent community for the OiNK, everybody's favorite place to get music, has been shut down.
British police arrested a 24yo man in Middleborough on suspicion of being the site admin, while Dutch police simultaneously raided the sites Amsterdam-based servers. The raids, which were coordinated by Interpol, follow a two-year investigation by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
Jeremy Banks, Head of the IFPI’s Internet Anti-Piracy Unit, said: “OiNK was central to the illegal distribution of pre-release music online. 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 was best known for its pre-release albums, with more than 60 major album releases having been leaked on OiNK so far this year. According to the IFP, this made it the primary source worldwide for illegal pre-release music.
Within a few hours of a popular pre-release track being posted on the OiNK site, hundreds of copies can be found further down the illegal online supply chain.
The recording industry says that the closure of the site is an important victory in the industry’s bid to tackle copyright theft.
“This operation was a classic example of how the recording industry can work with law enforcement agencies to prove that illegal operations on the internet are not immune from detection,” said Banks.
BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor said: “BitTorrent has fast become the most popular file sharing client, and while the technology is now commonplace, closed criminal networks such as OiNK take time to develop; make no mistake, this operation will cause major disruption to this illegal activity.
OiNK had an estimated membership of 180,000, making it by the far the most popular music-dedicated BitTorrent tracker site. But, as we all know, just as quickly as they take one site down, two more appear in its place.
The only lingering issue that remains is the ominours warnign on the site's HP that reads "A criminal investigation continues into the identities and users" of the site. Now the fact that OiNK had 180,000+ members means that it will be a little tough to go after everybody if they do at all. We've heard it before with LokiTorrent and EliteTorrents, after both of which nothing happened.
R.I.P.........you will be missed.
You can find the OiNK memorial site HERE
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