[vazel]

OiNK has been closed down. The site was legendary among filesharers as the best source for music. It gained some fame for releasing some albums before it hit retail and some musician celebrities have been known to have been members of the site.

POLICE in the region have closed down one of the world's biggest illegal music file sharing websites.

The site is understood to have been operating from a flat in Middlesbrough.

Up to 180,000 people were members of OiNK, a private website that allowed users to share music.

Police said members paid to use the site but members claimed the service was free.

Instead of paying a fee members were invited to make a donation to help with the running of the service. It is not known how many actually did.

The home of a 24-year-old IT worker was raided in Grange Road, Middlesbrough, in a low-key operation this morning.

At the same time his father's home and his employer, a large multi-national company, were also raided.

The website's server, which was based in Amsterdam, was also closed down by Dutch police.
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The 24-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and infringement of copyright law.

Detective Sergeant Tony Keogh, who led this morning's operation, said the three-month investigation had involved Interpol, the Dutch authorities and the British Phonographic Industry.

He said: "This is an infringement of copyright law that in financial terms causes immeasurable lost to record companies.

"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."

Users of the site criticised the raids as heavy handed and said one success would not prevent more file sharing sites springing up in future.

http://www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk/...al_website.php

[epicstruggle]

More to come? Looks like Norwegian sites will be targeted next.
http://torrentfreak.com/oink-down-no...s-next-071024/

Norway is next and raids are imminent.

Espen Tøndel is a Norwegian lawyer well known for his legal defeat against ‘DVD Jon‘. He is currently working with the Norwegian branch of the IFPI and MPAA.

Tøndel says the Norwegian police are prepared and ready to carry out raids against Norwegian sites. Everything is in place.

When asked to identify the sites, Tøndel refused to elaborate other than to say that the investigation has been underway for some time and that enough names and evidence has already been gathered to make prosecutions in several cases.

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Truth about OiNK shutdown:

While there is no shortage of information that is currently going around, it seems that incorrect information has been introduced into the mix. Slyck has taken the time to separate the myths from the facts in the hopes to provide some clarity into the event that gripped the private BitTorrent file-sharing community.

OiNK shudown puts releasers into the wild:

Great BitTorrent releasers are a comparatively rare breed and until recently, a huge collection of them were safely locked inside a fenced Pink Palace. Now, thanks to the IFPI, trackers around the world and greater numbers of people than ever before are starting to benefit from an influx of talented OiNK refugees.

Looks like the music cartels shot themselves in their feet again. Lots of publicity that may come to nothing (the owner of OiNK has already got his domain back), and all the obsessive music releasers out in the wilds of the greater torrent communities.

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

OiNK shutdown backfires:

After the echoes of OiNK's final snort dissipated, one could hear the virtual rumbling of a new stampede: the post-OiNK explosion. The closure of OiNK has led directly or indirectly to the establishment of nearly half a dozen new file-sharing sites. Is this what the IFPI and BPI had in mind? Somehow we doubt it.

The theory is that "busts" will eventually drive such sites out of existence, as they need to go deeper and deeper "underground" to avoid being busted. What appears to actually be happening is something quite different: the free advertising for P2P that comes from these closures not only helps spread the word about the existence of such sites, but it also appears to motivate more folks to step up their involvement in setting up, running, and supporting such sites. In short, it's a call to arms.