Huge music piracy site closed down

Following a two-year investigation and a series of dawn raids coordinated by Interpol and involving British and Dutch police, the members-only website OiNK has been shut down. The site allegedly gave members the chance to download and share pirated music before it was released. One address in the North East of England and several addresses in Amsterdam were raided this morning. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) were both involved in the investigation into the site, which had some 180,000 members. Jeremy Banks, head of the IFPI’s 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." Members used BitTorrent-style peer-to-peer (P2P) technology to share the content. This meant that anyone who downloaded the content and stored it on their systems could then become a source for someone else to download it from, rather than the service relying on a central server. 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. "That this individual now faces criminal charges will deter some but no doubt others will be looking to move into this territory, and the authorities must keep up the pressure to deter the digital freeloaders," continued Taylor. The man has been released on police bail. The news comes on the back of the arrest of the man allegedly behind the TV Links site, which directed visitors to websites where they could download pirated footage of films and TV programmes.

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