OiNK, ‘Biggest Pre-Release Pirate Music Site,’ Shut Down

Authored by Scott Goldberg on October 23, 2007 - 7:26am.

Middlesbrough, England – OiNK, reportedly one of the world’s largest sources of pre-release pirated music according to Breitbart, was shut down yesterday by British and Dutch police. The site had a reputation for distributing music weeks ahead of the official launch, with 60 such albums being released online this year.

OiNK, run by an unnamed 24-year-old in northeast England town Middlesbrough, had approximately 180,000 members. To join one had to prove they had music to offer, and were required to continuously post music to maintain membership, said the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The site’s Amsterdam-based servers were seized last week.

Two organizations had spent two years investigating OiNK, the British Phonographic Industry and the IFPI. "OiNK was central to the illegal distribution of pre-release music online," said Jeremy Banks, head of IFPI's Internet anti-piracy unit. “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."

Related:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=cp_fflef4a0p5&show_article=1
http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_news/20071023.html
http://www.bpi.co.uk

http://www.ifpi.org