AfterDawn: News

OiNK, a private torrent tracker, gets raided

OiNK, the extremely popular private torrent tracker has been shut down and its owner’s home raided by both UK and Dutch police.

According to investigators, OiNK was the source of pre-release music which then spread to P2P networks as well as other torrent sites and blogs.



The tracker however, was private and membership required an invitation so it is safe to say the operators of the site felt secure from any legal fallout that recently happened to other public trackers and P2P sites.

One man, a 24-year-old resident of England, was arrested and the datacenter where OiNK's servers were located was raided in Amsterdam.

"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," said the IFPI in a statement.

According to the IFPI and British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the raids were a result of a two-year investigation and that the operators of OiNK were making substantial money from the site.

More news on any fallout this latest hit to the torrent community has.

Source:
BetaNews


Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 23 Oct 2007 19:59

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• 33 comments

• nobrainer

  Isn't it funny that oink gets raided within days of the report by the Capgemini group release a report that states file sharing has less impact than the music industry lobby would make you believe which was suppressed 100% by the uk media!
  
  http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/10/19/vrs_value_gap_report/
  
  Quote:A new report suggests that Apple and Tesco, not P2P file sharers, should take the most blame for the woes of the British music industry.
  
  The report, prepared privately by consultants Capgemini for the Value Recognition Strategy working group, set out to examine the "value gap", the amount sound recordings revenue has fallen in the UK since 2004. The report remains confidential, but details are starting to emerge.
  
  The consultants suggest that "format changes" and price pressure from discounted CDs on sale in supermarkets, are most to blame for this "value gap".
  
  However, the report gives lie [not "life", as a typo suggested - ed.] to the idea that P2P file sharing stimulates demand for sales, or is even a neutral factor. This idea has given comfort to the powerful anti-copyright lobby, backed by internet users who want digital music for free - and find endless justifications to avoid paying for it.
  
  Capgemini calculates that of £480m lost to the industry since 2004, £368m was the result of format changes: principally the unbundling of the CD into an "a la carte" selection of digital songs. Of the remainder, 18 per cent was lost to piracy.

  24.10.2007 04:40 #1

• pryme_H

  Another one bites the dust...

  24.10.2007 09:11 #2

• morguex

  This guy was nothing more than a thief, He got caught and now he has to pay. Simple as that.
  I just hope he wasn't keeping records of the people donating to him, beacuse they are probaly screwed also.

  24.10.2007 10:23 #3

• xSModder

  I don't understand these people...do they not remember that when one torrent site falls ten will rise up in its place? If the companies ever want to see the end of piracy, they're going to have to watch us destroy it ourselves. They sure as Hell aren't stopping the world of piracy and are definitely not curbing it. I've had a couple close calls with "the law" I guess you could say but I still download up to 5 gigs a day of files. And I give back.
  
  I mean, they couldn't even shut down The Pirate Bay, what makes them think that shutting down private trackers and these low-famed torrent sites will make us stop?
  
  When you download illegally, you're in. There's no second chances, do-overs, or going back on the truth. You're a pirate for life and nobody can change that.

  24.10.2007 10:29 #4

• spydah

  These sites will always be around and will always coming back better they are defeating their self with these desperate attempts to scare people. I think they just need to simply accept it and move on. They will never break or scare the right people ever play and simple.

  24.10.2007 11:10 #5

• goodswipe

  Why couldn't a group of 15 year old boys get into the new pirate movie?
  
  Because it was rated AAARRRRRRR!
  
  I love pirates...
  
  --goodswipe

  24.10.2007 11:45 #6

• morguex

  Originally posted by goodswipe: Why couldn't a group of 15 year old boys get into the new pirate movie?
  
  Because it was rated AAARRRRRRR!
  
  I love pirates...
  
  --goodswipe
  "mild chuckle", "rolls eyes"

  24.10.2007 12:45 #7

• mpstash

  ahhhh
  my precious Oink
  my power user status... my invites... all gone! =(

  24.10.2007 14:41 #8

• goodswipe

  ok ok, a few more....
  
  What's a pirate's favorite mode of transportation?
  A cAARRRRGGH!
  
  
  What's a pirate's favorite letter of the alphabet?
  arrrr
  
  
  What's a pirate's favorite kind of socks?
  arrrrgyle
  
  
  What is a pirates favorite study subject?
  arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt.
  
  
  What's a pirate's second-choice job?
  an arrrrrrchitect!
  
  --goodswipe

  24.10.2007 15:04 #9

• morguex

  Originally posted by goodswipe: ok ok, a few more....
  
  What's a pirate's favorite mode of transportation?
  A cAARRRRGGH!
  
  
  What's a pirate's favorite letter of the alphabet?
  arrrr
  
  
  What's a pirate's favorite kind of socks?
  arrrrgyle
  
  
  What is a pirates favorite study subject?
  arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt.
  
  
  What's a pirate's second-choice job?
  an arrrrrrchitect!
  
  --goodswipe I don't know wether to laugh or cry at your jokes.
  :-)

  24.10.2007 15:20 #10

• Joshewah

  Originally posted by xSModder: I don't understand these people...do they not remember that when one torrent site falls ten will rise up in its place? If the companies ever want to see the end of piracy, they're going to have to watch us destroy it ourselves. They sure as Hell aren't stopping the world of piracy and are definitely not curbing it. I've had a couple close calls with "the law" I guess you could say but I still download up to 5 gigs a day of files. And I give back.
  
  I mean, they couldn't even shut down The Pirate Bay, what makes them think that shutting down private trackers and these low-famed torrent sites will make us stop?
  
  When you download illegally, you're in. There's no second chances, do-overs, or going back on the truth. You're a pirate for life and nobody can change that.
  I just have to say I really like that quote. It just has a ring to it.
  
  I'm sad to see OiNK gone. It was the only dependable site for the hard-to-find-artists that couldn't be found in record stores or on websites.

  24.10.2007 15:29 #11

• borhan9

  Well just another one that they go after however their will be other piglets out there that will continue.

  24.10.2007 17:43 #12

• BFT

  like many I just lost my beloved oink, (which I only had for a couple of weeks) I am new to the whole torrent thing, can anyone recomend a new site that I can actually get into? and how to go about doing this? thanks for any help

  24.10.2007 20:55 #13

• theridges

  Originally posted by morguex: This guy was nothing more than a thief, He got caught and now he has to pay. Simple as that.
  I just hope he wasn't keeping records of the people donating to him, beacuse they are probaly screwed also.
  thief of what..like a bunch of artist's are starting to admit to the press they get hardly no money from record sales anyways and when a record it worth the buy most of the time people go and buy it...unless they guy has actual data on his servers(actual movie/music files) then he isn't going to get hardly any jail time he will probably just get a nice fine...

  25.10.2007 02:36 #14

• nobrainer

  Oink will just start up again somewhere else, maybe in spain now that linking to torrents is not a crime in spain!
  
  Spanish court decides linking to P2P downloads is legal
  
  19 October 2007 7:16 by Siggy
  
  Quote:In Spain, a Madrid magistrate has declared the case against Sharemula, a website publishing download links through which users can acquire TV series, music, software, etc., dismissed.
  
  In October 2006 15 individuals were arrested, among which were people responsible for Sharemula. Now a year later court came to a decision that the site or its administration have not committed any violations against the copyright law by publishing links to peer-to-peer downloads.
  
  The ruling was a considered a success by the Sharemula attorneys, who based the defense on three existing court rulings on similar cases. By not directly profiting from the downloads or storing illegal content, Sharemula did not break the law and was released from the accusations.
  the oink servers were all encrypted with a self destruct fail safe, and logs were not kept according to mirc chatter:
  
  
  Quote:Here's the info everyone wants: Frequently Asked Questions
  
  Q: What happened?
  A: On Tuesday, OiNK was arrested at his house in a "raid", they also "raided" his fathers house and work place. His computer and various other items were taken (including his xbox, but atleast they left the Wii). Later on Dutch Police seized the OiNK.cd servers hosted in the Netherlands. A few hours later OiNK was released on bail, but not charged. His father is fine too, he was not arrested.
  
  Q: Do I have to worry about my password?
  A: Passwords have never been stored as plain text anywhere. Only as salted MD5 hashes. Also, police or industry agencies do not care about your password. If it lets you sleep any better, change it on all other trackers and such. But it is not required at all.
  
  Q: Do I as a normal user need to be scared?
  A: No. The logs stored were not enough to incriminate any of our users. They have better things to do than hunt down 180,000 Britney Spears fans.
  
  Q: Did you log IP adresses with all the transfers?
  A: No of course we did not.
  
  Q: What about those who donated?
  A: Honestly, we do not know. Of course you cannot expect to get any donated money back. Accounts have been seized, so far nobody knows whats gonna happen. If you did not donate like thousands of dollars, you should not worry too much.
  
  Q: What about that other admin?
  A: The former staff will not comment on any questions regarding the situation of him.
  
  Q: Where can I donate?
  A: Stop right there. OiNK has not been formally charged with anything, and it is by no means certain donations are needed. If you see any sites advertising as a "Legal Defence fund", it's probably a scam. If there ever is a need for such a fund, you will read about it here.
  
  Q: Now what?
  A: OiNK has been bailed until 21st December pending further investigations, no charges have currently been brought against him. The Police will go through the seized material.
  
  Q: The future of the OiNK community?
  A: To be frank? We don't know. None of the moderators had access to either the code or databases, and OiNK's possessions were confiscated. We have a boat, just we don't have anything to paddle with.
  
  
  Kind regards,
  
  your former staff of OiNK's Pink Palacethe problem the admin faces is new anti terror laws passed this month by our government that prides itself on a free from tyranny nation.
  
  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/03/...ion_keys_power/
  Originally posted by link: Users of encryption technology can no longer refuse to reveal keys to UK authorities after amendments to the powers of the state to intercept communications took effect on Monday (Oct 1).
  
  The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) has had a clause activated which allows a person to be compelled to reveal a decryption key. Refusal can earn someone a five-year jail term.
  
  Controversially, someone who receives a Section 49 notice can be prevented from telling anyone apart from their lawyer that they have received such a notice.the police already abuse the section 40 of the anti terror laws to make people hand over personal details regardless of who they are so the admin will face a jumped up charge of terrorism that under the law he is not allowed to disclose to anyone apart from his lawyer, how about that for a free society! and under the very unlikely event it became public knowledge it will be white washed by the government controlled media we have.
  
  
  

  Track What Companies Have Edited Wiki http://wikiscanner.virgil.gr/ (very heavy load atm)

  25.10.2007 06:04 #15

• morguex

  Quote:Originally posted by morguex: This guy was nothing more than a thief, He got caught and now he has to pay. Simple as that.
  I just hope he wasn't keeping records of the people donating to him, beacuse they are probaly screwed also.
  thief of what..like a bunch of artist's are starting to admit to the press they get hardly no money from record sales anyways and when a record it worth the buy most of the time people go and buy it...unless they guy has actual data on his servers(actual movie/music files) then he isn't going to get hardly any jail time he will probably just get a nice fine...
  Pardon?
  If I have to explain it, well I'm not gonna bother, Read the article again. Because the article I read in the newspaper, stated that this guy was putting albums online the weren't even released yet to the public yet, Sorry but I call that theft.

  25.10.2007 08:50 #16

• morguex

  One last thing, Yeah the artist's are really gonna be helped by some idiot releasing leaked and stolen copies of their albums, before they are even available to the public.
  I know that they don't make very much from albums sales, but the little bit they do make is now going to be even less because of people like this guy running oink.

  25.10.2007 09:38 #17

• malinki

  Originally posted by morguex: Pardon?
  If I have to explain it, well I'm not gonna bother, Read the article again. Because the article I read in the newspaper, stated that this guy was putting albums online the weren't even released yet to the public yet, Sorry but I call that theft.You obviously know very little about OiNK and believe everything that has been "span" out of the presses about this bust.
  Mr OiNK (Alan) ran a site no different to google (in effect) None of the files were located ANYWHERE on the OiNK servers and all copyrighted material is stored on end user's machines. As stated by Alan himselfhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jht...internet125.xml it isn't upto him to police how people use his site, the responsibilty for downloading or uploading material rests with us, the end users.

  25.10.2007 10:18 #18

• morguex

  Quote:Originally posted by morguex: Pardon?
  If I have to explain it, well I'm not gonna bother, Read the article again. Because the article I read in the newspaper, stated that this guy was putting albums online the weren't even released yet to the public yet, Sorry but I call that theft.You obviously know very little about OiNK and believe everything that has been "span" out of the presses about this bust.
  Mr OiNK (Alan) ran a site no different to google (in effect) None of the files were located ANYWHERE on the OiNK servers and all copyrighted material is stored on end user's machines. As stated by Alan himselfhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jht...internet125.xml it isn't upto him to police how people use his site, the responsibilty for downloading or uploading material rests with us, the end users.OK fair enough, But last time I checked google wasn't getting raided by the police and getting shut down and the owners getting arrested.

  25.10.2007 11:22 #19

• theridges

  Quote:Quote:Originally posted by morguex: Pardon?
  If I have to explain it, well I'm not gonna bother, Read the article again. Because the article I read in the newspaper, stated that this guy was putting albums online the weren't even released yet to the public yet, Sorry but I call that theft.You obviously know very little about OiNK and believe everything that has been "span" out of the presses about this bust.
  Mr OiNK (Alan) ran a site no different to google (in effect) None of the files were located ANYWHERE on the OiNK servers and all copyrighted material is stored on end user's machines. As stated by Alan himselfhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jht...internet125.xml it isn't upto him to police how people use his site, the responsibilty for downloading or uploading material rests with us, the end users.OK fair enough, But last time I checked google wasn't getting raided by the police and getting shut down and the owners getting arrested.only reason they raid is soo it looks like there doing something lol....
  its not like the pirating of CD's is dramatically going to decrease because one private torrent site gets raided and like i said since no files were on his server he isn't going to do any hard time....
  like that site was the only site releasing CD's before they were released..ALL TORRENT SITES DO THIS!!!

  25.10.2007 11:47 #20

• morguex

  The article was an interesting read, maybe I jumped the gun a little when I called him a thief, Hey I can admit when I'm wrong.
  
  But I guess wether he did anything wrong or not is up to the courts to decide. But I do think it would is unfair to raid his site and arrest him when there are thousands of other sites doing the same thing.
  
  Peace all

  25.10.2007 12:07 #21

• malinki

  @Morguex; No Problem ;-)
  
  This is part of the problem with fighting a propoganda war on filesharing. The facts and the bullsh*t all get mixed in together and before long the lines are blurred and you can't see the truth from the misinformation.
  
  As stated above, complete media blackout on the fact that highstreet retailers in the UK are more responsible for the drop in music industry revenue than illegal downloads. That news is hardly gonna cause a ripple now that "mass criminal network" and "illegal copyright infractions" have been busted.
  
  The anti-piracy bodies need to realise that they are fighting a losing war, OiNK was the perfect model of how high quality, drm-free music can be given out to the masses.
  
  The masses have voted as well, why have torrent sites and there ilk become so popular? its not only because its now so easy to download stuff but also because downloading is giving the power back to the people. This "fight on piracy" is a facade to the "fight for bigger and better profits"
  
  Did you know that artists make a pittance from each individual album sold and the majority of there revenue is made from touring and merchandise? The record labels have had it there own way for too long and they know there time is up.
  
  Radiohead have put the first nail in the coffin by offering their latest work for download for whatever donation you please, with 90% of the profits going directly to the band. That's the type of forward thinking that will help filesharing become accepted and not a crime on the pockets of multinational company fat-cats.
  
  As for your point about google not being raided, they have been asked several times to stop their search engine from "finding" torrent files/mp3s/movies etc. They may not get raided but don't believe they aren't told what to filter either....

  25.10.2007 12:45 #22

• ChiefBrdy

  You can put lipstick on a pig. Put her in a low cut dress and call her Monique. But she's still just a pig.

  25.10.2007 15:11 #23

• JesseG90

  OiNK was my precious gem, and I don't know if anything can replace it. I like how they think the site made tons of profits, and some reporters are calling the site "pay-to-leech" or "pay-to-join", which is completely bogus.
  
  R.I.P

  25.10.2007 16:39 #24

• morguex

  Yeah it's pretty pathetic that the people who write the music get so little of the profits, But by time the assholes at the RIAA get the undeserved share and thr record companies do the same there just isn't much left for the artists.
  
  And I do love what Radiohead has done, and also what Madonna has done with her new Live Nation contract, I just hope more artists start doing the same, Because that will truly spell the end for the RIAA and record companies.

  25.10.2007 17:24 #25

• gurtlepie

  They may well have a problem prosecuting, as if you look at the lists of people uploading these pre release tracks, they are often the artist themselves. Tiesto, The Hoxtons, DJ Rich T and a host of other famous DJ's were all seeding tracks, which they have the copywrite to onot the actual record companies.

  25.10.2007 18:27 #26

• svtstang

  I am by no means a lawyer, but dont the authorities actually need to have received/given data to prosecute users? An ip and a list of things downloaded seems extremely circumstantial, just seems rational that unless somebody associated with one of these agencies actually either sent or received some 0 and 1's there is no legitimate case. Now the admin of the site, that is a different case all together.
  
  Any lawyers out there that can further expand on that?

  25.10.2007 21:19 #27

• exxitar

  Haaaarrrrrrrrrr me mateys! =0)

  26.10.2007 02:49 #28

• dondmon96

  Quote:Quote:Originally posted by morguex: Pardon?
  If I have to explain it, well I'm not gonna bother, Read the article again. Because the article I read in the newspaper, stated that this guy was putting albums online the weren't even released yet to the public yet, Sorry but I call that theft.You obviously know very little about OiNK and believe everything that has been "span" out of the presses about this bust.
  Mr OiNK (Alan) ran a site no different to google (in effect) None of the files were located ANYWHERE on the OiNK servers and all copyrighted material is stored on end user's machines. As stated by Alan himselfhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jht...internet125.xml it isn't upto him to police how people use his site, the responsibilty for downloading or uploading material rests with us, the end users.OK fair enough, But last time I checked google wasn't getting raided by the police and getting shut down and the owners getting arrested.You could just as easily use Google to find just as much illegal activity as you could with OiNK. Everyone in the .torrent world needs to know is that the 1st rule of 'fight club' is to not talk about 'fight club'.

  26.10.2007 03:23 #29

• malinki

  Originally posted by dondmon96:
  You could just as easily use Google to find just as much illegal activity as you could with OiNK. Everyone in the .torrent world needs to know is that the 1st rule of 'fight club' is to not talk about 'fight club'.To late for that now I am afraid. Filesharing has become part of the public domain now. :-(

  26.10.2007 03:52 #30

• Tashammer

  Curious it is i am, he said Welshly. There are some respondents who have a smell of fish about them and then there are others who makes on wonder why they they even bother writing if they so strongly disapprove of the action.
  
  i mean to say, whateffer, why would i be reading a column about file sharing AND writing a comment if i didn't approve?

  26.10.2007 19:21 #31

• madman91

  Rest in peace OiNK. Rest in peace...

  27.10.2007 23:32 #32

• petesmeats (unverified)

  Originally posted by theridges: Originally posted by morguex: This guy was nothing more than a thief, He got caught and now he has to pay. Simple as that.
  I just hope he wasn't keeping records of the people donating to him, beacuse they are probaly screwed also.
  thief of what..like a bunch of artist's are starting to admit to the press they get hardly no money from record sales anyways and when a record it worth the buy most of the time people go and buy it...unless they guy has actual data on his servers(actual movie/music files) then he isn't going to get hardly any jail time he will probably just get a nice fine... I have no idea what you are trying to say here! Is this English? you make no sense at all.

  29.1.2011 21:47 #33