Private BitTorrent Website Shut Down

The British and the Dutch authorities worked together to discover and find the suspects who used OiNK to distribute pirated music on the web. OiNK is a registration based website which enables the members to distribute files between them using the BitTorrent technology. In case you don't know how it works, you must know that anyone who downloaded the files becomes the server, allowing other consumers to take the files as well.

According to Web User News, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) struggled to close the website which was rumored to have no less than 180,000 members. The same source reports that the investigators made raids in several locations at the same time, including Amsterdam and North East of England.

"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 move into this territory, and the authorities must keep up the pressure to deter the digital freeloaders," BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor said for Web User News.

In the recent period, several BitTorrent websites were shut down due to piracy complaints, usually issued by the copyright holders. Take the example of TorrentSpy, Demonoid and IsoHunt, three websites which were closed after some copyright holders complained that the registered members distribute pirated files on the web. Moreover, some lawsuits even involved the users, because the plaintiffs demanded the BitTorrent websites to provide private information about the members.

"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," Jeremy Banks, head of the IFPI, added according to the same source mentioned above.

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