14 DAY TRIAL // A few days ago, Alan Ellis, 24-year-old, was arrested after the authorities identified him as being the owner of Oink, a website which provided pirated music to the registered members of the service. According to the reports, the webpage had no less than 180,000 members, all of them looking to download pirated copies of music content. After he was arrested, Alan Ellis was released on bail and today he talked with the guys from the Telegraph, saying that his website is nothing different from Google. He sustains his webpage acts just like the search giant Google which redirects the users to all kinds of content, including illegal.
"I haven't done anything wrong. I don't believe my website breaks the law. They don't understand how it works. The website is very different from how the police are making it out to be. There is no music sold on the site - I am doing nothing wrong," Alan Ellis said for the Telegraph. "When I set up the site I didn't think I was doing anything illegal and I still don't. There are 180,000 users and there has been an outcry about what has happened to me."
The Oink owner believes that even if his website sent the users to pirated content, many of them also bought the CD because they use the illegal songs only to get a sample of the original content.
"As far as I am aware no-one in Britain has ever been taken to court for running a website like mine. My site is no different to something like Google. If Google directed someone to a site they can illegally download music they are doing the same as what I have been accused of. I am not making any Oink users break the law. People don't pay to use the site," he added for the same source mentioned above.
At this time, the website is unavailable and every time a visitor tries to visit the page gets the following message: "This site has been closed as a result of a criminal investigation by IFPI, BPI, Cleveland Police and the Fiscal Investigation Unit of the Dutch Police (FIOD ECD) into suspected illegal music distribution. A criminal investigation continues into the identities and activities of the site's users."