Free music downloader types woke up today to a nasty little surprise. The popular download site OiNK, was shut down due to possible illegal downloading of music.
OiNK was originally a members-only site, which became known as one of the main places to pick up those early album leaks and has been under investigation for about two years. Upon opening the website, a note reads, “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.”
Allegedly the site was operated and maintained by a 24-year-old Middlesbrough man who was arrested earlier today. In addition to the arrest, there was also a raid last week on the website’s servers in Amsterdam. This news will definitely make those estimated 180,000 users of OiNK a bit nervous.
While we are sorta not surprised that this happened, we are a little shocked that it took this long. Who’s next? LimeWire?
