Let us observe a moment of silence for the fall of the mighty pig. The website OiNK.cd and its 'pink palace' were shut down on the 23rd of October after British and Dutch police raided the home of 24-year-old Alan Ellis, owner of OiNK, and arrested him on the charge of ‘copyright infringement’. His bail has been currently been extended to May 6th.
Many may feel he got what he deserved but in truth he violated no law. OiNK was a site that hosted torrents which hold no files. Instead they contain information that allows a torrent handling program to download the files from someone else’s computer. Another ambiguity which is the fulcrum of the charges against Ellis is whether or not he made money out of running the site. Although it was well documented that use of OiNK.cd was completely free, INTERPOL and the Dutch and British police are not convinced. Ellis set up the site for the enjoyment of audiophiles worldwide such as himself.
OiNK boasted being exclusive, having a limited number of member which could only get an account through invitation only. It was the most popular private tracker of its time. Why was this prince among thieves overthrown? It was said to take ‘untold’ amounts of money away from major music corporations.
Where is the evidence for this claim? CD sales? Yes, sales have been down 20% since 2006, but there are other factors that contribute to that, such as legal music downloading going up 50% and the steep price for CDs. CD sales mean nothing. INTERPOL cleverly overlooks the fact that we pirates have a code of ethics. True, not all downloading through illegal means will follow a code, I can safely say that most members of OiNK did. I know because I was one.
In fact, I still consider myself a member of OiNK and I will always consider myself a pirate, and proud! As a pirate I follow a simple law; take free, give free. Members of OiNK followed this code to a T. In fact, you would be banned if you didn't. There was a system of Uploding/Downloading ratio. This way you wouldn't be able to be a freeloader. You had to buy CDs of your own and upload them in order to maintain a healthy ratio. This kept things in check.
Despite this, officials shut the site down, fearing that it was one of the main causes in the loss of money for the music industry. How foolish they have been! Instead of slowing the growth of pirating, they only exaserbated and propagated it. Our spirits were not crushed by the fall of the pig! In place of a torrent sharing site, OiNK.cd holds a link that searches for sites similr to OiNK.
The ones that remain are, for the vast majority, public trackers. In other words, no membership is needed. Over 30 new or established pirating websites now hold most of the torrents that were once held by OiNK, and it is the goal of the leaders of the popular Swedish pirating site, ThePirateBay.org, to give life to the pig in the form of BOiNK. BOiNK is a work in progress, but when it is up, INTERPOL will be kicking themselves for the decision they made.
Now, instead of people having to maintain a ratio, anyone can download as a freeloader. This will make the music industry lose more money. The Pirate Bay can't even be shut down. They lead piratbyrån, a pro-piracy group based in Sweden, which pushes the agenda of pioneering pirates. Due to technicalities in where they are based, they cannot be shut down; they are breaking no law where they are.
So what will INTERPOL do now? More importantly what will the music industry do now? And also, what will you do now? Yes, you can support this plight! Next time you go to download from ThePirateBay, or IndieTorrents, or MiniNova, or any other website that gives free, make sure you give back. Buy an album you truly enjoy. Go see the concert of that band you like. Make sure to support your favorite artists by both buying and pirating. Keeping a good balance keeps the system in check, and the sooner INTERPOL figures that out, the more money the music industry will save.
