OiNK Investigation: Police Start Making Arrests
Written by enigmax on May 30, 2008TorrentFreak has received information which suggests that British police have made good on their claim that they would go after ex-users of OiNK. Last week, several officers arrested at least one individual for the seeding of a single album. It is believed police are in the process of arresting and questioning others.
When the OiNK tracker was shutdown in 2007, a statement appeared on the site’s homepage. This time – and unusually for the UK – it would be the police investigating a file-sharing case, not some anti-piracy group flexing their muscles in civil action. But even now, months after OiNK was shutdown, no-one – including OiNK admin Alan Ellis – has been charged with anything.
Would OiNK users really become a target for the police, despite the presumed civil status of sharing music on P2P networks? If so, why?
Right from the start, there has been a concerted effort by various elements of the music industry to portray everyday citizens using OiNK – presumably including the likes of Trent Reznor – as hardened criminals out to ruin the industry. At the time, BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor called OiNK a “closed criminal network” and unfortunately this type of comment set the general tone for many follow up news articles.
In reality, OiNK offered no music of its own but was the venue of an unofficial virtual party, where a limited number of people listened to music without fees or charges, in a modern take on pirate radio – but with a twist. If people had some music to share with others then so much the better, they could bring it along, add it to the index (and that’s all OiNK was, an index) and everyone could listen, to see if they liked it too.
Of all things, it was certainly not about money and a large proportion of the members wouldn’t even have considered that sharing music would result in police knocking on the door, any more than as a result of them using YouTube. But knock they did.
Last week Cleveland Police arrested a user of OiNK in the Cheshire area, who was questioned and later released on police bail. It is alleged that the individual – a normal user of the site who has no previous involvement with the police and no criminal convictions – uploaded a solitary album in early 2007.
Furthermore, information suggests that the police will be arresting and interviewing more users in the course of this investigation but at this stage it is unclear exactly who they are targeting and why. A one-off album uploader seems an unlikely target, particularly as legally in the UK, the fact that the album was allegedly pre-released – as opposed to released after retail – means little.
Going on previous cases, uploading (sharing) would be a civilly actionable offense – lawyers Davenport Lyons in the UK are happy to send out bills to those it claims uploaded its client’s games and the police aren’t interested. But for reasons no-one seems to fully understand, the police are involved in this case and have sent a car full of officers to make an arrest at the individual’s place of work, all for sharing a few minutes of music.
Another issue up for debate is the big question mark sitting over the usefulness of site logs. Stats are manipulated all the time for one reason or another and trackers have to rely on a user’s torrent client reporting data correctly. To be anywhere close to proving infringement it is necessary to track the transfer of data from within the swarm by directly receiving data from the uploader. This is fairly trivial, does not require the site logs and importantly should’ve been done at the time the album was uploaded. Why there has been such a huge delay in taking further action is unknown.
Last year saw an unexplained shift in the way copyright actions are dealt with in the UK. Out of nowhere, both OiNK and the popular TV-Links sites were taken down by police action where one would usually expect a civil lawsuit, leaving prominent legal experts intrigued as to the legal basis.
Uploading one album is not the world’s most heinous crime, in fact, unless the UK legal system changed overnight, it’s not a crime at all since there would’ve been no commercial gain for the user. So what route is this investigation taking? What is the significance of arresting this individual and investigating others over a seemingly small civil issue, and why has it taken so long to do so?
As usual, there are more questions than answers. The arrests have started, but it is unknown how many people are involved. We contacted the Police department that was responsible for at least one arrest, however, they did not respond to our inquiries. If you have any information, please contact TorrentFreak here, as we will post an update of the arrests later this weekend.
Previously: Revision3 Sends FBI after MediaDefender
Next: Will BitTorrent Sites Become Obsolete?
142 Responses
i bet many of you guys are getting scared? I’m pretty happy that i never got an invite now. What worries me is if this ever happens to what.cd in the future :/
Another scare tactic, they will probably go after <= 6 individuals just to scare the pirates. But fuck you I will still download and seed.
UK Sucks
It’s better to live in Islamic countries ! ! !
No arrests, No piracy, no anti-Piracy.
What the fuck is going on in UK. argh
Go to jail only for a fucking MP3 File LooooooL
yes, i’d much rather live in an islamic country where they’d probably chop off my penis for pirating or even downloading porn.
LOL Mr.Afg you get your hands chopped off for stealing.
Will be interesting if what and waffles will be taken down :)
No TV, no cinema, no freedom of speech, no etc.
Yeah, brilliant! You fucking dumbass towel-head sand-crab-fucking TWAT!
& of course, i will never stop downloading !
I am addicted with downloading movies, i can’t live without downloading movies.
if Bittorrent go down, i will start:
DC++
FTPs
MIRC
LooL lots of offers, it’s impossible to stop sharing community ! ! !
Despite the fact that getting caught is like getting a lightning strike the lightning is already bad enough. Will you not stand for your fellow file-sharers and demand justice for them? Do you people have no care about those unfortunate individuals who are a victim to this injustice?
I say that it is a time to pursue all means to destroy the propaganda regime of those “anti-pirates.”
For we must set up NPO’s for the purpose of advocacy and legal defense. For I had not seen a single NPO for this purpose. The EFF is not for this purpose. They do not care about file-sharing. The Free Software Foundation does not care about people uploading albums, only software. Let us all volunteer our time to help those unfortunate individuals, for their propaganda and persecution has already gone on long enough.
For this purpose, I propose that we start collecting a list of volunteers for the establishment of an organization for the rallying of the cause.
For the anti-pirates cannot be allowed to have a monopoly on saying that we are criminals, any more. We have no voice, but we must, for we must get out to the public that we believe we are good and righteous.
Don’t let this put you off.
The more people that download/upload and leech/seed, the harder it is for police and the legal system to actually do anything about it.
It is like how birds always fly in great numbers, the more of them there are, the less likely they are to be taken down by pray.
Sorry, I’m a tax paying UK citizen who in the past 12 months has been held at gun point and in a second incident car jacked, some would say this is my fault for living in Nottingham (or Shottingham as the media calls it) however what I’m annoyed about is nothing was done by the police in either case, yet in this one where no one was harmed or threatened and wasn’t violent in anyway they are prepared to spend my hard earned and paid tax money on an investigation…. anyone know where I can complain?
It’s probable that if the police go after anyone, it would be the people who were the original seeds of unreleased albums.
Highly unlikely that police would go after ordinary downloaders [which by BT design are also transparently uploading].
More info on this would be good, I can feel the wave of paranoia from here!
all you see lately on tv is murders in the northwest, sorry i mean news northwest, it’s all gun crime knife culture oh now we have the police leaving all the real pysical crime and dangerous people alone
and going after someone who shares an album on the internet?
this world is falling to peices bit by bit until there is nothing left to fall.
Holy Cow.
This sounds like make arrests first ask questions later.
Pity more people are not using anonymous p2p as this would make such situations improbable.
edited: <>
Police + Torrentfreak = Widespread paranoia
So much for visiting Airstrip One.
Fascists.
Thats the UK police for you.
There lazy and go after the soft targets. That’s way they go after the UK drivers for speeding and littering!!
Plus they now have “targets” to meet, does not matter what “crime” it is, all arrests count towards there “targets”.
There legal basis is flimsy and weak. Of course they can use the scare tactic but prosecution and convictions seem rare. The police will not go after individuals whilst seriously believing that they could stop them. It is futile. This is far bigger than simply “oink” now.
I can give them my home adress, no doubt
It’s Good Live At Finland!
(Sorry For My “Not-So-Good” English)
@9
Do you have no care for the person who was arrested? You may not have been the one, but it is a still grave injustice that ought to be corrected. I do not see why you should ever let such an injustice happen without proper correction. Yes, the you may not be a Jew, but it still was a terrible crime.
More than one person was arrested also, I know because I was one of them. :(
@15
Is it not a good thing? It still stands the fact that there needs to be a pro-file-sharing advocacy/lobbying and legal group. None exists. EFF is not one. FSF is not one. We need one.
@18
Is this all? Are you going to do nothing about it? It is a terrible injustice for this to happen to anybody. Yes, you may not be a Jew, but it is still something that anybody should just stand by and watch and let happen.
@14
Such pity is inappropriate. It still stands the fact that this is a grave injustice. We should not be standing by and watching. We should not be letting this happen. We should be taking active stops to stop this.
We need to for an organization for just that. An advocacy/legal group.
The EFF is not pro-filesharing.
The FSF is not pro-filesharing.
We need one that will actually oppose this injustice.
What the heck? It has been a while since the police first raided oink and have now really started to act? Wtf?
To be honest the law is a piece of poop when it comes to copyright, it makes the rich, richer and the poor, poorer. What do they want us to do, stop buying music, games, dvd, blu ray, etc… because prices are too stupid over here in the uk and most other places too?? This isnt a stand for nothing, it shows that people want stuff for cheaper, but people will still go out and buy the music, etc… if they really want to support the people. But the rich brand gets most of the money.
We live in a hypercritical system, where it is one rule for one and one for another. Just go onto google and type in something copyrighted and you will get links back. Torrents are just links to files. They are not copyrighted so people shouldn’t be punished for hosting them. But they are because they link to copyrighted material.
UK Police, go to google hq, arrest the person in charge and take them to court for linking to copyright data.
Meh…
@15
Paranoia? It is just an outrage that they will arrest people who did nothing wrong. Just because a wrong has not been committed against you, doesn’t mean you should just stand by and watch. Just because you see someone getting murdered, and it isn’t you, doesn’t mean you should just stand by and watch. Just because you see someone getting arrested wrongly, doesn’t mean you should just stand by and watch.
@28
Indeed, it is necessary that we form an NGO for the purposes of advocacy and legal protection for file-sharing.
You’re all idiots for saying that one exists already. EFF, FSF, etc. None of them are for this purpose.
EFF, FSF, SFC, what the fuck are those? I looked into each and every one of them and I have not seen a single one that is in legal support and advocacy for file-sharing.
Because we really need an organization for such a thing. We need to pool our collective efforts together so that we will have power against these tyrants.
And all this for one album.
Man I must be in deep shit, not that I care, with what I shared over the years.
Scared? No not really.
The show must go on
@23
My ass you were.
‘unless the UK legal system changed overnight, it’s not a crime at all since there would’ve been no commercial gain for the user.’
It think its the same in Canada, downloading and uploading are legal as long as there is no personal gain.
Having uploaded maybe 50 albums over my time, to OiNK, then What and Waffles, this is somewhat worrying.
This can’t hit people in the USA can it? Just Britain since that’s where the OiNK case is being pursued?
this is just a rumor started on IRC, ffs
buncha paranoid loonies around here, seriously
I think that’s just a coincidence
Haha.
Once again TF hasn’t got a fucking clue.
Check your sources first and make sure they are reliable.
hahaha hope you torrentfreak moderators are having fun deleting all the comments that are outing you for not bothering to check the facts and publishing a rumour that some guy started on irc for shits and giggles.
Its just a coincidence, if people want to check. just call Cleveland Police in Middlesbrough, people *have* started to be arrested, anyone who doubts it can doubt all they like but truth, is truth.
Yeah, it is just a coincidence. There really have been arrests!
Watch out, all you evil torrent users. You’re all going to get what you deserve.
Yeah, it is just paranoia, I guess nobody was arrested after all.
There have not been arrests. Come on TF. You made a mistake and now you got to make it right.
May 25 20:49:45  oink starts off rumours
May 25 20:49:54 apparently an uploader from oink was arrested.
May 25 20:53:55 [riomhaire] successful rumour has started
May 25 20:54:09 [azk] bumhair you ass
May 25 20:54:26 [riomhaire] let’s see how far this goes
May 25 20:54:44  riomhaire emails torrentfreak
May 25 21:17:39 [riomhaire] (URL edited to to personal info)
May 25 21:17:40 [riomhaire :O
The rumor started AFTER we got the info. The information posted in the article is confirmed and 100% correct. Arrests have been made. Several sources confirmed this, we got detailed information from one of the persons involved (which we can’t post at this time), and solicitors we contacted.
We will probably post an update with more info soon, for the people who remain skeptical.
Source?
@Make it right
We are in direct contact with one of the arrested individuals.
if he was actually arrested it should be a part of the public record. post his name, or where he was arrested.
Come into my flat and I’ll shoot those bobbies.
I agree with post no. 8.
I have experience with non-profit orgs, setting them up and running them, and am just as passionate for the cause and would be willing, but I’m afraid I already have a career I can’t leave, so am not able myself.
If this happens more often though, something will happen, there’s many of us who have good business skills, are intelligent and visionary and all that, and UK would be a great central place to set it up.
I tell you what, file-sharing has got to be as common as littering now (or more, probably!), and whilst I don’t condone littering :), it goes to show how “un-criminal” it is…unlike the way we’re portrayed by the greedy record companies and penalised by the grossly out-of-date laws enforcement system.
I am 100% confident, that as file-sharing explodes along with the pace of the internet, the law-enforcers who don’t understand the technology and the fact that it’s here to stay (so get used to it), will collapse, and the “piracy”-fighters will tire out and go bankrupt, and go die in a little hole.
I look forward to that time.
But as I said, if this increases and increases until the bubble bursts, people need support in the meantime. Good idea #8.
“In reality, OiNK offered no music of its own but was the venue of an unofficial virtual party, where a limited number of people listened to music without fees or charges, in a modern take on pirate radio – but with a twist. If people had some music to share with others then so much the better, they could bring it along, add it to the index (and that’s all OiNK was, an index) and everyone could listen, to see if they liked it too.”
This paragraphs says to me you have no idea what the fuck you are talking about. Were you even on OiNK? There was no “modern take of pirate radio;” people didn’t listen to music, it was an index for file sharing. Upload download. To get what you want, you have to give what you have or can find. Let’s not try and glamorize up what we did.
Although, a streaming music server based on a decentralized protocol like bittorrent would be pretty frickin’ sweet though.
If you were one of them, why don’t you provide some info?
The BritTwits looked like idiots after being used and lied to by ifpi and because there’s no real case against Alan, to save face, they want to make a real arrest with a real charge that could stick. Of course, that means pursuing an alleged actual copyright infringer. The problem for any potential prosecution, however, is that site logs are woefully insufficient to prove the most critical element of infringement: actual distribution of copyrighted material without consent, license or authorization. IFPI, BPI and the KeyStone BritTwits didn’t have MediaDefender or anything similar onboard logging IPs.
So the sad ongoing saga of OiNK and its demise continues. But while the unfortunate, targeted former OiNKers arrested likely have little to fear as far as potential criminal exposure, merely being arrested causes tremendous consequences.
I used OiNk a lot and I use what as well. This isn’t gonna stop me from seeding my ass off like always. Hell, I’ll even upload photoshop again on demonoid and thepiratebay. Can’t stop torrenting, sorry.
@9, Until they run into a huge rotating blade, which in that case they are get nailed. Only a matter of time.
LOL, it’s just about bringing the site down, trying to scare everyone involved, whilst trying to make something stick as justification for the attack.
As long as the service stays down, and people get scared, it’s all good.
Fuck OiNK I wish him and every other bastard that was on that newbie tracker gets locked up for life.
you know, if torrentfreak had a lot less shit like “all for sharing a few minutes of music” it would get taken a lot more seriously. you haven’t honestly lied to yourself so much that you believe that free sharing of a band’s music to hundreds of thousands of people is no big deal, have you? i upload and download as much as the next guy, but i wouldn’t shed a single tear if p2p and filesharing disappeared completely overnight and we were back to paying for everything we wanted. i’d probably rejoice.
@17 May 30, 2008 at 18:38 by Anon30
“Thats the UK police for you.
There lazy and go after the soft targets. That’s way they go after the UK drivers for speeding and littering!!
Plus they now have “targets” to meet, does not matter what “crime” it is, all arrests count towards there “targets”.”
Abso-fucking-lutely RIGHT on the money…
+1
scare tactics, but it is a little scary nonetheless. i don’t wanna get questioned by the cops
haha, but dude, remember, that one Mp3 file costs the artist / manager, a good few grand minimum ;
I mean come on! this is the exact thing that used to happen whenever there is a new medium for displaying and sharing ideas and art. First there was the printing press and the supposed pirated copies of books and bibles that were made available to the public. then there was AM vs. FM radio where the development of FM radio was stifled by big business because of their heavy investment in AM radio infrastructure despite the obvious superiority of FM radio. Not until corporations were had control of most FM stations did they start broadcasting in FM which was in the 60’s. Then there was the internet and in the early 20th century the bubble burst because big business was trying to get a hold of as much content as possible because they were going to find ways to charge for it and it blew up in their face. then came the MP3 and any media file really, the newest media on which a war is being waged by big business on the very people that allowed them to exist in the first place. these are new media that is hard to control which is why the MAN has to resort to scare tactics. and this is why the people will win. the Media file will change the way art is produced and will bring great change in this world. anti-piracy is anti-freedom and anti-creativity. Artists should produce art for its own sake and should be compensated judiciously, but never excessively. art has truth but it isn’t a truth above any other truth.
#8 I FULLY AGREE WITGH YOU M8 !
It appears torrent users are easy targets seeing as how many of us just shrug off arrests or fines as “not us” or “that’ll never be me”.
that lobbying/legal group is seriously in need at this point in time.
@65
Agreed.
It is completely worrying how many people are just NOT WORRYING.
Because we should. We shouldn’t just wait for disaster to strike before we prevent it.
Because we must stop the massive arrests before such a thing could ever happen.
Because even if it is not us, even the future of file-sharing may look all right, it is important that we ENSURE this.
For we can never be sure about the future of file-sharing if we do nothing, especially when the anti-piracy groups have a monopoly on what message gets to the public.
They obviously have been ordered to investigate this in order to appease some authority or other, and making arrests shows they are taking action.
Also they apparently want more information on the administrators, users etc. It doesn’t mean they will do anything with the info. If they’re making a report they need information, and where can they get it? The best way is to bring people in for questioning, and they can only do that if the person is suspected of a possible breach of law. They can’t arrest friends or relatives who may have had no involvement in file sharing.
If enough people do it, the police will either do nothing about it, even if it were declared illegal, or they’d take payments for doing nothing, as they do here and in many places over drugs.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that doesn’t already happen with movie piracy. In the Philippines for example, that situation is rampant and yet little or nothing is ever done by the police, yet probably everyone knows where the operations are.
I wouldn’t stoop to that, as I am honest and my conscience wouldn’t allow it, even though it is more like a service than a crime, but I may consider trading for service fees.
I’d also have no problem with exchanging disks with others.
this isn’t fucking cool….
Where’s the evidence? Intangible at best. They need evidence from people who downloaded from the suspected uploader. I don’t think they can seize property from someone suspected of downloading an album. Even if they did, it doesn’t prove where it came from. With BT it comes from a number of sources, maybe hundreds or thousands. It would be too difficult to prove and the charge would be dropped, if there was a charge in the first place.
Of course, they could just arrest every user of p2p software, but that would be illegal, since it has many unquestionably valid uses.
“haha, but dude, remember, that one Mp3 file costs the artist / manager, a good few grand minimum”
What does that have to do with anything? Besides, I could produce a whole CD for next to nothing.
Are u saying that an mp3 file is worth at least $3000 then, and every copy (which costs nothing) should see $3000 payment? Rather idiotic wouldn’t u say?
let this be known that capitalism is the reason this type of behaviour occurs. if people were not so god damn greedy and out for themselves and out to make more more more more more money, this wouldn’t be an issue at all.
ego + money = problems = people getting arrested and/or sued for petty non-sense
Funny thing is that if you could find out what the average OiNK member spent on music, it would be far greater than most people spend.
i hear people saying ‘hoax’-
how about ‘irrelevant’. i’ll be #299 to cry “this is the time (albeit late) to start discussing and taking action.’” so, let’s do it here.
anyone who hasn’t read this piece on the demise of the r[iaa]ecord industry definitely should, even if you’re under 18 or over 69:
http://www.demonbaby.com/blog/2007/10/when-pigs-fly-death-of-oink-birth-of.html
ehr..
basically- this (crap of people being ‘criminals’ while there’s ‘bussinessmen’ working) should all end sooner or later, but not without us taking stands i guess. hope the (fictious) guy in custody feels the same.
lastly: if Ernesto is actually in contact with this guy- wish him the best of luck; and probably condolences on part of his music collection. and tell him about the (cowardous, granted) outcry over here.
oh, and oink actually sounds like it’s something i’ve been fantasizing about; just a li’ll too late now ;)
@78
“let this be known that capitalism is the reason this type of behaviour occurs. if people were not so god damn greedy and out for themselves and out to make more more more more more money, this wouldn’t be an issue at all.
ego + money = problems = people getting arrested and/or sued for petty non-sense”
No, the real reason is the lack of action from people who think that file-sharing is good. As long as we stay disorganized like this, we will never make an impact. The real reason is the lack of opposition.
@80
Agreed. Even though it might be inevitable that the tyranny of the RIAA etc. will fall, it is still too long a wait, and we cannot be so sure about the future like this. RIAA must fall NOW, and we must make sure to MAKE it happen..
hey does anyone know whether people in the US will be arrested too?
82, 78:
“‘let this be known that capitalism is the reason this type of behaviour occurs. if people were not so god damn greedy and out for themselves and out to make more more more more more money, this wouldn’t be an issue at all.
ego + money = problems = people getting arrested and/or sued for petty non-sense’
No, the real reason is the lack of action from people who think that file-sharing is good. As long as we stay disorganized like this, we will never make an impact. The real reason is the lack of opposition.”
First, if this were true capitalism, copyrights would not exist. Copyrights are a socialist notion, if you want to polarize it. The problem is that we have let copyrights go wild.
We as people and file-sharers are failing, as Yoshino says, to organize against this monopoly. We’re just letting this obsolete system of transferring music go on.
There needs to be a legitimate alternative to the standard RIAA model.
Americans will be arrested soon. Expect to face 5 years imprisonment and up to $250,000 in fines.
If one country does it, its not impossible for all other countries to suddenly do it.
“If one country does it, its not impossible for all other countries to suddenly do it.”
Yep, and with over 100,000 registered users, the world’s authorities are going to need all the help they can get in tracking down enough people to fill a small city.
Call your lawyers. It’s all over for the former OiNKers. Hey, someone should fire off a letter to Trent Reznor — maybe he can help us all put up bail.
/end sarcasm.
There’s safety in numbers.
Fight the good fight, everyone one of us, for this is what we should do, what we need to do.
Why wait for the uncertain future of the RIAA, MPAA, and others giving up before the increasing trends of file-sharing when they simply ought not to continue the injustice they inflict? Indeed, they are doing something morally wrong, and there is no time for wait. They need to go down now.
Fight the good fight, each and every single one of us, for we cannot abide our time and wait for these tyrants to fall, for they must go down NOW.
@87
Safety? Just because you were not one was was unjustly arrested, doesn’t make it any less wrong. Why should we allow these bastards to continue the shit that they have done?
@86
Just because you are not a victim, doesn’t mean that you should just sit by and watch those bastards freely run rampant. We ought to stand together and FIGHT THOSE BASTARDS.
Storm in a teacup.
First of all read the article and recognise the sources are shaky, at best. If this happened to be true nothing will come from it apart from some bemused looking people wondering what action should be taken.
@88/89/most others (inc me):
the fight.
we agree it’s time- heck, most people feel frustrated towards the way things are going, but how to actually do something about people/ceo’s’ ability to spoonfeed crap to the masses, thereby justifying the need for more cash to earn more.
but HOW the f$#* do we do what
to tip the balances
i for sure ain’t gonna go the way of all those other terrorists (*AHEM* bush *AHEM* commerce *AHEM* , but i am tired of being lazy enough to shout and make no difference.
petitions?
lawschool?
letters?
wtf
@91- perhaps.
but my question doesn’t come solely from fear; mostly frustration.
at the way people with money use it to feed people rancid stuff instead of giving them ploughs and seeds.
and in general- people earning more than needed;
i’d be the communista and say MAXX INCOME 10.000 A MONTH FOR ANYONE
LOL, the British Police? those bobbies dont even carry guns, just beat them up and run! LOL.
Sammy D
http://www.fireme.to/udi
@91
Even if this did not happen, it still matters that we do something.
@92
The first step is to pool our resources together. Form an NGO for this purpose. There is no NGO for this purpose as of yet. The EFF is not for fighting them. The FSF is not for fighting them. We need some entity to fight them.
Indeed, the most important thing is to give ourselves voice. But for that, united we stand, or divided we fall. We must unite under a common entity, and NGO, perhaps, but what matters is that we all support each other on this issue, and that we have the will to fight back. We will not just continue to say “well, it wasn’t me.” We will not tolerate any unjust arrests. We need to form some union among us, some organization perhaps.
@89/90/etc
First off: people like me aren’t your worst enemy. The people running around like poultry minus a head — “whatamigonnado? whatamigonnado?” — on this board and boards like it are the real problem. Never mind the dubious nature of this “news,” which was posted on a torrent blog and can be found nowhere else, except other blogs linking back to TorrentFreak… Never mind THAT… But all of you in a non-UK country worrying about whether you’re going to be arrested need to stop and use some common sense.
For you Americans here, how many of you actually think the British police or G-men are going to extradite you to Britain on what amounts to a civil suit here in the USA? Take a breath, have a cookie, and settle. If the Bush administration can be counted on for at least ONE thing besides war profiteering, it’s NOT letting any non-US person tell them what to do.
Second: “Fight the good fight”? We’re not talking about civil rights here, we’re talking about a site where people swapped music. Good luck trying to use the “good fight argument” in court.
Sammy D – first off, every British cop carries an Asp and CS spray. Second, because they’re not armed as a matter of course, they’re more used to dealing up close and physical. Many also walk the ebats – not every cop is in a cruiser, so the physical level is much higher too.
Also, there are some armed cops, some patrol, other are rapid response forces, and they don’t carry pistols. Mainly its MP5’s, although they’re also equipped now with tazers.
Personally, from experiance, I’d take dealing with an american cop over a British one ‘in that way’ any day. American cops just aren’t equiped for running.
There’s any number of british cop shows shown on TV, from traffic cops, to dog units, to operation support teams. Such shows are out there to watch if you want them. I guess the closest to a british version fo Cops, would be Road wars, although they stay with the same force, based north and west of London.
Fuck this! I’ll keep downloading and seeding regardless. Hope you all are with me.
the dungeon is where all you pirates belong.
Wow British Police sure are cheap. I wonder if they will go after my employer’s enemies for me. Who do I have to make a donation to?
Remember Britfags when there is a rape and the murder today it was either because the British Police were busy looking after the RIAA or kissing Scientology’s ass. http://rjjago.wordpress.com/2008/05/23/cult-of-scientology/
Sure it scares it me, you could be next, but look how many scares there have been, then look at how many cases, look at how many convictions. Then look at Mininova, in the top 30 websites across the internet and about to hit 5bn torrent files dished out.
Sorry AP groups, can’t say I see your methods as having a lot of effect really!
sorry, but you have become a fucking pawn of the IFPI and Police now. TorrentFreak is no longer a credible source of news and is just alarmist crap to whip up bittorrent users into an ignorant, fist-waving frenzy in a similar manner to the Daily Mail.
the title of this article is worded to be as scary as possible, but on the substance of it, there is nothing actually scary.
Arrests? they made *AN* arrest, and nothing came of it, they just asked a few questions and sent him on his merry way. what’s scary about that? nothing.
and what’s your source for this story? until you can tell us you can’t prove it wasn’t from the IRC rumour, we only have your word for it, and your word means dick nowadays.
if you want the community to start taking you seriously again, you need to reference your sources and have article titles that accurately reflect their content without all the emotive bollocks.
It’s funny how fast most are scared out of their pants.
It’s almost impossible to make a case against a single person for sharing they go after the owners of sites.
Even than they got a hard time making it stick in court.
Most trackers got their data encrypted to a level it takes forever to break it, I think we can aassume this is all some kind of joke.
All the goodie 2 shoes who are crying for blood over p2p go back to your mamma’s tits, that’s where you belong.
@95 – we have been working MUCH longer on this story than this frankly ridiculous and at best completely coincidental ‘IRC Rumor’
If you think that we would simply make something up or use a single source on IRC for something as serious as this, you are very, very much mistaken.
FACT: They didn’t make one arrest, they have already made more. We are in touch with others.
We made a decision to keep the community informed and have been negotiating to do so with our sources for some time. Getting the word out is what we do.
This is an incredibly delicate and upsetting time for the people involved, so please excuse us if we choose to post an article after fully checking out our sources and then protecting them, if that’s what’s required.
In the meantime, the OiNK homepage links to this article, an indication of the confidence others have in its authenticity.
Before everyone gets paranoid over this item, please consider the following…
As a UK citizen, I can confirm that the Police are currently in the news for abandoning government targets.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7428895.stm
Being as the ‘Oink’ site takedown operation happened whilst the Police were still trying to meet government targets (to ensure adequate funding and big bonuses for ‘them upstairs’) then todays news is probably a hangover from the original site owners arrest. As previously stated, it could also be a fact-finding mission to pass on to ministers for future consideration in future copyright legislation proposal changes.
If the Oink site had been taken down today, you probably would have not seen that message about an investigation into the sites users identities and activities…
The Police themselves have obviously had enough of being put in a position where it is difficult for them to concentrate on proper crimes (stabbings, burglary, rape, etc) and DO NOW WANT to deal with these smaller cases, which are currently only a civil offence anyway!
As someone who has previously been arrested for a crime he did not commit (property damage), I can confirm that the Police’s attitude is that IF A CRIME HAS BEEN REPORTED THEN THEY HAVE TO INVESTIGATE IT BY LAW. Fortunately, the officers I dealt with were able to see that I had been set up and took action against the accusers for wasting police time. Even so, this process took many weeks.
If anyone in the UK does find themselves being questioned by the Police, I would always recommend the following…
Be polite, curtious and above all else patient with any representaticve of the law.
Do not say anything that may incriminate you and do not answer anything that makes you feel uncomfortable (keep your answers short and to the point). One thing you can say is ‘I cannot answer that question at this time for fear of incriminating myself’. This shows that you are not being obstanant or difficult, but are co-operating as best you can without putting yourself in the firing line.
If you ARE arrested, have a solicitor present when you make your statement (this can take longer and mean more time in a holding cell, but you will not regret it).
Above all else…stay calm. If you are polite to the officers holding you, they will treat you with dignity. The ones who arrested me apologised for doing it and chose to not put me in handcuffs. They apologised for having to fingerprint me and take a DNA swab. When in a cell, they checked in on me and got me an interview as quickly as they possibly could. When it was all over, they even gave me a lift back home, and when all the evidence was collected, they kept me in the loop, froze out the other party and supported me and my family with good advice.
Did I want to go through this ordeal? Of course not…but I used it as an opportunity to learn how the Police system works. And work it does.
BTW… just bear in mind that in the EXTREMELY unlikely scenario where ‘hardened’ filesharers DO end up incarcerated…
whenever a small-time villain ends up in prison, they LEARN their trade inside and come out with the KNOWLEDGE on how to ‘do’ bigger and better crimes and they build up CONTACTS.
This means that any filesharer can ’share’ their knowledge with other prisoners, and pretty soon…BOOOOOMMM! (What was that? a FILESHARE explosion!)
:O
A complete overreaction and a waste of valuable police resources.
Cleveland force area is one of the most crime ridden and they are wasting their time on this ?
As a UK citizen I am far more interested in capturing rapists, muggers, vandals, murderers, robbers and other violent criminals.
Any UK police got a job with one of the big four entertainment cartels a la Sweden?
In honor of this news (and in the future when any such news arises), I suggest we all engage in some unrestrained torrent downloading. The more they do this, the more we need to resist!
It won’t be long before this cartel goes to the scrape heap of history, where it belongs. Let’s quicken its decline!
how can they prove that _i_ have downloaded something from oink..
there is to much things that can be said in court they wouldnt have a chance.. here are some examples.
- there are more then one person living in your house.
- since your connected to the internet your easily hacked.
- a script/virus might have been running in the background and downloading for you etc
- you have a wireless connection – everyone can access it.
Thank goodness the UK police are trying to make our country a safer place. Old ladies will soon be able to walk the streets without fear once again. Talk about a sinking ship…
anyone got an OiNK invite?
> “Thank goodness the UK police are trying to make our country a safer place. Old ladies will soon be able to walk the streets without fear once again. Talk about a sinking ship…”
Yes, thanks to them! I was worried that a rabid evil filesharer might mug me in the street until now!
@106
Of course arrest records are NOT in the public domain, idiot!
They are held on the Police National Computer (PNC) and there is NOTHING public about it.
If there are convictions, they STILL are not in the public domain and are handled as per the Data Protection Act by the Criminal Records Bureau.
No one has a public right to know anyones arrest records or criminal records and criminal records will only be released in certain circumstances, ie when applying for jobs for example including supervising children, or that have national security implications to name two.
This will be the worst time of peoples lives involved, show some bloody civil decency and respect.
All you people here will do is stop people talking to Torrentfreak beacuse from the reaction here, you want people identified and hung drawn and quartered. Being arrested has *serious* implications in peoples lives and I am quite happy Torrentfreak are acting in a manor to protect the identities of the individuals coming forward, as they well should.
People have lives, jobs, friends and family so to release such information would be a fkin outrage quite honestly.
Good luck to anyone involved.
uk = u$a colony since 1941, nuke’em all !
@114
A nuclear wasteland is possibly the furthest you could get away from anarchy…
Anarchy is where everyone is running around ALIVE, and no-one has any say in what anyone else does…
Even if people did survive, local police would turn into warlords, anyone with any kind of resources would turn into a baron, nothing would change.
No Risk No Fun … No BubbleGum… ;)
So much for kindergarden teaching kids to share…
Well,that’s gonna injure my belief on UK.
I work with the Oink investigation. We nailed 1 guy and gonna get 1-2 guys more, most likely randomly picked (not ratio based and how much he/she seeded).
no worries, fellas. they’re getting low fines, too:)
@94
“We’re not talking about civil rights here, we’re talking about a site where people swapped music. Good luck trying to use the “good fight argument” in court.”
Now you’re being an idiot. We’re talking about justice here. This is not a court argument. It is an argument for activism. Activism happens with advocacy groups, not in courts. This is a political matter, not a legal matter.
@100
This may well be fake, but even if it is, it does not diminish any need for us to start acting.
Paranoia? I’m not talking about worrying about arrests. I’m talking about stopping the RIAA and others from commiting the wrongs they have done.
I’m also know exactly what should be done: for us to unite, perhaps under an organization, and spread our advocacy against those idiots who say that we are a “gang of criminals.”
@94
WTF are you talking about? I don’t see how starting an NGO devoted to advocacy/legal defense could possibly be “against” you.
Besides, “fight the good fight” is irrelevant to the court; I’m not talking about court cases. I’m talking about PUBLIC OPINION.
Because we do need to fight the good fight, against the propaganda of those tyrants.
I posted before calling Torrent Freak out for their lack of credible sources and professionalism and journalistic integrity.
My comment got deleted.
I just want to congratulate Torrent Freak on being such a competently and respectfully run publication. I’m glad to know that they have such confidence in their publications that they can withstand criticism.
Oh wait, they can’t.
Seriously, who writes for you? Are you a bunch of 14 year olds sitting at home in your parents’ basements and you just publish every rumor you hear.
Someone should establish a reputable news source dealing with peer-to-peer legal issues and whatnot.
I’m sorry Torrent Freak has let us all down… again.
Although I can’t say I’m too surprised.
“But for reasons no-one seems to fully understand, the police are involved in this case and have sent a car full of officers to make an arrest at the individual’s place of work, all for sharing a few minutes of music.”
It is very obvious that the police has no mmotive to arrest these alleged downloader. But since they can not fine anything to charge with the admin of OINK they have to posture. However it causes them to break th elaw by performing false arrest with some potentilay dear consequences for the sake of the society.
When the authority break the law, there is no law save for the law of the strongest.
Since all the old bags of crap who curretly represent the authorities in general and the entertainment industry in particular are very weak, I will not play this game if I was them.
@ 111
Thank God everyone can trust basically anonymous comments left on TF – now everyone in the UK can take off their tinfoil hats since you said so!! :P
“Someone should establish a reputable news source dealing with peer-to-peer legal issues and whatnot.”
Oh Ya?
You should get a real job because profesional trolling is a forme of parasitism.
I believe that you want us to get our
“”"”reliable source of hews”"”"
from the “Ruper Murder BS chanel such as Fox news or Vivendique Universale shit such as ABC news;
you know the sources of news that sold us the weapon of mass destruction lies and who contributed to the death of hundred of thounsand of people!
Tell your master at the RIAA to start running now because we have enought of them and we are comming with the pest killer.
I’m pretty sure all these idiots saying that “there is nothing to worry about” are just people at the RIAA watching this blog.
For there is plenty for us to do:
We need to act now. We need to unite together under an NGO. For none exists as of yet, for the EFF is not one, the FSF is not one. We need one to unite under.
“We’re not talking about civil rights here, we’re talking about a site where people swapped music. Good luck trying to use the “good fight argument” in court.”
I am not going to us any argument in any court that have no credibility and no legitimity.
@128
It is not any argument in court. It is a call to arms.
@128
Your name says it: you are obviously a troll.
We need to form a lobbying/legal group to show that the avid appreciators of culture ought to have respect, rather than the people who care not about culture but only for the money.
RAPIDSHARE FTW
Corruption, plain and simple if you ask me… still a dirty word but one that is valid none the less.
http://ezee.se/articles-blog/2008/05/31/oink-uk-police-corrupted/
Cheers!
Markos
@133
Easy, tiger. This is a 404 page.
We need to do more to teach children that file-sharers are doing nothing wrong. The RIAA etc. are getting too much influence, that they are able to carry out a campaign in schools across the U.S. that file-sharers are criminals. We need to do something about this.
1, TORRENT SITES MUST NOT KEEP ANY APACHE LOGS
2, TORRENT SITES MUST NOT KEEP ANY TRACKER LOGS
3, UK IS RETARDED, THANKS GOD I NOT LIVE THERE AND DON’T PLANNING TO MOVE THERE EVER, DAMN NIGGERFARM SCUM COUNTRY
^
Now what do indians have to do with it?
TF Guys,
C’mon now! A modern day pirate radio, WTF? Even for you guys that is stretching the truth past breaking point. I hope you don’t honestly believe that load of crap? Lets at least be honest about what we do eh! It doesn’t do our credibility in the general community any help with ridiculous statements like that and actually makes it seem we’re trying to cover something up. Lets call a spade a spade. We were file sharing not fantasising about making a new FM radio station LOL.
wonder if demonoid is really being run by the right people or its a scam to get all our ips….
ALSO added , to the above
DON”T KEEP LOGS
Ya them mediadefendeder hackers get a break there but what they do is illegal anyhow , you can’t do a wrong to correct what one thinks is wrong.
Also why not learn to be a hacker. Perhaps if all the pirates became hackers to boot when push comes to shove on this thing called the internet, the so called “call to arms” would scare the bejesus out of them corporates.
A new war is brewing in the world, and this one is brought directly by hollywood and the media corporations and it is a fight we cannot lose for if we do the democracy that our forefathers fought for will be lost.
not scared at all. Cuff me, boys!
its all a bunch of bullshit
It is time to go after all these music industry parasites and terrorists militarly!
ben Laden Can wait for now because this is more urgent folks!
Let me guess the police are arresting some of the top seeders, then questioning them trying to get them to admit to copyright infringment. They do this with all crime it’s easier to try to force somone to admit to breaking the law then they have them.
The only other way they have evidence is if the police themselves downloaded this material from those seeders before the site was raided, which is against the law in which case they should arrest themselves.
I was one of those unfortunate people to get a letter from some bullshit swis company demanding monies for downloading some game from torrent. I ripped that letter up and have had no reponse from that ever. So now I have set ipblock to block all swis IP’s can’t be arsed with getting court orders sent to me.
What is this? Acting outraged because people who are stealing stuff get arrested? What a shocker!
Everyone does it so it’s OK? Surely that makes it worse?
It’s the capitalists! Of course it is, we live on a capitalist planet. I’m a capitalist, you’re a capitalist (i’m assuming so if you own a computer), we’re all capitalists. If some capitalists get boned over they’ll be trying to get it sorted out. Record companies, independent music stores and even bands are baring the brunt of this.
Record companies are worried about the collapse of the industry, why are major record labels so evil anyhow? All they’re doing is distributing popular artists music for profit, there are definitely worse people in the world. And it isn’t just majors it’s indies too, they’re the ones who really have to compete.
The main problem with the music industry is oversaturation, there’s too much stuff for many independent bands to make it anywhere.
If bands want to give away free stuff they can but I’m pretty sure no band would want to give away their whole back-catalogue.
While arresting random people is a huge waste of time people should realise that they aren’t doing the world a favour by taking stuff they don’t own for free.
In honor of the Oink arrests, i will pirate more than ever now!
you stupid fucking cunt talking shit about my country. wtf is ur problem, we have cinema and tv in Afghanistan so shut the fuck up cock sucker cum guzzler
UK is crazy. There is even forbid people to take a photo in public area.
even *if* the police went mad and managed to identify everyone – could any legal system really handle being saturated with ‘000s and ‘000s of people simultaneously???
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