Following the bust of the OiNK BitTorrent tracker, most of its 180,000 members are keeping their heads down and trying to stay inconspicuous. However, Trent Reznor, frontman of Nine Inch Nails isn’t worried: “I had an account there” he said. “it was like the world’s greatest record store.”
With the demise of oink, many music aficionados were left with little in the way of similar sites. However, true to the hydra phenomenon, a week later and several new sites have sprung up to replace it. We asked the admins of two of these sites for their future plans.
Great BitTorrent releasers are a comparatively rare breed and until recently, a huge collection of them were safely locked inside a fenced Pink Palace. Now, thanks to the IFPI, trackers around the world and greater numbers of people than ever before are starting to benefit from an influx of talented OiNK refugees.
After being hijacked by the police for a few days, OiNK.cd returned to its rightful owner. The tracker won’t return anytime soon but Oink.cd is now linking to a Google search that links to a list of private BitTorrent trackers.
It has been a controversial week with all the dramatic news surrounding OiNK. The tracker was effectively shut down in a joint effort by Dutch and British law enforcement. However, it now seems that the domain has been reclaimed by The Pirate Bay.
There are always people who are happy to try to cash in on the misery of others. The OiNK shutdown is no different. Sites are appearing thick and fast asking for donations and promising relaunches. None of these are sanctioned by OiNK – don’t give them any money!
Following the raid at OiNK, many of the 180,000 members are very concerned about what’s happening with their details. The rumor: The OiNK database was encrypted and self-destructed. The truth: It wasn’t and it didn’t but ex-users still might be safe. In the meantime, OiNK got fired from his job.
With the BitTorrent world spinning on its heels after the shock takedown of the huge OiNK tracker, there are now indications that the shutdowns may continue. According to the lawyer who lost against ‘DVD Jon’, next stop is Norway and raids are imminent.
After a turbulent day the admin of the raided OiNK.cd was released from custody. At this point it is still unclear what the legal consequences will be, but it is good to see that OiNK is back home.
OiNK, one of the world’s most popular trackers has been shutdown. Now, in the hours immediately following the closure, the site is responding but displaying an ominous message indicating an investigation into the site’s users has begun.
