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Trial Against OiNK Admin Alan Ellis Begins

In 2007, the popular BitTorrent tracker OiNK was shut down by Dutch and British police. Four users of the popular BitTorrent tracker have already been sentenced to community service and ordered to pay fines. The trial of site admin Alan Ellis started today.

oinkOiNK was considered by many to be the finest BitTorrent music tracker the world has ever seen.

The private site tracked hundreds and thousands of torrents linking to the finest recordings from virtually every musical genre. With millions of peers, it was more popular than many public trackers.

The site was shut down in a joint effort by Dutch and British law enforcement in October 2007, based on intel provided by two music industry lobby organizations, the IFPI and the BPI. The police arrested Alan Ellis, the founder of the site, and months later several uploaders were arrested as well.

Four of the uploaders pleaded guilty at Teesside Crown Court in December 2008, where they were all charged with copyright infringement offenses. The four were later sentenced to community service and fines.

The trial of OiNK founder Alan Ellis was pushed back and started today at Middlesbrough Crown Court. Due to a press boycott of the previous court hearings, there was no information available on the reasons for the delay.

What we do know is that Ellis has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the music industry for his role in the OiNK tracker.

During the first day of his trial little has happened. The case has been adjourned until tomorrow when the jury will be assigned. There is still a reporting ban in place on three specific issues, but the trial can and will be reported on.

We will cover the rest of the trial, which is expected to end next week, in the coming days.

Update: Court documents list the remaining uploader as part of the trial, but new information received by TorrentFreak says that his case is due later this year.

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  • Jon

    It is quite interesting that a reporting ban has been placed for specific issues in this trial.

    The UK courts have been under increasing scrutiny lately for their heavy handed use of injunctions to silence the press. This seems like a case where the public interest would be best served if *all* the details of the case were reported on by the press.

    Was the accused a minor at the time of the offence? If not, then there can be nothing in this case that should be subject to press restrictions. If the restrictions are not to do with the age of the accused, then I would strongly suspect the involvement of the BPI trying to cover something up. Perhaps the methodology used to gather “evidence” and so forth.

    Anyway, smells fishy to me.

    –
    TV Episode Calendar & Guide
    http://epguide.info

  • Ahmed1337x

    I liked OiNK…

    1337x.org

  • awetnm

    I wish him the best of luck in the upcoming days and weeks.

    Somehow I don’t see this going in his favour, but if it can at least spark discussion, it won’t be a total loss.

  • TopCock

    OiNK has changed my life for the better.

  • Peter

    Just watch the corruption shine in this one.

  • Anonymous

    Acs law to post this on website hmmmm

  • heddy

    Press ban? ffs. The press cannot report on the verdict of a trial if that verdict might affect others. So they can’t say ‘four uppers were found guilty and alan ellis is on trial in a few months’ because it might prejudice HIS hearing. That the other uploaders were found guilty should not be allowed to bias the jury in this case.

    There is no conspiracy. Only normal fairness.

  • Anony

    Could you please explain WHY certain aspects, what injunction has been placed, by who and if possible, for what reasons?

  • cheggerspop

    UK tabloid The Mirror has made mention of the trial starting.

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology/2010/01/05/it-consultant-faces-trial-over-oink-file-sharing-website-115875-21944263/

    Good to see they’ve got their facts straight about how the site was run and the “complex computer programme” behind it!?! It’s not like they’ve just taken it all from the press releases from the music industry.

    Lazy journalism at its very best!!

  • Anony

    It’s the Mirror, cheggerspop, what do you expect? I’d rather use it as toilet paper than read it.

  • Andrew Norton

    @cheggerspop

    Yes, it’s actually a press association article, I had a nice little talk with the editor at the Northern Echo who also initially ran the piece, but after I pointed out the inaccuracies (http://ktetch.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/oink-and-the-technicolour-lie-coat/ ) pulled the press association version and wrote a new story for both the web and print editions.

  • a/s/l

    wow, can’t believe that was over 2 years ago, feels like yesterday when i was sat staring at the screen, agog and despondent.

    still, what.cd and waffles are the two most amazing trackers i’ve ever seen. imagine how the 3rd generation of super-music trackers will manifest themselves. something to behold i’m sure.

  • essex steve

    I guess the Barrister representing the BPI will be the excellent David Groome of QEB Hollis Whiteman

    http://www.qebholliswhiteman.co.uk/memberProfile.php?memberID=23

    I hope that Alan has an equivalent heavy hitter on his team. I think the trail should be far from a dead cert but Mr Groome has the ability to paint a lurid picture if required.

  • Anonymous

    Oink’s pink palace forever!

  • DIDIDave aka CDDVDHeaven

    To do so they had to register their email address and a user name, then make donations by debit or credit card to ensure full access to the site.

    FFS thats a load of crap …..

  • Anonymous

    The power of corruption of the corporation of these corporate parasites is phenomenal and constitute a clear and present danger to our societies and our democracies.

    We have to destroy these corporations by whatever mean needed and using whatever method it’s take.

  • ME

    what and waffles are great, but I still miss OiNK every time I login.

    Good luck Alan.

  • Cordelia

    In order to get UK tabloid press on our side, what we need is a group of three very attractive women running a torrent site and then get put on trial. Press would love it. Sort of like Spice Pirate Girls…

    A geek in Middlesborough is just not as interesting from their perspective.

    Alternatively a super-cute girl getting punished for sharing..

    Media is so shallow and driven by selling copies, that they would sympathise with anyone who was pretty and gave good interviews.

  • john

    I expect the prosecution will try to paint this as a concerted attempt to make the music industry lose millions of pounds by pre-releasing top albums. Oink will be presented as a top site which allowed pre-release albums to be distributed on a world wide scale as files filtered down the internet. The donation model will be rejected as a defence as the prosecution will argue that a conspiracy was entered into with others to make the music industry lose money.
    If that conspiracy is not successfully proven then the case will fall. I believe some of the pre-trial bluster is partly a smokescreen. Even if the defence prove that no profit was made this does not mean that a conspiracy to defraud did not exist.

    What I would concentrate on if I was acting for the defence would be the motives of the people behind the site, if the motive was not to cause a loss to the music industry OR to gain an advantage at the industries expense then I think it will be a difficult case for the prosecution to prove.

  • Anonymous

    Are you volunteering Cordelia?

  • Hairiestpirateever

    Glad to see that TF is still up on following this case. Its hard to get info otherwise.
    Essex steve, is this a civil case between the BPI and Alan or a criminal case between the government and Alan? If a criminal case, is Groome the prosecutor?

  • Anonymous

    I support Alan Ellis. Best of luck for him.

  • Pizza

    Does “conspiracy to defraud music industry” really exists in UK laws??

    It sounds like a joke :S

  • Sunshine’s Numbers

    I hope for him that all will be fine…Even if i doubt on it.

    I met so many cool people on oink that i ll never forget this place.
    Most of them are my friends now.

    Oink was more than a tracker !

  • enter8

    “Are you volunteering Cordelia?”

    If she is, I second the motion. All in favor?

  • Pingback: Le procès contre Alan Ellis, admin de OiNK a débuté | Torrent

  • Thomas Jefferson

    its funny how people are forgetting that THE BBC WERE IN THE POLICE CAR AS HE WAS ARRESTED.
    HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?
    MAGIC?
    the whole affair disgusts me.
    REMEMBER REMEMBER THE 5TH OF NOVEMBER

  • lol

    llol what.cd is gonna go down like oink, i already invited like 20riaa members

  • hmmm

    This is a period of economic warfare.

    Economy (not people’s wealth or wellfare) is the new religion.

    So those trials are the modern version of inquisition. The suspect is already guilty, for they have to serve as an example.

    Welcome to the TorquemadAA era, when everything that is against “Economy” is a devil’s deed, and be grateful nobody dies set on fire by people wearing togas anymore.

  • Anonymous

    @13

    David Groome is a barrister working for most of the Big Content industry such as BPI, FACT, Virgin Media etc. His wife, Roz Groome is the Vice President of Anti Piracy for NBC Universal.

    Groome has quite the little cottage industry going at the minute. He specialises in Private Prosecutions on behalf of the aforementioned companies and charges big fees which he is then able to claim back from the UK public purse whether he wins OR loses. This outrageous strategy allows Groome to launch abusive Private Prosecutions on individuals and companies, sometimes with no prospect of success, while at the same time fleecing the UK taxpayer inordinate sums of money. Its scandalous.

    The BPI’s solicitors are Wiggin LLP, in particular Mr Simon Bagg who, unsurprisingly, did a stint as the BPI in house counsel for a couple of years not long ago.

    The incestous nature of this parasitic racket is coming to light more and more in the trials brought by these people. One major trial is going to reach the Supreme Court soon (House Of Lords) at which this whole seedy operation of PP’s is likely to be exposed. When that happens there will be considerable political fallout that should substantially set back the plans these people and companies have.

    Of course in Madelson’s new bill these companies will be designated with police powers which makes them quite dangerous what with the way they already abuse power. Hopefully the media spotlight will convince Politicians that these people really should be given zero power in in Mandy’s bill.

  • Anonymous

    Oh and in answer to 21. This is a Private Criminal Prosecution. Not a civil case. Anyone in the UK can privately prosecute someone for a crime and the copyright cartels are using this loophole to circumnavigate the CPS (Stete prosecutor) so that they can use the most expensive barristers and reclaim the cost from the UK taxpayer.

  • hms-one

    [quote]Ellis has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the music industry for his role in the OiNK tracker.[/quote]

    Ummm.. WTF!?

    Can anyone with knowledge of legalese please explain how such a charge contains an iota of sense either common or legal?

    What the hell does a ‘conspiracy to defraud’ an entire industry look like anyway? Apparently it looks like a torrent tracker. I fear a horrible precedent will be set if such a charge is prosecuted successfully.

  • wit

    Do not fear, fellow comrades! There is more of us than of them! We will sail these hostile waters to victory! HARRRRR!!!

  • cheggerspop

    Just been looking at the BPI website to see if they’ve made mention of the trial starting.

    Whilst I didn’t find any new articles relating to OiNK, a wry smile did come to my face when I saw the two latest press releases -

    http://www.bpi.co.uk/category/news-amp3b-press-release.aspx

    “18 December 2009, Growing Threat From Illegal Web Downloads” – Oh, it would seem that the music industry really is being forced to it’s knees and nobody is buying music theses days, they’re just stealing it……

    “23 October 2009, 2009 Is Record Year For UK Singles Sales” – Ah, so more music, well certainly singles, have been purchased in 2009 than any other year!!! Well that certainly doesn’t seem to go along with the belief that everyone is on the rob!!!

    ;-)

  • john

    @30 You are right that if the Oink case wins it could set an interesting precedent. Northumberland Police have an interesting fact sheet on conspiracy to defraud http://tinyurl.com/5bvydz

    FACT UK have further information
    http://tinyurl.com/yj6dxjw

  • Eij

    @27. That’s no problem. I don’t think RIAA members are technically skilled enough to fill out an online registration form.

  • OiNK User #25337

    Good luck Alan

  • fireponriaa

    @27. all 20 have been booted out of what already. try again.

  • Just a thought

    Just because there maybe legalities preventing the media from reporting, there’s nothing stopping a fellow pirate from sitting in the public gallery. That fellow pirate could post the proceedings on a foreign forum :)

  • Toot

    The court may be keeping certain aspects of the proceedings secret for now to prevent perversion of the course of justice affecting other cases, but they don’t seem to mind the false and misleading press coverage now (via the associated press) or at the time of Alan’s arrest where similar untruths were bandied about (including lies from the police).

    Excepting the Northern Echo, which apparently has some integrity, I guess it’s to be expected that the media (including the BBC?) will do its worst and bandy about misleading ‘facts’ about the case.

    The use of anti-fraud laws seems to be over-reaching and overly broad and I hope it falls flat.

  • WTF

    From the link with the definition of “Conspiracy to defraud”:

    “to defraud” ordinarily means….to deprive a person dishonestly of something which is his [...]

    Please someone remind me how the **** does sharing DEPRIVE anyone of anything they HAVE. Does a copy deprive anyone of something? A copy doesn’t take, it only creates.

    But then again I suppose going with that idiotic logic, one could sue a competitor for depriving them of potential customers WHICH THEY DON’T EVEN HAVE.

    If we go by potentiality then abortion should be illegal as it’s murder — you’re killing “potential” humans, right?

    Obvious double-standard is obvious.

  • Ninja

    Conspiracy? That’s a lame choice for a reason for prosecuting him. It’s like China arresting an active Blogger because his site background had forms that could be interpreted as child porn if you looked at the screen in a 43º angle. Lame.

    Also, it’s very interesting that there’s that silence issue up to now. Maybe MAFIAA and merry friends are getting aware of the huge negative impact such prosecutions have when they go public in details. In any case, they might think they won against the uploaders already prosecuted but that’s their own delusion as they are in fact losing more and more customers and gaingin nothing but hatred from them and other potential customers.

    I’m doing my job taking those news as far as I can. 100% of my friends download songs from the internet. 80% of them buy media they downloaded regularly. Or used to b4 those idiocies from MAFIAA started getting the spotlight.

    I hope Alan can get through this unharmed. And I hope people start getting angry enough to go to the streets protest. Fortunately in my country such extreme measures against file sharers are not being taken. And unfortunately that discussion has started here too while people sell pirated physical copies on the streets….

  • john

    @40 The depriving will be argued based on the harm caused by pre-released CD’s being available via Oink. They will probably get someone from the industry to appear as a witness and bandy some figures around about the immense amount of promotional work done to make sure people rush out on the same day and buy the latest CD and the loss caused when this is torpedoed by it being smeared around the world of torrents days previously.
    The fact that the pre-releases were just bought from Play.com and delivered early will be ignored.

  • maebnoom

    I hope things go well for Mr. Ellis.

    Funny thing is that the 2 sites that sprang up to replace OiNK immediately after its demise are both bigger than OiNK ever was.

    Good job, law enforcement!

  • Ann Nonn

    This is not a private prosecution. He is being prosecuted by the state (“Regina -v- Alan Ellis”).

    The silence issue is to protect the other defendant. The trial of Ellis will be reported in full.

  • Anonymous

    Private prosecutions are always Regina Vs Defendant on court papers. It matters not whether a prosecution is private, onc e it enters the system the prosecutor is said to be acting on behalf of the crown, at least in criminal cases.

  • Ann Nonn

    It is not a private prosecution.

  • John

    @29. I did not know that a person can launch a private prosecution and then get their barrister fees paid for by the state. It sounds unlikely; do you have any links?

  • cheggerspop

    I think people are getting their wires crossed here.

    Theoretically anyone can take anyone to court, without the Police, CPS etc. being involved and this is a private prosecution. These are normally civil and not criminal matters.

    Source: http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/p_to_r/private_prosecutions/

    If this were the case, the papers would read for example “The Music Industry versus Alan Ellis”.

    As Alan has been arrested, interviewed and the matter put before the CPS and subsequently the courts this matter is against The Crown, hence Regina versus Alan Ellis.

    Also, on the issue of the press being prevented from reporting on the hearing would suggest, and this is only a suggestion, that parts of the case are being heard in private, so people would not be able to sit in the public gallery and hear these parts of the case.

  • John

    Thanks, and I assume @27 was referring to http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/p_to_r/private_prosecutions/#continue which seems pretty reasonable to me. The BPI assist the Police at the early stages but when it is in the clear public interest to proceed the CPS agree to prosecute after BPI have paid for Counsels opinion, ie David Groomes.

  • heh

    I still remember i got a oink invite the day it went down… lol imagine my face right? hah

  • Jay

    @28 & @29 – great points, that’s the real reason all this is happening.

    the latest “headline” reported on bbc 6music news @14.30 is that alan had $300,000 dollars in an account, all from donations. interesting but not incriminating imho. i bet greenpeace also have over $300,000 in donations accounts, but that doesn’t automatically make them criminals.

    good luck alan.

  • pw

    “Oink was free to join, but by invitation only, and to be able to propose a friend, users had to pay a donation of at least £5.”

    You gotta love how those bastards twist the truth :/

  • Pingback: OiNK Admin Received Nearly $300k in Donations | Tech Industry News

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  • Anonymous

    @John – this will tell you everything you need to know about the PPO strategy of Big Content:

    http://www.sjberwin.com/publicationDetails.aspx?mid=1&rid=1&ast=4&adv=1&cid=2204

    …just download the PDF and have your eyes opened. Note the comment that the prosecutors fees are paid out of the public purpose whether they win or lose and that in addition to this the investigation costs can also be claimed from the public purse!

    @cheggerspop – when a private criminal prosecution is launched the court papers and all associated documents say “Regina Vs Defendant”. They do not say BPI Vs Defendant or similar.

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  • SomeGuy

    Its times like this pirates should be rallying together and voicing their opinions outside the courts.

    Guarenteed that would turn some heads into the reality of whats going on here.

    I think people underestimate what torrenting is about. Its not all about the file sharing. Beyond the filesharing lies a community of like minded people with similar interests. Torrenting gives users the chance to share and discover their interests within a community.

    If anything, the only thing torrenting does is give publicity.

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