Private BitTorrent Site Raided, Operators Arrested

In what could serve as a chilling warning to operators of other private file sharing networks, UK and Dutch police jointly raided the homes of those running OiNK, an invite-only BitTorrent site that allegedly has been the source of much pirated music.

According to investigators, pre-release music was first uploaded to OiNK and would then spread to other Web sites, blogs and file sharing networks. Because membership required an invitation, OiNK's operators felt secure from legal crackdowns that have recently occurred on other P2P sites and service.

A 24-year-old man was arrested in England Tuesday, while other locations -- including the datacenter where OiNK's servers were located -- were raided in Amsterdam last week. The man's employer and father's house were also searched by police.

"OiNK was central to the illegal distribution of pre-release music online. This was not a case of friends sharing music for pleasure. This was a worldwide network that got hold of music they did not own the rights to and posted it online," the IFPI, which represents record labels worldwide, said in a statement.

The raids followed a two-year investigation by both the IFPI and British Phonographic Industry (BPI). 60 pre-release albums were leaked through the service so far in 2007.

Those operating OiNK apparently made substantial money from it. The service hosted hundreds of thousands of torrent files, and had millions of users connecting to those torrents, making it one of the largest BitTorrent sites.