Former OiNK members first arrested for file sharing

“Conspiracy to defraud the music industry” sounds fairly serious when put that way, doesn’t it? That was the official charge levied against 6 former members of closed invite music appreciation site Oink’s Pink Palace when they became the first Brits arrested for the “crime” of file sharing.

Oink’s Pink Palace was a bit torrent tracking and music appreciation site that was invite only. It specialized in pre-released artist recordings. Members of the site paid a fee for the privilege of getting their music fix before anyone else via the torrent tracker.

This case marks a new era for British citizens. Brits have heretofore escaped from charges of file sharing, unlike their zealously pursued American counterparts. Americans have been under the gun by the RIAA and MPAA for years. England only recently started enacting and enforcing more intrusive file sharing and internet monitoring laws, leaving their citizens to feel the sting.

From The Register:

The BPI and IFPI worked with the police in order to close down the OiNK tracker site last October. The illegal online distribution of music, particularly pre-release, is hugely damaging, and as OiNK was the biggest source for pre-releases at the time we moved to shut it down. We provided the information to assist this investigation, but this is now a police matter and we are unable to comment further at this stage.

• OiNK creator cleared of fraud – uses Google as file-sharing defense
• Record labels could sue OiNK founder
• British, Dutch police shut down illegal music sharing site
• Computer game file-sharing case part of a larger crackdown in UK?
• Frustrated by file sharing woes? Try torrents