Oink's Pink Palace (frequently written as OiNK) was a prominent BitTorrent tracker which operated from 2004 to 2007. Following a two-year investigation by theInternational Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the site was shut down by British and Dutch police agencies.
Operators of the so-called Pink Palace banned low-quality sound files, enforced strict usage rules and mandated that all users’ avatars be “cute” — even taking pains to define exactly what made an avatar appropriately cuddly. All that came to an end in 2007, when the authorities arrested admin Alan Ellis, who created and ran the operation from his Middlesbrough apartment from 2004 to 2007.
Alan Ellis was tried for conspiracy to defraud at Teesside Crown court, the first person in the UK to be prosecuted for illegal file-sharing, and found not guilty on 15 January 2010.
Operators of the so-called Pink Palace banned low-quality sound files, enforced strict usage rules and mandated that all users’ avatars be “cute” — even taking pains to define exactly what made an avatar appropriately cuddly. All that came to an end in 2007, when the authorities arrested admin Alan Ellis, who created and ran the operation from his Middlesbrough apartment from 2004 to 2007.
Alan Ellis was tried for conspiracy to defraud at Teesside Crown court, the first person in the UK to be prosecuted for illegal file-sharing, and found not guilty on 15 January 2010.
Ellis, who said he crafted the site to brush up on his computer skills, testified the $18,000 (£11,000) a month he earned in PayPal "donations" was for rack space rental and servers.
Oink's invitation-only policy kept it below the radar of most file traders, and the site's operators apparently nixed repeated attempts to create a Wikipedia entry, so as not to draw attention.
Oink's invitation-only policy kept it below the radar of most file traders, and the site's operators apparently nixed repeated attempts to create a Wikipedia entry, so as not to draw attention.
The site prohibited games, videos (aside from tutorials), porn, nudity and the selling of invitations.
