The BPI have announced that police have raided and closed down a London outpost of Allofmp3.com that may well close off the final avenue which allowed the much previously reported rogue Russian download site to trade outside of its home country.
As previously reported, Allofmp3.com used and, depending on who you believe, abused Russian copyright laws in order to sell major label music as MP3 files at cut price rates, pissing off record labels everywhere. Because it made those cut price rates available globally, for a time in 2006 the Russian service became a considerable force in the digital music space, leading to calls from record companies, music business trade bodies and senior political types for the Russian authorities to hone their copyright laws to close any loopholes used by Allofmp3.com, and to then crack down on the company that ran the service. Despite successfully incorporating the whole thing into Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organisation, in the end the political dealing became less important when the major credit cards announced they would no longer work with Allofmp3, essentially cutting off most Western consumers' access to the cut price download service.
However, Western music fans could still use Allofmp3.com by buying special vouchers via eBay, a bespoke website and other vendors. Credit cards could still be used with those third party voucher sellers, meaning that customers willing to go the extra mile could sidestep moves to stop access to the Russian download platform and continue to buy cut price downloads.
But the man leading the sale of the vouchers, certainly in the UK and possibly across much of Europe, has now been arrested and his computers and paperwork seized, meaning even voucher access to Allofmp3.com is now likely to be stopped, pretty much denying Allofmp3.com access to consumers, certainly outside of its home country.
The raid was allowed under Section 2 of the 2006 Fraud Act, which was designed to combat online fraud. I'm a bit hazy on quite how the voucher sales fall under the remit of the Act, partly because I haven't read it (have you ever read an Act Of Parliament? Not something to be doing on a damp Monday morning), but partly also because it's something of an untested territory prosecution wise, so there are no real cases to set a precedent as to when the legislation applies. The logic seems to be that Allofmp3 is "illegal" in that it is selling unlicensed content, and because Mr Voucher Man was in essence taking money on behalf of the illegal site, he was acting fraudulently. On what grounds the site was deemed "illegal" I'm not sure because, although it most probably is, as far as I'm aware no statute or civil proceedings have formally declared it as such. But one assumes officials had enough evidence of Allofmp3's illegality, and Mr Voucher Man's alleged fraud, to get a warrant for the raid.
Anyway, confirming the raid of the East London premises of Mr Voucher Man, BPI boss Geoff Taylor told CMU: "Allofmp3.com is an illegal download service and the decision by major credit cards and payment services no longer to support it amply demonstrates that fact. British music fans should beware of voucher schemes like this one that seek to prop up an illegal service that rips off artists. This criminal investigation demonstrates that trying to profit from the illegal distribution of music online is an offence with serious consequences. The Metropolitan Police deserve a great deal of credit for their work on this case".
International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry chief John Kennedy added: "Allofmp3.com is illegal in Russia, the US, the UK and everywhere else in the world. The action announced today is the latest to highlight Allofmp3.com's long and undistinguished history of stealing music from artists, composers and record producers and selling it at a profit".
Litigation against Allofmp3.com for past copyright infringement by, among others, the BPI, is ongoing.