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Digital
Oink to return as legal music service
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 19 September 2013
Well, we thought the days of seeing our favourite file-sharing service logo of all time were over, but it seems that Oink is on the comeback trail. And this time it’s personal. Oh no, sorry, I read that wrong. This time it’s legal.
As previously reported, UK-based invite-only file-sharing community Oink launched in 2004 and grew in popularity rapidly until it was shut down in 2007 following a joint investigation by British and Dutch police, working in collaboration with UK and global record label trade bodies the BPI and IFPI.
Four prolific users of the community were successfully prosecuted for simple copyright crimes, though founder Alan Ellis was tried and later acquitted of the more serious offence of conspiracy to defraud. A sixth man had the case against him dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service.
And there it ended. Except it didn’t, because this week a new website appeared for anyone heading to either of Oink’s official URLs – oink.cd and oink.me.uk. The basic website shows an image of Battersea Power Station with Oink’s familiar cartoon pig logo floating above it, Pink Floyd-style.
Users are asked to sign up to a mailing list “for updates and an invitation in due time” and reminded to “never forget 23 Oct 2007”, the date of the original site’s shutdown. Artists are meanwhile asked to sign up to a separate mailing list, which asks for details such as links to listen to their music and if they’re “independent and answer to no one”. “Don’t worry”, it also notes, “we’re on your side this time”.
Who exactly is behind the new site isn’t entirely clear, though subscribers to the site’s mailing list are offered an address in LA, at which a number of companies are registered – the most obviously relevant being a server company. A Whois lookup on oink.me.uk shows that the URL was registered by someone called Kyle Stevens on 28 Aug this year.
A request for comment was not returned.
