OiNK Founder Compares Site To Google

The founder of OiNK has defended the site saying that he has done nothing wrong and that it was “like Google”.

Alan Ellis, an IT consultant for Virgin Media, was arrested on Tuesday after an Interpol led operation to shut down the peer to peer torrent site which has around 180,000 members.

The operation begun after the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) claimed that Oink had leaked up to 60 pre-release albums this year.

They also claimed that members were asked to make donations to help him run the site, however many members have since refuted this.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph Ellis said: “I haven’t done anything wrong. I don’t believe my website breaks the law. They don’t understand how it works.

"The website is very different from how the police are making it out to be. There is no music sold on the site - I am doing nothing wrong.

"When I set up the site I didn’t think I was doing anything illegal and I still don’t. There are 180,000 users and there has been an outcry about what has happened to me.

"People who download music also buy CDs as well. A lot of people download music on the internet to get a taste of it and then later buy the CD.

"But I don’t sell music to people, I just direct them to it. If somebody wants to illegally download music they are going to do it whether my site is there or not.

"If this goes to court it is going to set a huge precedent. It will change the internet as we know it.

"As far as I am aware no-one in Britain has ever been taken to court for running a website like mine. My site is no different to something like Google.

"If Google directed someone to a site they can illegally download music they are doing the same as what I have been accused of. I am not making any Oink users break the law. People don’t pay to use the site.”

Servers for the site, which were based in Amsterdam, are now being forensically examined to determine the identities of the sites users and their activities including the invitation system.