12/09/2008

Charges Follow Illegal-Downloading Investigation

The founder of a filesharing website, and five of its uploaders have been charged by Cleveland police, it has emerged.

A 25-year-old IT worker, and former administrator of the defunct BitTorrent tracker site OiNK.cd will face magistrates on 24 September, charged with conspiracy to defraud.

Five other people face charges of copyright infringement.

A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that one man has been charged with conspiracy to defraud and five others have been charged with copyright infringement.

"They will appear at Teeside Magistrates' Court on 24 September."

The 25-year-old was originally arrested in October last year, after a raid on his home, but he was released on police bail.

The allegations come following a prolonged investigation, code-named "Operation Ark Royal", into music industry piracy.

The raid on the IT worker's home was a result of an Interpol-led enquiry, which also involved music industry bodies the British Phonographic Industry and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. At the time detectives claimed the BitTorrent tracker had been making "hundreds of thousands of pounds", and was an "extremely lucrative" scheme.

The Holland-based site OiNK - which is now defunct - was one of the largest filesharing sites, at one time, with over 250,000 members. As it was a "tracker" site, it did not host any infringing material; rather it let members of the public share music.

(JM)

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