Oink founder had £190,000 in his piggy bank
The creator of one of the internet's largest illegal filesharing sites collected a fortune in donations from users, a court has been told
The founder of one of the internet's largest illegal filesharing sites collected £190,000 in donations from users by the time he was arrested in 2007, a court heard yesterday. Alan Ellis, creator of Oink's Pink Palace, amassed a fortune in contributions from the BitTorrent tracker's 200,000 members, in some cases demanding a £5 fee to invite a friend to the site.
Ellis, 26, was arrested in October 2007, after police raids on his home in Teesside, Middlesbrough and the website's Netherlands server facility. He was not, according to prosecutor Peter Makepeace, "some poor minnow who has taped a record one night and circulated it to their friends". Oink reportedly saw more than 21m downloads between 2004 and 2007, growing virally. While certain users were issued free invitations to bring friends into the fold, hundreds of others seem to have donated to the site to earn the same privilege. Police seized about $300,000 (£190,000) from Ellis's Paypal accounts, Makepeace said. "Every penny was going to Mr Ellis. He hadn't sung a note, he hadn't played an instrument, he hadn't produced anything."
Ellis, 26, denies conspiracy to defraud. Interviewed by police after his arrest, he said it was "out of my hands" – describing Oink as a search engine. As a BitTorrent tracker, the site did not physically host illegal material, but coordinated and catalogued users' shared files. "What I do is really like Google, to provide a connection between people," Ellis said. "None of the music is on my website."
While Oink is no longer online, hundreds of similar trackers – private and public – have taken its place. "This is about large-scale, professional, clever, technical ripping-off," insisted Makepeace.
The case continues.
Sean Michaels
Friday 8 January 2010 12.29 GMT
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010
The creator of one of the internet's largest illegal filesharing sites collected a fortune in donations from users, a court has been told
The founder of one of the internet's largest illegal filesharing sites collected £190,000 in donations from users by the time he was arrested in 2007, a court heard yesterday. Alan Ellis, creator of Oink's Pink Palace, amassed a fortune in contributions from the BitTorrent tracker's 200,000 members, in some cases demanding a £5 fee to invite a friend to the site.
Ellis, 26, was arrested in October 2007, after police raids on his home in Teesside, Middlesbrough and the website's Netherlands server facility. He was not, according to prosecutor Peter Makepeace, "some poor minnow who has taped a record one night and circulated it to their friends". Oink reportedly saw more than 21m downloads between 2004 and 2007, growing virally. While certain users were issued free invitations to bring friends into the fold, hundreds of others seem to have donated to the site to earn the same privilege. Police seized about $300,000 (£190,000) from Ellis's Paypal accounts, Makepeace said. "Every penny was going to Mr Ellis. He hadn't sung a note, he hadn't played an instrument, he hadn't produced anything."
Ellis, 26, denies conspiracy to defraud. Interviewed by police after his arrest, he said it was "out of my hands" – describing Oink as a search engine. As a BitTorrent tracker, the site did not physically host illegal material, but coordinated and catalogued users' shared files. "What I do is really like Google, to provide a connection between people," Ellis said. "None of the music is on my website."
While Oink is no longer online, hundreds of similar trackers – private and public – have taken its place. "This is about large-scale, professional, clever, technical ripping-off," insisted Makepeace.
The case continues.
Sean Michaels
Friday 8 January 2010 12.29 GMT
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010
