Just recently, Allan Ellis, creator of the BitTorrent tracking website Oink's Pink Palace, was found not guilty of conspiracy to defraud in January (of 2010). The site, similar to the Pirate Bay, was shut down by the British and the Dutch police after a two year investigation lead by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and the British Phonographic Industry.
Kerrang! Radio's website has an interesting article on the event and even has some nice radio interviews.
The victory in the case of Ellis, in a way, counters the decisions made in the case of the Pirate Bay trials. The jury voted unanimously for Ellis's innocence (12 to 0), allowing him to walk away a free man with the comfort that the verdict could not be appealed. To say that the outcome of the trial was a victory for the pirates' side of this legal battle would be hypocritical. Regardless of any legal sentencing, the loss of Oink as a forum for users to share music is the real defeat. The website, described by its users as one of the world's largest and most meticulously maintained online music repositories, was even supported by the likes of Trent Reznor, frontman for the band Nine Inch Nails, and strong advocate for the free distribution of music. He stated in regards to the site:
"If OiNK cost anything, I would certainly have paid, but there isn't the equivalent of that in the retail space right now. iTunes kind of feels like Sam Goody to me. I don't feel cool when I go there. I'm tired of seeing John Mayer's face pop up. I feel like I'm being hustled when I visit there, and I don't think their product is that great. DRM, low bit rate, etc. Amazon has potential, but none of them get around the issue of pre-release leaks. [...] I'm not saying that I think OiNK is morally correct, but I do know that it existed because it filled a void of what people want."
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