Police 'in wrong' over music raid (From The Northern Echo)

Police 'in wrong' over music raid

6:05am Thursday 25th October 2007 in News

THE man at the centre of an international investigation into an illegal music sharing website claims police have got it wrong.

Alan Ellis, 24, was arrested in a dawn swoop and questioned on conspiracy to defraud and infringement of copyright charges.

Cleveland Police raided his Middlesbrough town centre flat on Tuesday. In a simultaneous raid, police shut down the Dutch based servers used by the invitation-only file sharing music website OiNK.

Police and investigators from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) said they had been targeting one man in the UK suspected of running the website.

At home last night, Mr Ellis insisted police had got the wrong man.

He added: "By the looks of all the statements I have seen, it seems this operation was two years in the making - yet they have not got the facts.

"I am sure the truth will come out and it will in the long run."

He said he was not able to discuss allegations that he was involved in the website, which had 180,000 members.

The IT worker accused police of going over the top when they raided the house where he lives and which is divided into flats.

Mr Ellis said: "It was very, over dramatic and extremely bad. The police actually invited the media.''

Cleveland Police said yesterday that Mr Ellis had been released on bail pending forensic examination of seized computer equipment and further inquiries.

His parents' home, in Cheadle, has been raided by Greater Manchester Police, who took away computer equipment and documentation.

OiNK was a music sharing site with exacting standards. Only high-quality music files were allowed, with tracklist information. Bootlegs, concert recordings or unfinished songs were banned.

The site promised free music downloads of equivalent or better quality than those available from paid-for sites.

Every user had to upload a certain amount of music in relation to what they downloaded. Some fans uploaded thousands of tracks - and took as many in return.

Yesterday, fans and musicians jumped to the site's defence.

Artist D J Rupture said he had found his entire back catalogue online, but said: "Oink was an online paradise for music fans.

"Oink was the best music website in the world."

Dutch Police raided the OiNK servers offices of Nforce, in Roo-sendaal, Holland, run by Pieter Taks. He denied being aware of any peer-to-peer music trading.

Mr Taks said police had confiscated four computer servers, which were being examined for details of OiNK's many users.

He added: "Police told us two months ago about the illegal activities."