Another BitTorrent Tracking Site Bites the Dust

It is not a good time to be the admin of a BitTorrent tracker website. Just days ago, popular UK TV torrent tracking site, TV-Links.co.uk was shut down, with the owner arrested. Now, the same scenario has occurred with Oink.cd (previously Oink.me.uk), a site with over 180,000 members and what’s said to have been the leading source for pre-release albums.

In addition to servers being seized, the 24-year-old Middlesbrough owner was arrested. The past year in particular has been rough on BitTorrent websites, with some being forced to block visitors from specific Countries and others being shut down without warning. Somehow, though, the Pirate Bay folks continue to manage success.

Pre-release piracy is regarded as particularly damaging because it leads to unauthorized mixes or unfinished versions of artists’ recordings appearing months before they are meant to. Often it is those in the industry, who get promotional or demonstration copies of albums before their release, who are involved in leaking them to file-sharing sites.

Source: Reuters