Angry over not guilty verdict that sent Alan Ellis free, and even let him keep the ₤200,000 pounds ($320,000 USD) he collected in user donations for running the famed BitTorrent tracker site.
Last week I mentioned how Alan Ellis, admin of the famed BitTorrent tracker site OiNK, and the first person to be prosecuted for illegal file-sharing in the UK, had been acquitted of conspiracy to defraud in a trial closely watched by file-sharers and the music industry alike.
It was a stunning defeat for the music industry which spent 4yrs on the case only to watch it evaporate after a 90min jury deliberation.
The site was shutdown back on October 23rd, 2007 following a two-year investigation by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). However, adding insult to injury, OiNK was quickly replaced by no less than two similar music-oriented BitTorrent tracker sites – Waffles.fm and What.cd.
The IFPI had been quiet on the verdict until now, its chairman and chief executive, John Kennedy, saying at the a press conference to launch the release of its annual Digital Music report that the fight was not over, and that the record industry “will find other ways” to punish Ellis, civil proceedings being a possible option.
Who says the music industry isn’t a sore loser?
Stay tuned.
jared@zeropaid.com
That sounds a lot like a threat.
Threats are taken very seriously these days. I hear the UK may even be worse than the US at this point. Take this one for example:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oakland-bart-shooting/ci_14006435
Guy who writes on a message board discussing the shooting of an unarmed man by Bay Area Transit Auth. officers that “pis are pigs and he wants to kill pigs” and blah blah blah more internet juvenile retardedness. He got 3 years in prison for that remark..
I think Ellis should contact homeland authority or whatever……I think its apparent that IFPI wants to anally rape him.
Thinking along the same lines here.
If legal means are evaporating, then illegal means would be their next option. The copyright lobby has emplyed illegal methods before like hacking, illegal spying, unauthorized investigative techniques, and forgery in the past. Good thing they are above the law or else they might actually get in trouble by their actions.
The image in this article would be more appropriate with the logos being extruded from the pigs, rather than plastered on their hindquarters. But I digress…
The verdict has restored my faith in the courts.
hum and all the sites still claim they make NO MONEY what so ever… i dont think £200k is nothing
its a bleeping mystery why they dont try to “make the money disapear” better tho.