Hang around the Internet long enough (heck, hang around Slashdot or Digg long enough) and even news of the semi-private pirate sites leak out. I'd heard of OiNK before; it was an invite-only music site that specialized in pre-release tracks, if I remember correctly. Personally, I still prefer Deezer if I need to work the latest pop track out of my system.
In any event, it's all academic -- the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which is affiliated with the RIAA, raided and shut down the site after a two-year investigation. The site's servers were seized, probably exposing the site's estimated 180,000 members to the world's copyright police.
The message on the site as of today:
"This site has been closed as a result of a criminal investigation by IFPI, BPI,
Cleveland Police and the Fiscal Investigation Unit of the Dutch Police (FIOD ECD) into
suspected illegal music distribution.
"A criminal investigation continues into the identities and activities of the site's
users"
The IFPI has done rather well in shutting down high-profile sites and BitTorrent trackers, including the "Demonoid" tracker and actions taken against Leaseweb, a Dutch ISP which hosted several pirate sites. On the other hand, pirates still continue to use other BitTorrent trackers and DC , a "direct sharing" technology that apparently is used by groups of university students.
On the other hand, the pirates still have the upper hand in the IFPI.com debacle.
Oink image taken from TorrentFreak and modified.
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