British and Dutch police have shut down Oink the world’s biggest site of pirated pre-release albums. OiNK distributed albums weeks ahead of their official release date and had an estimated membership of 180,000.

This membership model was as creepy as the website name oink. People were only invited to become members if they could prove they had music to offer and had to keep posting tracks to maintain their membership.

Authorities found the site was operated by a 24-year-old man who lived near Middlesbrough in north-east England. He was arrested Tuesday. The site’s servers, based in Amsterdam which is the home of prostitution and drugs, were seized in raids last week.

Jeremy Banks, head of the IFPI’s Internet anti-piracy unit said “This was not a case of friends sharing music for pleasure. This was a worldwide network that got hold of music they did not own the rights to and posted it online.” (Reuters)