One of the most trusted torrent platforms, Kickass Torrents – or simply known as KAT – is not accessible anymore. It also seems that there is nothing demonstrating if Kick Ass Torrent will ever come back online.
The website was capped with the owner, of being one of the largest websites of online material such as films, TV shows, music, comics, games and anything of entertainment value. When The Pirate Bay went down two years ago, KAT website really lifted off, filling its void.
Artem Vaulin, who is a 30-year-old and hails from the Ukraine, who’s believed to be the creator of Kickass Torrents, was recently arrested in Poland. Since then, the United States wants him extradited to American soil. Likewise, government bodies in Michigan have taken control over similar domains linked to Kickass torrents’, which explain the problem why the Kickass users have difficulty in loading the website. (Click here for the list of blocked Kickass domains).
The authorities state that Artem Vaulin has accounted for operating one of the most popular torrent websites; containing over a billion copies of illegal material on its servers. The authorities further stated that he relied on his servers, which were placed in different countries, and constantly replaced his domains due to recurring confiscation from the federal authorities. Furthermore, his arrest in Poland has been a success for the authorities, as he has been charged with money laundering and copyright infringement.
While Vaulin’s website doesn’t have the whole file (i.e. movies, or music on their servers), but rather they simply provide people links to it, the website received an influx of visitors and generating money from adverts. According to the investigation, the website is worth more than $80 million (all domains combined), and had more than 50 million unique visitors with a generated revenue of more than $20 million dollars.
Story by Anon.Dos, Anonhq. ‘KickAss Torrents Goes Down And Its Owner Gets Arrested’ Story Available [Here].
Sources: AnonHQ, Hackread. Image: TechnoBuffalo.
