KickassTorrents blocked by Chrome, Safari and Firefox as phishing website. (Photo : YouTube/Torrents)
KickassTorrents' main domain could be dead but the fight to keep its name continues to rage. With more mirrors being shut down, there are clones that still spring up to ensure that the KAT community remains connected.
The original KickassTorrents website went down two weeks ago following the alleged owner, Artem Vaulin, was arrested in Poland. As soon as the United States agencies brought down the popular torrent site, genuine mirrors and fake clones quickly sprang up to replace KAT.
A legitimate mirror, kickasstorrents.website, which came online courtesy of IsoHunt, has long been shut down. The latest casualty of mirror being taken down, KAT.am, had its domain name suspended after Motion Picture Association (MPA) filed a complaint to AMNIC - the American registry associated with the .am top-level domain. Furthermore, MPA issued the operator with a stern legal threat.
"This Notice requires you to immediately (within 24 hours) take effective measures to end and prevent further copyright infringement, " the threat that was posted on MPA official website read. "All opportunities provided by the Website to download, stream, or otherwise obtain access to the Entertainment Content should be disabled permanently."
However, KAT.am owner has already launched two more mirrors: kickass.cd and kickass.mx. The owner spoke with Torrent Freak, expressing his confidence that the war is far from over. According to him, they are not worried since if it is not them, someone else will keep the game running.
Kickass.la is another mirror, although it has no new torrents being uploaded since it is a very basic one from the original KAT site. Users should note that logging in with their existing accounts would not work because the mirrors are just copycats piggybacking on the KickassTorrents name.
With law enforcement agencies tough on copyright infringement, the torrent community should consider using other safer alternatives. They can acquire torrent materials through other safer alternatives like The Pirate Bay (TPB) and Extra Torrent. Apart from TPB and Extra Torrent, users have shifted their focus on RARBG and Torrent Downloads.
Watch the sneak peek below for more information on KickassTorrents:
