Last week, the United States government brought down KickassTorrents (KAT) after its owner was arrested in Poland. The move has spurred traffic increase for other torrent downloading websites, with Extra Torrent experiencing a 300 percent uptick.
KAT was shut down after its founder made several mistakes that allowed federal agents to track him down and seize his website. Prior to the shutdown, KickassTorrents operated in 30 languages and had over 50 million unique viewers per month. The website was approximated at $72 million.
Following the shutdown, users have shifted to other major torrent downloading websites. Besides Extra Torrent that has seen a 300 percent increase in traffic, The Pirate Bay (TPB) is a major beneficiary of the take down, according to Torrent Freak.
KAT was the 69th most-viewed site on the internet before it was brought down by authorities. As a result, there are many pirates ready to board a new ship in the torrent sphere.
Apart from a few recent issues that saw TPB pulled down for several weeks, the website has been a steady stronghold of illegal torrents for those carefree about copyright policies. Speaking with the same publication, one TPB employee said they would readily welcome KickassTorrents users.
"When both TPB and its forum went down, we had overwhelming support from KAT users on their forum, and our staff was able to keep the communities updated on important news and announcements thanks to the help and messages of support we received," the employee said.
According to the source, giving in return is only right and TPB hopes KAT staff will keep them informed of any official announcements so that they can help to disseminate the information. On the other hand, the torrent community is still defiant amid continued persecution.
For the community, illegal torrent downloading is mere ideology and a steadfast dedication to open information as opposed to a crime, as reported by Pirate Party, which among other things, warns about the infringement of copyright.
The operator of Extra Torrent, which has enjoyed a fast increase in traffic in the past few days - identified as SaM - is optimistic that the KickassTorrents and torrent community will make a comeback. Watch the footage below for more information on KAT.