KickassTorrents (commonly abbreviated KAT) was a website that provided a directory for torrent files and magnet links to facilitate peer-to-peer file sharing using the BitTorrent protocol. (Photo : YouTube/BNO News)
Two Kickass alternatives DL Protect and Zone Telechargement have closed down in France. It is speculated that the next torrent websites in line for closure are The Pirate Bay and Extra Torrent.
The French government is actively pursuing all those websites, which are engaged in piracy. In this regard, they shut down two popular websites in the country, according to TorrentFreak.
Zone Telechargement was the first website to go offline on Nov. 29 after its offices were raided by French Gendarmerie in association with the French police. The website did manage to resurface online after a few hours but the site was broken and its services were repeatedly going offline.
Meanwhile, DL Protect was also forced offline without any kind of prior information to their customers. It used to be a good alternative to Kickass Torrents as it was actively used by the French torrent lovers.
The French police have arrested almost 10 people on piracy and copyright infringement charges. They are tightening the loop on piracy and some more arrests are expected to happen in the coming days.
The French authorities targeted these two websites in particular because it is believed that both of them are run by the same organisation. Also, it is expected that in 2015, both the websites managed to earn more than 10 million euros. They are the top torrent websites for the French people and manage to rack up huge losses for the copyright holders.
Meanwhile, there seems to be no hope on the horizon for Artem Paulim, the owner of Kickass Torrents. He was arrested in Poland on copyright infringement charges in July. His bail plea was recently rejected by the court and he is still in prison.
After the demise of Kickass Torrents, numerous mirrors cropped up, which tried to hang on to the brand name of KAT. A few of these websites were actually scamming sites, which wanted the personal and financial information of the users. They were shut down, when their unscruplous ways were exposed, according to the same publication.
Watch the video to know more about the various Kickass Torrents alternatives here:
