Kickass Torrents, the enormously popular but controversial file-sharing site, is back on a new domain called Katcr.co. TorrentFreak, a similar Torrents site, reports that the renewed launch of the site is being helmed by the original staffers. In August, Kickass Torrents, commonly abbreviated and known by its initials KAT, was forced to shut down after its alleged owner, Artem Vaulin, was arrested in Poland by the US Justice Department on charges of piracy and copyright violation. Torrents sites have a habit of coming back even after it is generally believed that they have been knocked out, and this latest instance is no different.
The post by TorrentFreaks said, “The majority of our original Staff, Admins and Moderation team joined us after Kat.cr went down – which is something we’re very proud of. This shows the loyalty, dedication and real love for KAT that we all share.” Popular Torrents sites have a habit of delivering clones in case they are wiped out, and the same thing happened here post August. The new site, however, says that they are the real website and not a clone. You can visit the site here. The moment news came that KAT was back, there was overwhelming pressure on the site and it crashed.
Torrents sites have been under the scanner for some time now. Another popular site, Torrentz, shut shop following the high-profile arrest in Poland, although they had not been issued any notices from concerned parties. At that time, it was ranked 186 in global website ranking by traffic analysis website Alexa. To prevent a similar incident happening again, the DMCA clauses, it is pointed out once a user logs on to KAT, have been painfully and scrupulously carried out this time with the proper ‘DMCA takedown procedure’ a la Youtube. Users have ben downloading torrents from clones and proxy sites all this while. Once traffic is restored to the new site, however, it is expected that users will follow.
