Kickass Torrents is back, and it looks like it’s here to stay
If you’re a movie buff and don’t quite end up frequenting the video stores, chances are that you, like most of the world, patronised the King of Downloads – Kickass Torrents. When the site was shut down following the arrest of its founder, Artem Vaulin, in Poland, many lives were inconvenienced by the move undertaken by the US Feds. The same users perked up with the timely introduction of Netflix in India, but the USP of fast and free downloads gave the former an upper hand in popularity.
Image credits: www.kickasstorrents.com
However, there is good news for all ye Torrent lovers – Kickass Torrents is back in all its former glory!
According to a report by Torrent Freak, a few of the original members of the KAT crew put their heads together to bring the defunct website back to life under a different domain name. Identical to its predecessor in appearance, the site comes with a clean-user database and a proper DMCA takedown procedure. This is similar to those used in websites like YouTube, which state that they do not store any copyrighted material on their servers.
Clearly, the original staffers do not wish to repeat past mistakes.
Although many clones of the site had propped up in the time it took for the site to be re-launched, none came close to the precision that was guaranteed with Kickass Torrents. Due to heavy online traffic, the website currently shows this message:
“Servers load have been affected, there are other few sources of this issue, its not just one. We are working to fix this as soon as possible. One thing is for sure, we are not going anywhere, even as much (people) behind this acts want us to. Cowards always choose the shadows to commit their acts, and I do personally hope they know how to pray, they will need it.”
The team has also cheekily pinned a YouTube link to Rickey Astley’s famous song Never Gonna Give You Up, perhaps indicating that this time, Kickass Torrents is here to stay.
Despite its shutdown in July and its name slashed across papers with Vaulin’s arrest, the original staffers remained seemingly loyal to it.
“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,” the KATcr team told TorrentFreak.
While these staffers were not necessarily the original architects of the site, they managed to pull together enough data and design to replicate its predecessor with near perfection. This was done with the objective of making its old users feel like they could pick up from right where they left off.
“We have all our major uploaders on board and they continued to share tirelessly even before the torrent engines returned. The torrent community can continue to expect to see uploads from all the names they know and trust,” said the KATcr crew, as mentioned in the same report.
Many may call this move ‘too bold’, considering that the sites alleged operators are still wanted by the Government of the United States. However, these same operators are quite confident that there should be no legal issues with the Government. Rather, they have vocally claimed that not only is the site secure, it also contains only ‘safe elements’ in its rebuilt model.
“KAT is a community-based forum and a torrent search engine. It’s the heart of who we are and that will never change. Despite opinions to the contrary, torrents are not illegal and we do not host any content,” they said.
Legal issues aside, the relaunch of Kickass Torrents is sure to hit many competitors that have sprung up in its absence. As for the users, they are just glad to be able to go back to downloading their favourite movies and TV shows for free.