If you’re trying to access KickAssTorrents (KAT) and you are finding yourself unable to, don’t worry you’re not alone. According to a report from TorrentFreak, it seems that the feds have successfully seized the domains related to KAT and its owner, a 30-year old man from Poland called Artem Vaulin, is also said to have been arrested.According to the press release issued by the Department of Justice, Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell was quoted as saying, “In an effort to evade law enforcement, Vaulin allegedly relied on servers located in countries around the world and moved his domains due to repeated seizures and civil lawsuits. His arrest in Poland, however, demonstrates again that cybercriminals can run, but they cannot hide from justice.”
They have also begun the process of attempting to extradite Vaulin from the Ukraine to face charges in the US. Now last we heard, which was last month, KAT had apparently launched on the dark web so it is unclear if that particular version of the website is still up and running. No doubt this is a huge blow to the torrents community who have largely relied on KAT ever since The Pirate Bay faced a similar situation back in 2014.
However if we did learn one thing, it is that when there is a will, there will be a way. Sure, KAT could be shut down, but there is a good chance that we’ll be seeing alternatives to KAT popup to fill the void.