Feds Seize KickassTorrents Domains, Arrest Owner

Ceewan

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The U.S. Government has arrested the alleged owner of KickassTorrents, the world's largest torrent site. The 30-year-old Ukrainian was arrested in Poland today and is charged with criminal copyright infringement and money laundering. In addition, a federal court in Chicago has ordered the seizure of several KAT domain names.

With millions of unique visitors per day KickassTorrents (KAT) has become the most-used torrent site on the Internet, beating even The Pirate Bay.

Today, however, the site has run into a significant roadblock after U.S. authorities announced the arrest of the site’s alleged owner.

The 30-year-old Artem Vaulin, from Ukraine, was arrested today in Poland from where the United States has requested his extradition.

In a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, the owner is charged with conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and two counts of criminal copyright infringement.

The court also granted the seizure of a bank account associated with KickassTorrents, as well as several of the site’s domain names.

“Vaulin is charged with running today’s most visited illegal file-sharing website, responsible for unlawfully distributing well over $1 billion of copyrighted materials,” says Assistant Attorney General Caldwell, commenting on the announcement.

“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.”

At the time of writing the main domain name Kat.cr has trouble loading, but various proxies still appear to work. KAT’s status page doesn’t list any issues, but we assume that this will be updated shortly.

TorrentFreak has reached out to the KAT team for a comment on the news and what it means for the site’s future, but we have yet to hear back.


source:
https://torrentfreak.com/feds-seize-kickasstorrents-domains-charge-owner-160720/

Say thank you to Obama and Joe Biden.......
 

spikier

JAPAN:みんなのあい
Nov 13, 2008
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noooooooooooooo!!!!!!

i went to that site for almost everything!. now what?
 

Ceewan

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Jul 23, 2008
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https://proxybay.tv/

https://1337x.to/

Extratorrent.cc


looks like the KAT team are wiping the servers and heading for the hills....but that is just a guess. All their sites have flatlined.
 
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Ceewan

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Jul 23, 2008
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From TPB:

It also shows that Apple handed over personal details of Vaulin after the investigator cross-referenced an IP-address used for an iTunes transaction with an IP-address that was used to login to KAT’s Facebook account.

“Records provided by Apple showed that censored conducted an iTunes transaction using IP Address 109.86.226.203 on or about July 31, 2015. The same IP Address was used on the same day to login into the KAT Facebook,” the complaint reads.

And people (including major uploaders) wonder why we don't allow them to link to their Facebook pages.


I censored the email address so people don't click on it and get a knock on their door......
 

Ceewan

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The Onion site is also down, which means KAT has yanked their server. Possibly moving it to a safer location.


Tor is easy. Just go to Torproject.org and download the Torbrowser to use when you wish to surf the web anonymously. It doesn't even ask to be your default browser, doesn't snoop on you and the NoScript add-on is installed as a default setting (though you have to adjust it manually). It even installs on your desktop.
 

Ceewan

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“Please be aware that there is no legitimate fully-working KAT site available so be cautious and never attempt to login to any fake sites that may appear online,” Mr.Black warns.

Meanwhile, the alleged operator of KickassTorrents faces extradition to the United States. As far as we know he still remains in Poland, but the authorities haven’t announced any new information since last week, while the court case remains sealed.

https://torrentfreak.com/kickasstorrents-community-resurrects-without-torrents-160725/



One thing I would like to note is the "perversion" of Homeland Security. Homeland Security was originally formed to combat terrorist threats and was created in response to the 2001 9/11 attacks.

From the wiki:
Its stated missions involve antiterrorism, border security, immigration and customs, cybersecurity, and disaster prevention and management.

I really think this arrest does not in any way apply to what they were created to do and/or accomplish. It is using American taxpayer funds and a federal agency for a personal agenda via Joe Biden for buddy Chris Dodd of the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America). It is the same crap they pulled on MegaUpload and Kim Dotcom by having someone arrested in a foreign country, improperly using diplomatic channels, when that same country was never interested in arresting that person for breaking any local laws in their country. This is not Osama bin Laden here who was plotting to kill American citizens. This response is improportional to his crime which at best is a civil crime, not a criminal one. Corruption at work in American politics.....look forward to that getting worse under Obamas' former Sectratary of State, Hilary Clinton.

end of rant
 
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Ceewan

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Jul 23, 2008
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KickassTorrents’ Alleged Owner Retains Kim Dotcom’s Lawyer


The alleged owner of KickassTorrents has retained lawyer Ira Rothken, who also handles the defense of Kim Dotcom and his indicted Megaupload colleagues. Rothken believes that Vaulin has a strong case against the U.S. Government and hopes to have the Ukrainian released from his Warsaw jail soon, so he can mount a spirited defense.


https://torrentfreak.com/kickasstorrents-alleged-owner-retains-kim-dotcoms-lawyer-160728/