UPDATED 11:00 EDT / AUGUST 01 2016

NEWS

More Kickass Torrent mirrors spring up as others are taken down

One of these days, Hollywood may finally realize that permanently closing torrent sites is an all but impossible task, but until then, the major film studios will continuing playing whack-a-mole with sites like Kickass Torrents (KAT).

KAT went down less than two weeks ago after Polish authorities arrested the site’s alleged founder, Artem Vaulin. Within hours, around a dozen real and fake mirrors sprang up as if nothing had happened, and even as many of these mirrors are taken down, more and more are popping up to take their place.

One such mirror, KAT.am, was considered by many users to be the “official” unofficial replacement for the original KAT, but it has also been taken down thanks to the Motion Picture Association, which sent a legal notice to the site’s operator on behalf of several major Hollywood studios, including Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc, Warner Bros Entertainment Inc, and Walt Disney Studios.

“This Notice requires you to immediately (within 24 hours) take effective measures to end and prevent further copyright infringement,” the MPA’s notice said. “All opportunities provided by the Website to download, stream or otherwise obtain access to the Entertainment Content should be disabled permanently.”

The site’s operator ignored the MPA’s request, but the organization pressured KAT.am’s Armenian registry to suspend the site’s domain name. Despite that setback, the creator of KAT.am said that he intends to keep trying, and he said that even if his site fails, another will take its place.

“We are not worried, because if it’s not us, someone else will keep the game running,” KAT.am’s creator, who remained anonymous, recently told Torrent Freak. “If not the alleged owner, it can be us. If we are not there, still there will surely be someone else. This never ends.”


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