Exactly one year ago, KickassTorrents was shut down following a criminal investigation by the United States. While the site no longer exists in its former glory, the name is still around. Several original staffers remain dedicated to carrying the torch, for example. Today we take a look at KAT's past, present, and the future.
Exactly one year ago, on July 20th 2016, the torrent community was in dire straits.
Polish law enforcement officers had just apprehended Artem Vaulin, the alleged founder of KickassTorrents (KAT) at a local airport.
The arrest was part of a U.S. criminal case which also listed two other men as key players. At the time, KAT was the most-used torrent site around, so the authorities couldn’t have hit a more prominent target.
The criminal case was the end of the torrent site, but also the start of a lengthy court battle for the defendants.
To this day, Artem remains in Poland. He’s currently out on bail awaiting the final decision on the extradition request from the United States, while the other two defendants remain at large. If he is extradited, it’s expected that an extensive court battle will follow.
Although the original KickassTorrents is website no longer around, the ‘brand’ is still very much alive. Soon after the site went down several KAT copies and mirrors appeared. For many, however, the original site is still dearly missed.
The most prominent effort to create a replacement is the product of a group of well-known staffers from the original site. They began to rebuild the community by launching a forum for estranged KAT users last summer. A few months later they expanded their KATcr project to a full blown torrent site, mimicking the looks of the original.
Today, one year after it all started, we reach out to the new KATcr team to hear about their memories and future plans.
“Looking back it was shocking and disheartening for everyone, we know it happens but didn’t expect our ship to sink like that. We’ve written history there though, made many friends, learned a hell of a lot, and achieved so much,” Mr.Gooner recalls.
“It’s thanks to the original site and the loyal, supporting users that we were able to rebuild our ship and set sail again,” he adds.
While KATcr was able to put up a forum within days, getting fully organized was a more complex operation. Several former admins came on board, but without access to the original code or database, it took a few months to build a KAT replacement from scratch.