AfterDawn: Tech news

KickassTorrents domain name got seized and the site taken down

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 10 Feb 2015 8:27 User comments (20)

KickassTorrents domain name got seized and the site taken down KickassTorrents, the site that became the most popular torrent tracker on the planet after The Pirate Bay went down, has had their kickass.so domain name seized but were able to quickly make a comeback.
The Somalian registry has banned the domain name, effectively taking down the site, which was left to revert back to its kickass.to domain, based in Tonga after being offline for hours.

As the site and its operators look to evade law enforcement and lawsuits, it has flipped domains in the past, using the .to top-level-domain before moving to the .so one last year.

It is unclear why the registry seized the domain name, as Somalia is regarded as a piracy safe haven for the most part. Perhaps complaints from top copyright holders were enough to move the needle.

Source:
Ernesto


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20 user comments

111.2.2015 01:43

Your article is already outdated! KAT is alive and well at kickass.to

211.2.2015 02:23

Originally posted by harrynutz:
Your article is already outdated! KAT is alive and well at kickass.to

Kickass.so is down. That's what the article is about.

311.2.2015 07:26

It's funny though. I was just on it last night and didn't even notice it. I happened to still have the page up and it has the .to domain instead of the .so domain. I always type in the kat.ph anyway for nostalgia reasons or habit and it always redirects where it needs to go. I was in a slight panic when I read this article so now I'm glad that it's a big nothing. I remember back when they were on the .to domain normally. They were playing around with the domains and finally switched over to the .so. I kinda knew they were preparing for trouble but some were speculating that they were having registrar issues and on the brink of being shut down.

411.2.2015 07:47

from what i was told kickass.so changed to kickass.to before anything went wrong and nothing been seized.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 11 Feb 2015 @ 7:48

511.2.2015 08:41

so this is kinda related but not really...when I download torrent tv shows from kickass or the Bay, My video player will not play them, seems encrypted?? on windows media player it says to download a vidlock codec which I am sure is a virus. all player will not play my torrent....any helpful suggestions??

611.2.2015 08:42

I was using .to for ages before it automatically switched to .so
I was on .so the night before, perfectly fine
Then in the morning, I noticed .so was gone and I had to go back to the .to domain

711.2.2015 08:46

Originally posted by arnould1:
so this is kinda related but not really...when I download torrent tv shows from kickass or the Bay, My video player will not play them, seems encrypted?? on windows media player it says to download a vidlock codec which I am sure is a virus. all player will not play my torrent....any helpful suggestions??
Simply look for the "King's Crown" symbol against the poster's name as also read the comments.

811.2.2015 10:50

Why does it open a new window with a virus attack when I first select the search window? .so or .to

911.2.2015 11:02
1011.2.2015 12:33

Nice.... Thanks!!!

Originally posted by scorpNZ:
try this one

http://kickasstorrents.ee/

1111.2.2015 15:07

yeah i have had a crap time trying to get on any torrent sites, vermin have banned them, any solutions peeps

1211.2.2015 16:56

Torrent sites are a dime a dozen.
One gets shut down, another pops up.
"So" is down and "To" is up.
Big friggin deal.
Kickasstorrents oughtta change their name
to KISSASStorrents, because sheeple flock
to that site like it was god.
"Long live kickasstor---" SHYADAP, you sheep.

I don't swear allegiance to any torrent site.

1311.2.2015 18:56

Originally posted by arnould1:
so this is kinda related but not really...when I download torrent tv shows from kickass or the Bay, My video player will not play them, seems encrypted?? on windows media player it says to download a vidlock codec which I am sure is a virus. all player will not play my torrent....any helpful suggestions??
Depends on the specific video you're grabbing. Who ripped the video? How big is the file? What format?

I HAVE NEVER EVER EVER downloaded a vid and it be unwatchable due to encryption or something to that effect.

If you can send the link, then I would be able to tell you one way or another with definitive certainty.

Honestly...I think it's something on your end my friend but maybe you shouldn't listen to me as I was labeled the "AD Village Idiot" by another bright individual.
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 11 Feb 2015 @ 6:58

1412.2.2015 01:05

Originally posted by hearme0:
Originally posted by arnould1:
so this is kinda related but not really...when I download torrent tv shows from kickass or the Bay, My video player will not play them, seems encrypted?? on windows media player it says to download a vidlock codec which I am sure is a virus. all player will not play my torrent....any helpful suggestions??
Depends on the specific video you're grabbing. Who ripped the video? How big is the file? What format?

I HAVE NEVER EVER EVER downloaded a vid and it be unwatchable due to encryption or something to that effect.

If you can send the link, then I would be able to tell you one way or another with definitive certainty.

Honestly...I think it's something on your end my friend but maybe you shouldn't listen to me as I was labeled the "AD Village Idiot" by another bright individual.

There are some random video's that loop a link to a site to unlock the video, generally if you can not find 2 or 10 different versions of a video its fake.

1512.2.2015 12:16

Anyone else see the irony in a file piracy site being squashed in Somalia?

1615.2.2015 08:39

do you now need to create a free account to access kickasstorrents?i tried to get in and was met with this requirement.Can someone give me advice on how to get around this,im thinking something else is going on.

1715.2.2015 09:59

Originally posted by hrg317:
do you now need to create a free account to access kickasstorrents?i tried to get in and was met with this requirement.Can someone give me advice on how to get around this,im thinking something else is going on.
I have been on there plenty of times and it has never asked for a login. I just tried it and it went right into the main page like normal using their old URL kat.ph, which redirects to whatever URL they have going at the time. It didn't show me as logged in (I do have an account there but rarely ever use it) so I think it's on your end or you mistyped the addy.

1815.2.2015 10:52

Originally posted by DOS_equis:
Originally posted by hrg317:
do you now need to create a free account to access kickasstorrents?i tried to get in and was met with this requirement.Can someone give me advice on how to get around this,im thinking something else is going on.
I have been on there plenty of times and it has never asked for a login. I just tried it and it went right into the main page like normal using their old URL kat.ph, which redirects to whatever URL they have going at the time. It didn't show me as logged in (I do have an account there but rarely ever use it) so I think it's on your end or you mistyped the addy.
I go there all the time without logging in...
And I can post comments in the torrents section.
I can also view the forum threads, but Login is required
to post comments in the threads.
I have no intentions of hanging out at kickass for
any lengthy time period during my visits there.

1917.2.2015 04:00

Quote:
The Somalian registry has banned the domain name, effectively taking down the site, which was left to revert back to its kickass.to domain, based in Tonga after being offline for hours.
The verb "to revert" means "to go back". It is incorrect therefore to say "revert back" as this is effectively saying "to go back back". This is a very common error and annoys many English speaking people - like me for instance :)

2017.2.2015 04:06

Originally posted by eileen59:
yeah i have had a crap time trying to get on any torrent sites, vermin have banned them, any solutions peeps
Many people use torrent sites to find illegal copies of apps, media and music etc. It is hardly surprising that the "authorities" take steps to rid the planet of them therefore. Calling them "vermin" would seem to indicate that you approve of the torrent site providers. It's almost as bad as calling the police "pigs" :)

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