Within 24 hours, The Isle of Man Domain Registry removed KickassTorrents' domain name from their area at 9:30 AM. However, it was a planned move, with KAT directing users to a new site as well as to their previous domain. This was the latest blocking of a filesharing site, which Sweden is also set to remove The Piracy Bay's domain names.
KickassTorrents domain removed in 24 hours
When The Pirate Bay servers were closed down, various users began searching alternative sites for torrent downloads, which led them to go to KickassTorrents (KAT) site.
KAT was previously registered in Somalia (having ".so" suffix), but after enjoying a rise of popularity, it was also arrested quickly. Upon knowing that their site was halted, the group decided to open an ".a" domain suffix, owned by the Tonga government. However, it was also seized. Still, the group did not give up that easily as they directed users to an ".im" (Isle of Man government) domain. Nevertheless, its servers were downed within 24 hours.
This was because the Isle of Man government has a "zero tolerance policy towards copyright infringement."
An IM Domain Registry representative told The Independent that they "wish to make it very clear that we do not tolerate copyright infringement and withdrew the domain name from service at: 09:36 this morning."
KAT's planned move, nothing special
However, the KAT team reportedly told TorrentFreak that the domain name change was a "planned move." KAT said, "The domain name change is a planned move which KickassTorrents does every six months. Nothing special."
This "planned move" reportedly makes KAT site to re-open channels previously blocked, which was imposed by Internet providers in the UK and Google due to copyright issues. KAT admin Mr. Pink also said, "We have been seized by the Isle of Man domain registry. The new domain will be Kat.cr." Besides pointing users to a Kat.cr, KAT's original site is said to be working also.
Sweden joins the cat-and-mouse game
The revoke of the KAT's domain is the newest of what is termed as a "cat-and-mouse game between filesharing sites and the copyright protection groups." As anti-piracy groups continue to find new technical or legal ways to ban groups that illegally share files, pirate groups would then find ways to operate.
Recently, Sweden is looking to cancel the online status of The Pirate Bay, which is considered to be another notorious sharing site. A court in Sweden will be deciding next week if The Pirate Bay's ".se" domain should be removed.
Sweden is also suing its own Internet domain registry - Punkt SE, due to an accusation of "abetting criminal activity or breaching copyright law." Once the case gets successful, Punkt SE would be forced to stop anyone from registering Pirate Bay domain names, which could be used as an example in removing piracy sites off across Europe.
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