[HOLY S**T!] Feds Seize KickassTorrents Domains, Arrest Owner

[TBear]

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.

[DARKSEID]

That's a damn tragedy. **** the system.

[MaD RoBoT]

oh ****

this is worse than any tragedy out there

so what's the alternative?

[ßringer]

Don't the feds always have a hard time making their cases against these torrent dudes? The argument the torrent guys always make is that they just created the program and that they're not legally responsible for the ways in which people who download it use it.

It all just seems like a giant waste of time and resources to me. Does anybody really give a **** that Hollywood execs aren't as rich as they could be without torrents? Anybody outside of Hollywood, I mean?

Remember back in the day when artists were b*tching about Napster? When Metallica famously sued fans who downloaded their stuff like a bunch of out-of-touch millionaire ****s? Or what about before that? I remember people in the music industry complaining about cassette tape piracy and movie execs complaining about VHS piracy back in the 1990s. Everybody was making mixtapes from the radio in the 1990s, or renting movies from Blockbuster and recording them to blank VHS tapes. Then it was Napster and burning CDs. Then it was megaupload and burning DVDs.

Point is, the music and film industry are a bunch of ****s who are still stuck in the 1950s in terms of product distribution. They still expect people to pay $20 for a CD with 3 good songs on it (if you're lucky) or $25 for a blu-ray that you're going to watch 3-5 times at a maximum.

It's not the fault of technologically savvy millennials that these dopes haven't adapted to the technological revolution and adapted more streamlined, user-friendly, cost-effective, digital distribution policies.

Also, it's not addressing the elephant in the room of the overall lack of quality that I hinted at regarding modern films and, god forbid, modern music that's played on the radio. Nobody wants to buy these talentless ****'s albums. They just want that one catchy song they made that plays on the radio on their iphone so they can get drunk and shake their asses to it.

Basically, the genie is out of the bottle now in terms of digital distribution, and it's up to the creators of the content to adapt to the new market that now exists and offer people an attractive way of legally acquiring the content that they want.

Or don't.

It's not like I give a **** about most of their products anyway.

[Weltschmerz]

Well, stealing is stealing and all are equal before the law.

[Beercules]

This is racism.

[Tago Nang Tago]

we know who is responsible for this....

the people who want to keep all the money related to media/movies/tv in-house and to themselves. god forbid you torrent a movie you wouldn't have otherwise watched...

the time is coming. they want blood. soon enough every song will be off youtube. you must pay PAY PAY!

[*TonyMontana*]

Well, stealing is stealing and all are equal before the law.

Laws don't really exist tho

[Furn]

Haha

Lars actually thought no one bought Load because of napster.

[Mr Ehrmantraut]

Don't the feds always have a hard time making their cases against these torrent dudes? The argument the torrent guys always make is that they just created the program and that they're not legally responsible for the ways in which people who download it use it.

It all just seems like a giant waste of time and resources to me. Does anybody really give a **** that Hollywood execs aren't as rich as they could be without torrents? Anybody outside of Hollywood, I mean?

Remember back in the day when artists were b*tching about Napster? When Metallica famously sued fans who downloaded their stuff like a bunch of out-of-touch millionaire ****s? Or what about before that? I remember people in the music industry complaining about cassette tape piracy and movie execs complaining about VHS piracy back in the 1990s. Everybody was making mixtapes from the radio in the 1990s, or renting movies from Blockbuster and recording them to blank VHS tapes. Then it was Napster and burning CDs. Then it was megaupload and burning DVDs.

Point is, the music and film industry are a bunch of ****s who are still stuck in the 1950s in terms of product distribution. They still expect people to pay $20 for a CD with 3 good songs on it (if you're lucky) or $25 for a blu-ray that you're going to watch 3-5 times at a maximum.

It's not the fault of technologically savvy millennials that these dopes haven't adapted to the technological revolution and adapted more streamlined, user-friendly, cost-effective, digital distribution policies.

Also, it's not addressing the elephant in the room of the overall lack of quality that I hinted at regarding modern films and, god forbid, modern music that's played on the radio. Nobody wants to buy these talentless ****'s albums. They just want that one catchy song they made that plays on the radio on their iphone so they can get drunk and shake their asses to it.

Basically, the genie is out of the bottle now in terms of digital distribution, and it's up to the creators of the content to adapt to the new market that now exists and offer people an attractive way of legally acquiring the content that they want.

Or don't.

It's not like I give a **** about most of their products anyway.

Great post.

Should be forwarded to some media bigwig, who i don't know, but your message deserves to be passed on.