Kickass Torrents domain up for sale, minimum bid at $230

By Mark Andre Yapching / Aug 10, 2016 10:47 AM EDT
(Photo : Instagram/sandriaas) Owner of Kickasstorrents, Artem Vaulin, arrested.

Anyone with the money can try and purchase one of the domains in the Kickass Torrents group. All other domains related to the website has either been seized or remain dormant.

Costa Rican domain Kat.cr has been revealed to be for sale with a minimum bid of only $230, Torrent Freak reported. This is despite the legal troubles faced by the website as well as the refusal of the Costa Rican government to release any details regarding the website.

The Costa Rican government cited the Republic's Law on Protection of Persons against the use of their Personal Data. This law prohibits government agencies from divulging information on domains registered in Costa Rica to unauthorized third parties.

The article noted that people can bid as high as they like; however, there is no guarantee that someone can successfully purchase the domain. Factors that could block the sale include the efforts of the United States government to seize the domain.

The US government has successfully seized three domains, namely KickassTorrents.com, Kastatic.com and Thekat.tv. Of the three, only Thekat.tv does not display the banners of the US Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security.

A fourth website, Kat.ph, remains active, Torrent Freak noted.

The legal troubles for Kickass Torrents began in July with the arrest of Ukrainian Artem Vaulin, who is tagged by the US Department of Justice as the alleged ringleader of the torrent website, Variety reported.

Vaulin was arrested in Poland after federal agents carried out a bust operation on him, in which, they posed as potential advertisers seeking to buy ad space in Kickass Torrents. According to the same publication, US federal agencies have established evidence that linked him to the piracy website. Specifically, they noted that Vaulin used one IP address to login to Kickass Torrents' Facebook page and to make a purchase in Apple's iTunes service.

MPAA chief executive officer Chris Dodd lauded the arrest, calling it a big step forward to curbing online piracy. Dodd also added that the federal government's efforts help protect the jobs of Americans that are supported by the film and television industries.