KickAss Torrents Owner Arrested; To Stop Kabali Piracy?

Here’s what people on social media have made the connection between KickAss Torrents boss being arrested and Kabali’s leak online.

A Ukrainian alleged to be the ringleader of the world’s biggest online piracy site, KickAss Torrents, was hit with U.S. criminal charges on Wednesday for distributing over $1 billion worth of illegally copied films, music and other content.

The Justice Department unveiled a criminal complaint against Artem Vaulin, 30, of Kharkiv, Ukraine, who was arrested in Poland earlier in the day and is being sought by U.S. authorities for copyright infringement, money laundering and other charges.

Mr. Vaulin is alleged to own Kickass Torrents or KAT, which in recent years has eclipsed Pirate Bay and others to become the world’s biggest source of pirated media.

The criminal complaint said the website offers “a sophisticated and user-friendly environment in which its users are able to search for and locate content” which is protected by copyright.

Kabali-KAT Connection

When it comes to the phenomenon called Rajinikanth, there is no denying the fact that he is considered this superhuman creature with superhuman skills who can do anything and everything under the sun. You must have come across Rajini jokes which portray him doing things one cannot possibly imagine. Obviously, they’re all jokes. Thanks to the stunts superstar Rajini pulls in his films, his style of eating chewing gum, wearing his shades, smoking a cigarette; one has to try really hard to be able to even attempt it.

And as Rajini’s film Kabali released today, the craze clearly knows no bounds. His fans, in many cities, gathered early in the morning to perform puja before they headed for the show, gave a royal bath to his effigy and the list goes on.

Amid the Rajini craze, it was reported that Kabali was leaked online before its release and on July 21, boss of Kickass Torrents, one of the most used website for downloading films, was arrested in Poland making the website totally non-operational. Is it a coincidence? Of course, it is. For starters, the film was not leaked and the two can’t possibly be connected.

But hail the power of Rajinikanth, that’s what people on social media have concluded. And no wonder!