“If KickassTorrents is a Criminal Operation, Google Should Start Worrying”

[steven36]

Polish authorities have extended the arrest of Artem Vaulin, the alleged owner of KickassTorrents. His defense team is currently preparing to fight the U.S. extradition request, which will start next month. According to Artem's U.S. lawyer, operating a torrent site is not a criminal offense. "If KickassTorrents is a criminal operation, then Google should start worrying," he says.

 

 

In July, Polish law enforcement officers arrested Artem Vaulin, the alleged owner of KickassTorrents, who’s been held in a local prison ever since.

 

The 30-year-old Ukrainian was arrested on behalf of U.S. authorities who officially requested his extradition two weeks ago. According to a grand jury indictment, Artem and two co-conspirators were the brains behind the popular torrent search engine.

 

To find out more about progress in the case we reached out to Val Gurvits, who is part of the U.S. defense team. Gurvits currently resides in Poland, as does Artem’s wife and 4-year old son. Gurvits informs us that the arrest was recently extended.

 

“The arrest has been extended to November 19. Artem is planning on challenging extradition through his Polish counsel. The hearing should be sometime in late October,” Gurvits says.

 

During the November hearing the defense team plans to fight the extradition by arguing that running a torrent search engine is not a criminal offense in Poland or Ukraine.

 

“The primary basis for challenging extradition is that the acts of which Artem is accused do not constitute a crime in Poland where he is detained, nor in the Ukraine where he lives and works.”

 

Artem’s counsel goes even further and notes that operating a search engine such as KickassTorrents isn’t a crime in the United States either. If it is, then other search engines might be in trouble as well, Google included.

 

“In fact, in my opinion operating an index search engine cannot constitute a crime in the United States because secondary infringement is not criminalized under US law. If KickassTorrents is a criminal operation, then Google should start worrying,” Gurvits says.

 

The Google analogy isn’t new when it comes to copyright infringement lawsuits. Previously the now defunct isoHunt.com argued the same in their civil case against several Hollywood studios, but that didn’t prevent it from losing.

 

Over the past several weeks the U.S. KickassTorrents defense team has put a lot of effort into setting up a meeting with Artem, something they still haven’t been able to do. As highlighted earlier, the alleged KickassTorrents owner is only allowed to work with his Polish lawyers for now.

 

Gurvits and the U.S. defense team hope that this will change soon. In the interests of justice, but also to allow Artem to prepare properly for his fight against the U.S. extradition request.

 

“In my opinion, given that Artem is accused of committing a crime in the United States under US law, denying him access to US counsel is a blatant violation of his human rights,” Gurvits notes.

 

With the KickassTorrents case, the U.S. now has two major copyright extradition cases on its hands. The other one, against Kim Dotcom and his Megaupload colleagues, is still pending after nearly five years.

 

Ira Rothken acts as the lead counsel in both cases, which to a large degree center around the same question. Can the defendants be extradited for copyright infringement charges?

 

Source:

https://torrentfreak.com/if-kickasstorrents-is-a-criminal-operation-google-should-start-worrying-161002/

 

[Ice Frog]

i not think so, although their is merit in argument but it has more in its defense. major being general search engine rather than torrent search engine.

[steven36]

1 hour ago, Ice Frog said:

i not think so, although their is merit in argument but it has more in its defense. major being general search engine rather than torrent search engine.

With 24,119,797 reported pirate links took down in 2016 and its still full of results all it takes is one result  to find  a site to add it too you're bookmarks .  With Millions of people using Google  to find websites  with Infringing   files on YouTube  and Google Drive  they made more money off piracy  than  ever KAT did .  I found  a ton of warez sites  trough  Google .

 

The reason Google  took over Yahoo in 2008  as the most used Website was because they had uncensored search  and it had videos on youtube many witch were not legal  by the way  ,

http://www.pcworld.com/article/146003/article.html

Now they have became the worlds biggest censors of the internet  the internet is going backward were you need 15 search engines  again

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2016-06-22/google-is-the-worlds-biggest-censor-and-its-power-must-be-regulated

People still use Google the most because they are stuck in the the past  Like yahoo fell after a great run Google will fall one day too ..What goes up must come down  and they been going down hill every since they changed there privacy policy in 2011 they forgot what made them rich  they lost the plot. . Google  is not even  the same site anymore is was back a few years ago  people use it based on the past and the past is gone its today.. Wake up People !  

 

[AppleGeek]

Why do ppl feel differently about thepiratebay then? Facilitating a profit?

[luisam]

On 5/10/2016 at 1:53 AM, steven36 said:

People still use Google the most because they are stuck in the the past 

Which search engine would you recommend to replace Google, as the search engine of the present or the future? Yahoo is crap, Bing is a bigger crap. Wouldn't mind if it is not as fast as Google but with less censorship!

[steven36]

40 minutes ago, luisam said:

Which search engine would you recommend to replace Google, as the search engine of the present or the future? Yahoo is crap, Bing is a bigger crap. Wouldn't mind if it is not as fast as Google but with less censorship!

I search for search engines  and i use add too search  bar and  add them  I recommend  lots of them  not just one .

 

[luisam]

14 minutes ago, steven36 said:

I search for search engines  and i use add too search  bar and  add them  I recommend  lots of them  not just one

 

The web is full of potentially unwanted "search bars" with fake search engines, mostly adwares and spywares. When I encounter one of these, I won't touch it, less install one in my computer! So could you recommend a couple of "potentially useful" seach engines? I don't need a lot, just 2 or 3 good one.

[steven36]

16 minutes ago, luisam said:

 

The web is full of potentially unwanted "search bars" with fake search engines, mostly adwares and spywares. When I encounter one of these, I won't touch it, less install one in my computer! So could you recommend a couple of "potentially useful" seach engines? I don't need a lot, just 2 or 3 good one.

I done a post about search engines once  you can go here and look here are some .

http://www.nsaneforums.com/topic/271700-what-are-the-best-search-engines-of-2016/?do=findComment&comment=1104454