Popular torrent release group YIFY has shut down permanent. This follows after its website – YTS – stopped working two weeks ago. YIFY had been responsible for some of the best movie torrents on the internet, releasing high quality movies that were consistently the most downloaded files for weeks on end.
There has been no official statement from the group, although TorrentFreak has cited trusted sources that confirm its demise. TorrentFreak also says that it has received additional information about the situation, but has been asked to avoid revealing it at this time. As far as we can tell, YIFY has not been tracked down by law enforcement agencies; and the closure is voluntary.
We can safely assume that there will be other groups that appear to fill the void left by YIFY, but it is unlikely that they will be able to achieve the same quality and consistency of releases. For now, it is an end of an era for online piracy and movie downloads.
One other small side effect that may come from this change is the efficiency of Popcorn Time. YIFY is the primary supplier of content for many of its forks, and the closure of the group could potentially affect the number of new releases available to the app.
A number of fake YIFY and YTS sites have appeared over the last week, and users are advised to avoid these for security reasons.
[Source: TorrentFreak]
