Wikimedia Common, YIFY

YTS Logo

Back in the beginning of November it was reported by Torrent Freak that YIFY/YTS, the largest movie piracy group to date, has officially been shut down. However, a recent site known as YTS.ag has launched online, but according to a report from Heavy, this is not a project from the original YIFY and YTS teams.

It is pointed out that the YIFY and YTS teams have been shut down permanently by the MPAA. The new YTS.ag group also clarifies that they are not directly associated with the now defunct EZTV. Heavy also reports that any YTS page that launches online these days are not associated with the old YTS sites that came from the original YIFY and YTS teams.

According to the report, the new site is merely taking over the assets from the original YIFY team and is now offering those files to their website's visitors. This would speed up the process instead of having to manually rip the video files from each DVD or Blu-Ray and then upload them one by one online.

YTS.ag also explains that the group is merely copying the style and logo of the original YTS and YIFY group in order to placate the fans.

However, the new site did have at least one blog post signed by a user named Seraph. According to the report, Seraph is one of the original YIFY/YTS members and was responsible for administrative duties. However, if the blog post is visited now, it is now signed by "William."

While this may indicate that the new YTS was built and launched by the same YTS admin, the rest of the report points out that this is not the case. Instead, it is all merely an attempt from the new website's administrators to live up to the legacy of the original YIFY and YTS teams.

For the time being, the original YIFY and YTS should be considered as defunt piracy groups.