Popular movie file provider YTS, formerly known as YIFY, moved its domain from YTS.re to YTS.to in order to elude an impeding crackdown on its global operations. YTS has been tagged by the U.S. government as a pirate site for hosting movie titles, mostly American-produced.

According to Torrent Freaks, YTS or YIFY was forced to transfer from its French-hosted domain name following a warning from domain registry FRNIC that its YTS.re domain name is subject for suspension. Succumbing to pressures from authorities, FRNIC warned YTS that the suspension order will take effect March 2015.

Pre-emptive fix

The YIFY team quickly sprang into action and moved the YTS domain, a group representative told Torrent Freaks. “We got a warning from FRNIC that the domain is frozen and will be suspended by the end of March,” the report quoted the YTS admin as saying.

The incident was labelled by the group as minor and vowed that its operation will continue without issues. YIFY also thanked FRNIC for issuing its suspension notice in advance, allowing the group to smoothly migrate from one domain to another.

YTS added that it somehow expected the issue, conceding that it is understandable for domain registries to cave in to pressures in order to avoid legal complications. “I don’t blame them for caving into threats. After all, 10 to 50 USD per year is not enough to warrant the hassle of dealing with lawyers and 3rd party law enforcement bodies. It’s easier and cheaper to just drop the client,” the group said.

Mounting pressure

YIFY points to the usual suspects as the source of growing heat after them but the group brushed aside the likelihood of them going the same way as The Pirate Bay. The Pirate Bay went offline December 2014 after its server site was raided by Swedish authorities. But the site successfully resumed operation last month though its functions remain limited.

In moving the domain name, YTS has advised that some adjustments will be made but navigating though its site will work in the same way as before.

YTS or YIFY has gained notoriety in recent years for offering torrent files that allow users to share and download movie titles, mostly coming from Hollywood, in 720p, 1080p and 3D format. The files are relatively small that further drive up the traffic generated by the site.

Authorities have warned that downloading or sharing of copyrighted materials – movies, music, eBooks and software – is illegal. Sites like The Pirate Bay and YTS or YIFY have been accused of hosting such activities.

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