Torrent file and Magnet link sharing site The Pirate Bay has been accused of logging potentially identifiable information about its users, including email and IP addresses.

@pokex, who describes themselves as a "rootadmin at AnonOps," named after the website thought to be used by hacking collective Anonymous, took to Twitter this week to claim the Sweden-based site kept a database of information, including data that users might not want to end up in the hands of the authorities.

Oh hey @tpbdotorg, how do you feel logging all your users IPs? pastie.org/4904080 Spread the truth about TPB. Pics > imgur.com/a/07i1f — 'O.o (@pokex) October 3, 2012

The accusation could be damaging to the reputation of the site's integrity, as the torrent-linking site continues to be bombarded by authorities around the world in ongoing copyright infringement litigation.

The tweet linked to published images alleged to be a behind-the-scenes look of The Pirate Bay's administrative section. In the image, it purports that registered users of The Pirate Bay have their email addresses and IP addresses stored and can banned if deemed necessary.

The images cannot be verified, but have put questions in to representatives of The Pirate Bay, but we did not hear back at the time of writing.

In another image, it suggests that users can be banned by entering their username, change users' passwords, delete their comments, or change the email address associated with an account. Many of these are common features in any administrative console to any website or online service.

However, it does show a panel in which an entire IP address can be barred from uploading torrents, for example if they have published malware or criminally illegal content.

A leaked database table was also uploaded to the Web, suggesting certain entries could allow for information about the user to be stored.

According to the table of entries published by Pokex, who claims belong to The Pirate Bay, the entry "banIP" could allow the storing of IP addresses to determine whether they should be banned or not. Meanwhile, "blog_comments" appears to be able to store such data, while "comments" suggests users' who comment on torrents and Magnet link uploads may also have their IP addresses stored at the server level.

The Pirate Bay says on its website claims it is the "world's largest bittorrent tracker." On its separate policy page, it says: "The tracker may not be used by anyone with the intention to track usage, log IP addresses/usage or anything else that we consider intrusion of privacy or disruption of tracker service."

Interestingly and almost confusingly -- without offering much detail -- the policy notes: "We also reserve the rights to publish any information regarding violations. Info hashes, IP addresses and all other information that is supplied to the tracker will be considered our right to publish."

Storing IP addresses of users is not uncommon for websites, online applications or services. But the nature of the site -- which is already on shaky legal ground -- could possibly, if proven true, to damage the reputation of the file-sharing network, that has up to this point managed to fend off almost every legal attack it has faced. Owners of connections linked to those email and IP addresses could also face litigation.

Take this for example. CBS Interactive, who owns ZDNet and sister-sites CNET and CBS News, collects your IP address as stated in our site privacy policy (which you read and agree to because you're here and reading this, right?), but we only disclose certain information "to protect or defend the rights of CBS Interactive or our users" or "when required by law or public authorities."

Seeing as we're very rarely involved in a Gizmodo-like case when we get our doors busted in by the police for allegedly paying for a prototype product that went walk-about at a bar in San Francisco, near Apple's headquarters, your IP address probably isn't going to land itself in the hands of California's finest.

But The Pirate Bay is different. Though it may be home to legitimate torrents and Magnet links, it also has -- likely -- a much higher proportion of links to pirated and copyrighted content stored on home and business computers around the world.

This would be a goldmine for police in any jurisdiction, with a hand in to the U.S. police, and copyright authorities who would no doubt go to town on such intelligence -- in a bid to reclaim lost revenue for Hollywood studios.

Representatives for The Pirate Bay did not respond for comment.

Update on October 5, at 10:20 p.m. BST: Thanks to a reader, it was noted that TorrentFreak initially wrote about this back in 2010. While this is old news, it nonetheless highlights several weaknesses in the website. It's unclear whether the site still collect IP addresses of those uploading torrents, which could be acquired by private firms seeking financial recompense if The Pirate Bay's servers are ever seized by authorities.

Update on October 6, at 1:00 p.m. BST: The Pirate Bay told TorrentFreak that: "IPs are stored for 48 hours, and they are stored in ram so if someone tries to take a server the information is lost," and, "and are encrypted in case someone finds a sql-injection and takes the database." Well, that settles it then.