

An interesting bit of information popped up in this weekend’s LA Times—The Pirate Bay is planning to design the next generation of file-sharing technology.

Based in Stockholm, Sweden, The Pirate Bay has become one of the top file-sharing websites on the Internet allowing users to download thousands of movie and music files though various BitTorrent clients daily. The only problem is, most of the files being traded free-of-charge are violating the copyright of the owners and producers of the content. According to The Pirate Bay’s own stats, the site receives about 12,000 file transfer requests per second.

The organizers behind the site don’t offer much detail about the new technology other than to say that it is intended to make “every transaction completely untraceable.”

So far, The Pirate Bay has received legal threats from major corporations such as Microsoft, DreamWorks, EA, SEGA, Apple, Warner Bros. and the MPAA. Even now the site remains defiant, prominently displaying a statement that leaves no doubt where they stand: “0 torrents has been removed, and 0 torrents will ever be removed.”

Despite the illegal nature of the site, it appears to be gaining traction in the legitimate world. Trent Reznor’s band Nine Inch Nails just released a track called “Year Zero” on the site for users to download for free. Mainstream acceptance, or music promo hype, either way the move is likely to appeal to the band’s hardcore fans online.

The Times article also mentions a burgeoning political movement forming around The Pirate Bay. It's doubtful that a political movement based on "free everything" will gain much traction, but the very existence of such a group proves that The Pirate Bay is slowly becoming more than just a group of geeks protecting their servers.