The Pirate Bay – 12 Million Peers and Counting

Despite the entertainment industry’s best efforts, the world’s largest BitTorrent tracker site continues to grow.

Everybody in the BitTorrent community is well aware of The Pirate Bay and the famed Swedish pirates who run it. For years they have been the bane of record and movie companies everywhere, even drawing the ire of artists who feel it’s unfairly taking money from them that could otherwise be used to buy additional cars, homes , or jewelry.

Yesterday they made the announcement that despite everything it’s users continue to grow, reaching some 12 million peers a few days ago. It wasn’t so long ago that it was merely 10, so The Pirate Bay calls it "…amazing to see this happening already."

What’s further amazing is that they report an increase in the number of seeders, from 20% in 2004, 25-30% in 2005, 35% in 2006, 40% in 2007, to 50% this year! I’ve always been dismayed by the relatively low seeder count on all The Pirate Bay’s torrents, but this news could merit a second look. This is welcomes news, for as themselves note, "…it means that more and more people understand the real value of sharing."

Let’s hope this trend continues and congrats to The Pirate Bay!