i wonder

I wonder how bittorrent sites like mininova and piratebay make money. This was a random thought that came to me as I was taking my shower.

Yes they do each have one lame banner ad, but would people surfing their sites really bother to click on a link to The Free Online Encyclopedia when they are actually there to download lots of goodies? Moreover running such a site is not without the threat of legal action. Mininova does not even solicit donations. So what is the return the curators of these sites get for their efforts? Whose interest do they serve?

Maybe these sites are secretly run by Bram Cohen, the creator of bittorrent. As long as people are using his software, the donations are pouring in. Maybe they are secretly run by the internet infrastructure providers. The more people use bittorrent, the greater the demand for bigger and bigger bandwidth. Already bittorrent traffic accounts for more than one-third of all data sent across the Internet.

I can only think of conspiracy theories. Their business model defies logic.