The Pirate Bay is one of the most famous BitTorrent trackers online. Their political agenda and staff have changed a lot over the years, but they've continued to provide a terrific online resource for sharing media files. And now they're taking the first step in the direction of a future that Charles Stross rendered vividly in his recent novel Rule 34, where pirates, makers, and spammers use 3D printers to trade forbidden objects through the ether. That's right - they're getting ready to set up ways for you to share your favorite shoes and devices online, along with your favorite TV and movies.
Writes WinstonQ2038 on The Pirate Bay blog:
We believe that the next step in copying will be made from digital form into physical form. It will be physical objects. Or as we decided to call them: Physibles. Data objects that are able (and feasible) to become physical. We believe that things like three dimensional printers, scanners and such are just the first step. We believe that in the nearby future you will print your spare sparts for your vehicles. You will download your sneakers within 20 years.
The benefit to society is huge. No more shipping huge amount of products around the world. No more shipping the broken products back. No more child labour. We'll be able to print food for hungry people. We'll be able to share not only a recipe, but the full meal. We'll be able to actually copy that floppy, if we needed one.
We believe that the future of sharing is about physible data. We're thinking of temporarily renaming ourselves to The Product Bay - but we had no graphical artist around to make a logo. In the future, we'll download one.
I'm ready for the physible world.