File sharing may seem to be a sunset business. With the landscape already slowly adjusting to response from anti piracy tools, Megaupload's case, Pirate Bay's verdict, there's a lot of uncertainty in the air and many users are searching for secure, private and uncensored file sharing clients. RetroShare could be one such client.

At current, many BitTorrent sites and lockers are continuing to operate as usual. There's a growing group of users who are expanding their horizons to see if there are other means of sharing available if the worse case scenario becomes a reality.

RetroShare is a private and uncensored file-sharing client, and the developers have also noticed a significant boom in users recently.

The RetroShare network allows people to create a private and encrypted file-sharing network. Users add friends by exchanging PGP certificates with people they trust. All the communication is encrypted using OpenSSL and files that are downloaded from strangers always go through a trusted friend.

In other words, it's a true Darknet and virtually impossible to monitor by outsiders. According to RetroShare DrBob:

"In January our downloads tripled when interest in SOPA was at its peak. It more than doubled again in February, when cyberlockers disabled sharing or shut down entirely. At the moment we are getting 10 times more downloads than in December 2011."

RetroShare's downloads at Sourceforge

"RetroShare is about creating a private space on the Internet. A social collaboration network where you can share anything you want. A space that is free from the prying eyes of governments, corporations and advertisers. This is vitally important as our freedom on the Internet is under increasing threat," DrBob told TorrentFreak.

"RetroShare is free from censorship: like Facebook banning ‘obscene' breast-feeding photographs. A network that allows you to use any pseudonym, without insisting on knowing your real name. A network where you will not face the threat of jail, or being banned from entry into a country for an innocent tweet."

Will this last? Or will it meet the fate of Megaupload and Pirate Bay too? Its too early to tell, for now.