60 Seconds Techno Stuff: The Very Basic of Magnet Link

Magnet URI scheme (Magnet Link) is nothing new to the Internet and its users. It works as a torrent file, but without downloading it in the front (The .torrent file will still be downloaded into your computer in the background without you noticing, for the convenience sake.)

This is what a Magnet Link looks like in most site

The Magnet Link which your can now find on various torrent providers' site, are deadly simple to use, just one click on it and it will open a BitTorrent client such as aforementioned µTorrent.

Not until recently, the Sweden-based 'The Pirate Bay' announced to its users that their site will no longer provide support for .torrent file but only Magnet Links. This is of course one way the pirate safeguarding their sites. 
'The main reason torrent sites are moving toward magnet links—apart from convenience to the user—is that these links (probably) free torrent sites like The Pirate Bay from legal trouble. Since The Pirate Bay won't be hosting files that link to copyrighted content—that is, the torrent files—it's more difficult to claim the site is directly enabling the downloading of copyrighted material. Whether this semantic leap actually protects torrent sites remains to be seen, but for now, you can sleep soundly knowing that the sites will stick around for awhile longer and that your torrents will take one less click to get started.' [Lifehacker]

Want to know how the Magnet Link work? Find it there [Wikipedia]

Example: Using Sha1 for checking the hash sum

 magnet:?xt=urn:sha1:XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX