I think it is the end for them. Their business model was designed entirely around passing PageRank for money. Absent a ‘cease and desist’ order from a US or EU court, Google has effectively put an end to their business.

The future of paid links isn’t in passing PR but in generating traffic. If TLA can adapt to that, they may come back, otherwise, their ride is over.

They have a number of ways to detect it, mainly through disclosure words nearby or links that go back to a broker. They may have some other ways as well, such as comparing who’s selling links to who’s advertising them. Remember Google has hired a lot of bright, young, shiny faced engineers who having nothing better to do than to figure out what you’re doing wrong for 18 hours of their day at the office between cappuccinos and Wii games.

There are ways to hide it through, even with the scrutiny. Take a look at Jack Spirko’s article I linked to in Googlenoia Update #2 if you want to use the dark side of the force.