This website knows what you have torrented, and you can use it to spy on people
It's no secret that despite being billed as a great way to download large Linux distros and copyright free software, BitTorrent is primarily used to download the latest Star Wars movie, episodes of The Grand Tour, and illicit copies of Photoshop.
A new website -- unsophisticatedly named 'I Know What You Download' -- does exactly what you might expect: it exposes the torrents you have downloaded. More than this, it can be used to check what has been downloaded by any IP address, and there is even an option to trick people you know into letting you spy on what they are torrenting.
Head over to iknowwhatyoudownload.com and you will be presented with a list of the torrents that are associated with your current IP address. While you may not be astonished to be presented with a list of files you have downloaded, it highlights the fact that information about your online activities are recorded for just about anyone to see.
To further drive home this fact, the site also presents you with a list of 'similar IPs' to your own, and you can use these to see what others have been downloading. More worrying, though, is the site's option to create a link that can be used to track the downloads that other people make.
The Track Downloads option lets you send a specially-crafted URL to a friend, colleague, or enemy. When clicked it will take them to a website of your choosing, but it also reports back to iknowwhatyoudownload.com providing you with a constantly updated list of anything being torrented.
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