Privacy is perhaps the biggest issue booming around the netizen world over the past few years. From Edward Snowden to the outcry for end-to-end encryption on Whatsapp, people are always sensitive about who can see or track what they do on the internet, and for good measure. Being tracked on the internet is about as invasive as a person watching over everything you do, in real life. So I can only assume many users will be shocked if I told you I can tell you everything you have downloaded off popular torrenting websites, most of which would be illegal content.
Well, I can't just do that, not without having your IP address anyways. Your IP address is used to identify your device on the internet, and every node that connects to the internet, such as your home WiFi or mobile device has it's own unique IP address. This information can be extracted very easily. In fact, every website you ever visit or any internet service you use can view your IP. This itself is not a privacy violation, as the IP address is required to communicate with your device. But once a person interested in stalking your download activity has your IP address, all they need to do is plug it into this website, aptly named "I know what you download", and your torrenting history lists itself, ready to be viewed by anyone's eyes.
Okay, so say you are interested in checking if your best friend's favorite midnight past time is downloading TV shows or watching porn. (Please, this is an explanation. Don't ever do that to anyone you sick stalker!). Problem is, you do not know his/her IP address. This website even allows you to get past that. All you have to do is find a website address, any address, to send your friend that you know he will click. Then enter it into the download tracker and hit 'Transform' to generate another URL. Send this to your friend, and let him click it. Everything will seem normal and the link will take him to the intended website. But what really happens is that the link goes to the iknowwhatyoudownload website, which captures his IP address, and then redirects him back to the original link. No suspicions aroused, and one successful IP capture done.
The existence of websites like this is an ode to the fact that no one can truly remain hidden or cloak their activities while on the internet. You can only take the necessary precautions, and, well, make sure your list on nemeses don't include some creep who would stalk your internet activity.
I shall soon follow up this post with some basic methods to hide your IP, so that trackers like this won't work on you. Meanwhile, mobile data users can remain safe in the knowledge that they are assigned a random IP address most of time they connect to the internet, preventing creepy trackers from stalking them. For the most part, at least.
That's all for now, cheers! =)
Well, I can't just do that, not without having your IP address anyways. Your IP address is used to identify your device on the internet, and every node that connects to the internet, such as your home WiFi or mobile device has it's own unique IP address. This information can be extracted very easily. In fact, every website you ever visit or any internet service you use can view your IP. This itself is not a privacy violation, as the IP address is required to communicate with your device. But once a person interested in stalking your download activity has your IP address, all they need to do is plug it into this website, aptly named "I know what you download", and your torrenting history lists itself, ready to be viewed by anyone's eyes.
Okay, so say you are interested in checking if your best friend's favorite midnight past time is downloading TV shows or watching porn. (Please, this is an explanation. Don't ever do that to anyone you sick stalker!). Problem is, you do not know his/her IP address. This website even allows you to get past that. All you have to do is find a website address, any address, to send your friend that you know he will click. Then enter it into the download tracker and hit 'Transform' to generate another URL. Send this to your friend, and let him click it. Everything will seem normal and the link will take him to the intended website. But what really happens is that the link goes to the iknowwhatyoudownload website, which captures his IP address, and then redirects him back to the original link. No suspicions aroused, and one successful IP capture done.
The existence of websites like this is an ode to the fact that no one can truly remain hidden or cloak their activities while on the internet. You can only take the necessary precautions, and, well, make sure your list on nemeses don't include some creep who would stalk your internet activity.
I shall soon follow up this post with some basic methods to hide your IP, so that trackers like this won't work on you. Meanwhile, mobile data users can remain safe in the knowledge that they are assigned a random IP address most of time they connect to the internet, preventing creepy trackers from stalking them. For the most part, at least.
That's all for now, cheers! =)
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