‘You Have Downloaded:' File-Sharing Tracker is Watching You Online

A new web site, You Have Downloaded, tracks what users have downloaded from file-sharing sites based on IP addresses. The site intends to scare and worry users who download music, movies, TV shows and applications frequently without precautions.

If you visit the site, it scans your IP address and reveals, almost instantly, what, if any, files you have downloaded. The site claims it tracks approximately 20% of public illegal downloads, but it is expecting to expand soon.

The site has a database of more than 52,286,000 users, 111,800 torrents and 1,918,000 files. The downloads have been collected from file-sharing web sites and download services such as BitTorrent.

The homepage of the site claims that the highest number of downloads come from China, the U.S., Spain, UK and Taiwan.

According to MSNBC, Suren Ter-Saakov, one of the site's founders, told cyber security researcher Brian Krebs that the site was made as a proof-of-concept.

The intentions of the site are innocent - it does not collect personal information or timestamps - but it does seek to warn (and scare) downloaders into realizing that they ought to stop illegal BitTorrents or, at least, use more secure torrenting through a VPN or proxy.

The site also offers the option for users to have their information removed from the site. Ter-Saakov told MSNBC that he received an email from someone requesting his information to be taken down because he was downloading porn and was afraid his parents would see what files he downloaded.

Many users have commented that the site does not track dynamic IP addresses, which change to conceal online activities. Frequent downloaders who change their IP address are also less likely to be tracked.

The site also seeks to highlight that file-trading networks are an extremely common and easy way to spread malicious software, Krebs told MSNBC. In order to be sure your files are protected, it is important to run a malware scanning program on illegal downloads.