This Web Site's Been Watching Your BitTorrent Habits and Can Show What You've Been Downloading [Privacy]

Try as you might, there's no foolproof way to be absolutely sure that your BitTorrent downloads are private and hidden from prying eyes. To prove it, one web site is posting your downloading habits out and in the open for all to see, and so we all understand how easy it can be to pin specific torrents to individual IP addresses. You Have Downloaded is a new site that claims to know what files you've been torrenting—and it makes all of that information public to anyone who searches for it.

If you visit the site yourself, You Have Downloaded will look up your IP and display any torrents it's managed to scrape that are associated with you. If you change your IP regularly or have a dynamic IP, it may not have anything on you—or at least nothing recent—but if you've had the same IP for a while and do a lot of downloading, it's possible they have at least some record of you. The folks behind the site claim they're watching 20% of all public tracker downloads and they're expanding to keep track of more, which means if you're not on the site now, you may be soon.

You Have Downloaded site currently has a database of over 51 million users, over 100,000 torrents, a million files, and it's still growing. The folks behind the site want their project to be a wake up call to encourage downloaders to secure their activities by torrenting through a VPN or proxy, or through other methods that will keep their traffic private.

For what it's worth, You Have Downloaded's own privacy policy points out that you shouldn't take them too seriously - they have a message to send, but they're not doing anything nefarious with the data except making it public. Still, if you BitTorrent, you should consider making your downloads as private as possible. For tips on how to lock down your torrents, check out our guide to boosting your BitTorrent speed and privacy, and our guide to protecting your privacy while downloading.

Head over and check out You Have Downloaded, and then let us know if the site has any data on you in the comments below.

You Have Downloaded | via TorrentFreak

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Make Tiny Changes to Your Eating Habits for Big Results [Health]

By Melanie Pinola Oct 11, 2011 7:30 AM 26,913 35

Can cutting just ten calories a day make a big difference in your health? The Food Network writes that easy, small changes like cutting out a packet of sugar in your coffee that you do consistently can help you achieve big goals.

Many small steps you can take to improve your health can be done in only a few minutes. As an example, if you have only 1 minute:

Order salad dressings or gravies on the side and rather than pouring it on top of your food. Dip your fork into the dressing before you take a bite, that way you will get a taste of dressing with each bite, but you'll consume less dressing by the end of your meal.

Another example for losing weight is cutting down on coffee if you tend to drink it with cream (or switch to low-fat milk).

The key is doing these small changes every day so you can see improvement in the long run.

Check out other suggestions from the Food Network link below or tell us, what little things do you do or have you done to improve your health and life? Photo remixed from an original by Mr. T in DC

Make One Small Change: A Manageable Approach to Food, Fitness and Life | Food Network

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