40 websites that feel illegal to know about
None of these are illegal. They just feel like it the first time you use them. You can follow every plane in the sky, every ship at sea, every satellite overhead, and see what a web page looked like ten years ago.
All of them are legitimate, public and free or freemium. That is exactly what makes them feel so unlikely.
Updated · 40 sites · hand-checked
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1. F4map
OpenStreetMap rendered as a 3D city with buildings, trees and moving shadows. Fly anywhere in the world.
- Maps & Earth
- Free
- demo.f4map.com
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2. Google Earth
The whole planet in 3D in a browser tab. Fly through cities, take the guided Voyager stories or measure anything.
- Maps & Earth
- Free
- earth.google.com
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3. LeoLabs Visualization
Every tracked satellite and piece of debris in low earth orbit, swarming around a 3D globe in real time.
- Science & Space
- Free
- platform.leolabs.space
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4. Flightradar24
Every aircraft in the sky right now, clickable, with routes, aircraft type and altitude.
- Maps & Earth
- Freemium
- flightradar24.com
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5. MarineTraffic
The same idea as Flightradar, but for ships. Watch global trade move in real time.
- Maps & Earth
- Freemium
- marinetraffic.com
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6. Capitol Trades
Every stock trade disclosed by US members of Congress, searchable by politician, company and date.
- Read & Archive
- Free
- capitoltrades.com
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7. Keepa
Price history charts for nearly every Amazon product, so you can tell a real deal from a fake discount and set drop alerts.
- Everyday Tools
- Freemium
- keepa.com
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8. Pic2Map
Upload a photo and see on a map where it was taken, from its hidden EXIF data. Eye-opening about what your pictures give away.
- Everyday Tools
- Free
- pic2map.com
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9. Fingerprint
Type a username, email or phone number and see which of 700+ platforms it turns up on. A sobering look at your footprint.
- Everyday Tools
- Freemium
- fingerprint.to
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10. Max Intel
A free OSINT toolkit in the browser: username, email and phone lookups, domain recon and image forensics in one place.
- Everyday Tools
- Free
- maxintel.org
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11. Cover Your Tracks
The EFF tests how uniquely identifiable your browser fingerprint is. Sobering results.
- Everyday Tools
- Free
- coveryourtracks.eff.org
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12. Have I Been Pwned
Check whether your email has appeared in a known breach, from the person who catalogues them.
- Everyday Tools
- Free
- haveibeenpwned.com
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13. Wayback Machine
Nine hundred billion saved web pages. The reason the internet has a memory at all.
- Read & Archive
- Donation
- web.archive.org
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14. archive.today
Paste a URL and it freezes the page as both a screenshot and a text copy that stays up after the original goes down. Catches plenty the Wayback Machine misses.
- Everyday Tools
- Donation
- archive.ph
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15. Receive SMSS
Free public phone numbers from many countries, with every incoming text shown live on the page.
- Everyday Tools
- Free
- receive-smss.com
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16. Temp Number
Public temporary phone numbers whose incoming SMS show up on the page, for sign-ups you don't want your real number on.
- Everyday Tools
- Free
- temp-number.com
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17. CADMAPPER
Select any area in the world and download its buildings, roads and terrain as CAD files for architecture models.
- Maps & Earth
- Freemium
- cadmapper.com
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18. ShadeMap
Every mountain, building and tree shadow on earth, simulated for any date and time. Find the sunny café terrace or the shady campsite.
- Maps & Earth
- Freemium
- shademap.app
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19. Nullschool Earth
A live globe of wind, ocean currents, waves and particulates, animated straight from forecast data. Spin it, switch the layer, and watch the weather move.
- Maps & Earth
- Open source
- earth.nullschool.net
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20. Zoom Earth
Live satellite imagery, storm tracks and wildfire data on a smooth, fast globe.
- Maps & Earth
- Freemium
- zoom.earth
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21. Stowaway
Look up and see what's actually overhead: planes, satellites and stars drawn in 3D exactly where they are in your sky right now.
- Maps & Earth
- Free
- stowaway.live
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22. ARGOS Atlas
A globe stuffed with live traffic cameras and webcams, plus flights and ships moving in real time. Spin it anywhere and look through someone's lens.
- Maps & Earth
- Free
- argosatlas.com
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23. McBroken
A live map of which McDonald's ice cream machines are broken right now, found by a bot that keeps trying to order a McFlurry everywhere.
- Maps & Earth
- Free
- mcbroken.com
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24. World Monitor
Ships, jets, air-raid sirens, undersea cables and markets layered on one live map of the world's raw signals.
- Maps & Earth
- Free
- worldmonitor.app
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25. Playphrase.me
Type any phrase and watch a montage of film scenes where someone says it. Great for language learners and settling quote arguments.
- Music & Audio
- Freemium
- playphrase.me
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26. trace.moe
Drop in a screenshot from an anime and it tells you the show, the episode and the exact second it is from.
- Everyday Tools
- Open source
- trace.moe
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27. Vocal Remover
Drop in a song and get the vocals and the instrumental as separate tracks. Also has pitch, tempo and key tools for karaoke and practice.
- Music & Audio
- Freemium
- vocalremover.org
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28. JustDeleteMe
Direct links to the account deletion page of hundreds of services, rated from easy to impossible, so you know what you're in for.
- Everyday Tools
- Open source
- justdeleteme.xyz
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29. Submarine Cable Map
Every fibre-optic cable on the ocean floor, drawn on one map with its landing points, owners and dates. The physical internet, suddenly legible.
- Maps & Earth
- Free
- submarinecablemap.com
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30. OpenGridWorks
An interactive map of the power grid: every plant by fuel type, plus transmission lines and substations.
- Maps & Earth
- Free
- opengridworks.com
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31. Reactor Atlas
Every nuclear reactor on earth on one map: what type it is, when it came online, how much power it makes, and which ones were shut down and why.
- Maps & Earth
- Free
- reactoratlas.com
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32. Chunk Base
Enter a Minecraft seed and see where every biome, village, stronghold and slime chunk is before you start digging.
- Games & Play
- Free
- chunkbase.com
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33. Can You Run It
Pick a game and it checks your PC against the minimum and recommended specs, then tells you what to upgrade.
- Everyday Tools
- Free
- systemrequirementslab.com
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34. Hacker Typer
Mash the keyboard and produce convincing movie-hacker code. Best prank per byte on the web.
- Fun & Weird
- Free
- hackertyper.net
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36. Artkit Baby Track
Upload a video or open your camera and get the trendy blob-tracking look: boxes and lines that follow moving objects.
- Design & Type
- Free
- artkit.cc
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37. Virtual Vacation
Pick a city and walk, drive or fly through it in first-person video, or drop into a live street feed.
- Maps & Earth
- Free
- virtualvacation.us
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38. Famelack
Live TV channels, radio and webcams from around the world, browsable by country. Formerly TV Garden. No account, no ads.
- Music & Audio
- Free
- famelack.com
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39. GG.deals
Compare PC game prices across official stores and key shops, with price history, bundles and deal alerts.
- Everyday Tools
- Free
- gg.deals
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40. Globe TV
Spin a globe and tune into live TV, webcams, news and radio from wherever you land.
- Music & Audio
- Free
- globetv.app
Want more than 40?
This list is one slice of a directory of 479 websites. Search, filter by category or tag, or shuffle the lot.
Explore the full directoryQuestions
Are these websites actually illegal?
No. Every site on this list is legal and public. They feel illegal because they show you things most people do not know are open to anyone.
Which one should I try first?
Open Flightradar24 or MarineTraffic and look at the sky or sea near you live, then try the Wayback Machine on a website you used as a kid.
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