Notches in your bedpost, now online

Want to keep track of all your sexual activity? Write it down! In a book! Then lock the book in a safe. That's my advice after checking out the online database MyBlackBook.org. This Web service lets you record, in great detail, who you had sex with, when, and how. The stated goals are twofold: First, to give you a secure place to record your activity. And second, to help users understand their lifestyle so that they can, "assess their sexual behavior...and make changes in their life," according to site creator Robert Ianuale. If you like, the system will even let you know your probability of contracting a sexually transmitted disease, by comparing your activity to national statistics.

It's a noble experiment, but there is a risk to using this site. While the passwords in the system may be secure, how much do you trust the database itself? Even banks and search companies occasionally release or lose data. A smaller criticism: the service demands too much. You can't enter a record without entering in the exact age of your partner and other highly personal information. Do you always know? And what if you don't want to enter "Hotness?"

MyBlackBook.org will be useful for people who are very interested in keeping detailed records of their activity. But unless you view your sex life as a science project, you'll probably arrive at the same conclusion I did: some things really are best kept off the Web.