hawkhead

Ok, so to put my paranoia to the test - can you find me?

TheShed

Not today, I am too busy :-)

hawkhead

OK, when you have time! Seriously - I'd like to know.

Blue Cat

come on fess up why you so worried?

The Dean

He owes me money...........

hawkhead

Well, it's nothing too heinous but you know how discussion of certain topics is a bit dodgy here and could even end up with you being imprisioned or thrown out of the country, I was just wondering if my anonymity on an internet forum was as assured as I hoped it was!

954RR

Hawkhead,
Have no fear as the only way you can be tracked down is via your ISP (internet Service Provider).
This is why the people who are trying to crack down on Peer to Peer sharing i.e. bittorrent have to get the agreement from the ISP's before they can find anybody.
In the UK your IP address is usually allocated dynamically by your service provider. So that means that when you first turn on your router at home you are allocated an address (this will change if you turn off your router for a period of time as addresses expire if not in use). This address will be in a range owned by the service provider so we can for example tell what country you are in and who your service provider is but not who or where you are exactly.
The only person who knows that info is your service provider.
In the UK they will not give out that information, however I assume if you are suspected of something along the lines of kiddy fiddling or terrorism the man will find out.
The only reason you need a fixed IP address is if you are running a website because in that situation you want your site to be found.
I doubt that the system is any different here as far as ISP’s are concerned.
By the way if you are in an apartment where the internet connection is provided (as I am) there will be one address for the whole building. i.e. the man cannot tell what apartment you are in only the building.

OK geekness over, hope that helps more than it confuses

norsk

Notionally they can find you if they want and it doesn't matter if you have a dynamic ip, a static ip or go through a proxy/vpn (which is what is happening when you see different people having the same ip. the proxy/vpn service could be based on a very small pool of ip addresses, even just a single one).

However there are a few hurdles they have to jump to find you. First they need to get hold of the ip address you used (probably easy), then they need to find out who owns that ip block (very easy), then they need to convince the owner of the ip block to tell them who used it at that specific time (this is where it can get complicated depending on which of the three scenarios you fall into).

1. If it is a static ip they can find out straight away who you are
2. If it is a dynamic ip they will need to check their logs to see who was allocated a particular ip address at the time of the incident (or whatever you want to call it).
3. If the ip belongs to a proxy/vpn then they will need to check their logs for who was allocated the ip at the time of the incident, and then they will need to check their transaction logs for who was accessing the site of the incident at the time of the incident. Then they can find out your 'real' ip, and the next step would be that they would go through the same exercise from scratch on this ip. If you were someone who didn't want to be discovered you basically have two choices; use multiple layers of proxies/vpn (as you sometimes see in the movies) or just use a proxy/vpn provider who doesn't log transaction traffic (which obviously is simpler. I don't know of any of the top of my head. And please bear in mind they might claim not to log, but that doesn't mean they don't!)...

And least but perhaps most important. IP block owners (ISP's etc) and proxy/vpn providers don't like sharing their user information, and most of them (if they are respectable) will require a court order. And even with a court order some of them will resist as they view it as contradicting the purpose of the internet.

There have been some pretty horrific stories of incorrect logging of ip usage being used as basis for lawsuits recently (as part of the fight against music and movie piracy), and the fortunate thing for you and me is that this means that the appetite for releasing such information by ISP's etc is close to non-existent. In Europe! I somehow don't think you'd find the same resistance from ISP's in the Middle East.

Anyway, this was meant to be a short post...but no such luck!

spart

Unfortunately Etishite will give that information out in a heartbeat if the right person asks. I have heard of private telephone numbers being given out to people, who know people. Lead to a stalking by an "officer" of the law. Nasty

Confucius

Do you want a hypothetical answer???

Confucius

I am sure they would find you easily, not too many people with mohawk heads in Abu Dhabi...

hawkhead

Yeah that was the kind of thing I am worried about! It's all very well saying that in the UK personal info isn't given out but here all you need is a bit of wasta and bob's your uncle....

MataHari

so...just be nice to people on tinternet...it's not that hard