hiding IP address

Can you IP address be traced back to hotel or home?

It's my understanding that IP addresses can noramlly be traced to a town and state, possibly to your hotel based on how they connect to the internet. Normally it takes a court order to push the IP down to your address and name. That said, there are lots of unscrupulous system engineers who could probably get your address, phone number, DOB, and anything else they wanted in about 30 seconds.

There are various programs available to help conceal your IP info, such as "hidemyass." Most of them use a process that assigns your computer to various proxy servers around the world. One day your in San Diego, the next it says your in Atlanta or London. Of course, a good systems engineer could probably push through these measures too - if they wanted to.

Assuming you only communicate by forum PM, 411 PM, and e-mail, the only way someone is going to 'fish' your IP is through e-mail. And that is only if you use a provider like Hotmail or Yahoo. This is because an e-mail's 'headers' contain all the information of how an e-mail got from point A to point B, including which IP sent it.

To this end, I recommend using Gmail. Gmail doesn't include the sender's IP in the headers. So if you have Gmail and don't get tricked into visiting an external website or downloading something, you're mostly in the clear.

Now, say someone has some IP address on hand- it isn't too powerful on its own. Your IP will tell someone the general area you're in. For example, if you visit a website such as whatismyip.com, you can easily see the IP address you're accessing the site from (your home network, or your phone). From there, pick "IP Address Lookup" from their IP Tools, and plug in yours.

What you'll see is pretty much just the zip code of where the ISP registered that address to. Often times, this can be "off" by an entire town or more. People aren't going to find your home even if they somehow got the IP address.

It is important to note that IPs are considered Static or Dynamic. Static meaning the IP address doesn't change. This is standard for website hosts. Most home users have dynamic IPs. The address is 'leased' for anywhere up to a few weeks, or when you restart the modem (it varies). I have no experience with the ISPs in San Diego, but maybe someone else could chime in.

What a dynamic IP effectively means, is, a slip-up a few weeks ago has little relevance and you're not in danger. The only people who "know" which IP is associated to which customer (and when) is the ISP. The ISP isn't going to give this up without legal action.

So to answer the question...
Assuming there was some sort of legal complaint (e.x. "IP 1.2.3.4 is pirating my music!"), then the ISP may be compelled to reveal who was using that IP (such as the billing address, name on file).

As far as the hobby goes: Start using Gmail, if you aren't. Don't use PMs on websites other than trustworthy ones. And, don't use instant messengers (AOL, Yahoo).

Speaking of, I recommend Google Voice for your hobby phone number, as well. Both Gmail and Google Voice are free.

While Gmail doesn't send your IP in the header info, it does read your emails annd place targeted ads. Google voice is working on a way to pitch ads as well. That aside, it is a US based provider and is suseptible to US law. I'd personally use something like runbox or hushmail but they may not be free.

As for the original statement, yes, one can often track an IP down to the zip and even sometimes the address based off the map image displayed. (Mine used to give only the zip but was at the exacpt cross streets of my old location.) Proxies, or TOR are good for obfuscation of IP addresses.

"""Can you IP address be traced back to hotel or home?""""

YES YES YES And I have a networking degree

Do not think it would take a court order for your ISP to finger you. If the COPS ask they give it out, just only to get the COPS off their back

I do not see them giving out IP information to private parties though, as it would mean losing their jobs

As to the hotel part of the IP question-
several large/high-end chains are running logging programs that track where their customers are web-surfing. Specifically for this world of ours, they have been known to kick out "guests" for no reason and on short notice. I have been told by several providers this has happened to them.

In doing a little research, it was not very hard or secret, these chains have plugged in the known provider websites and the program will flag this if you are searching on a flagged site.

They do not have to call the police to kick you out and rarely do because of the hassle of reports. etc.

My suggestion is to get an aircard or tether your laptop/table to your smartphone and only use this for your business purposes.

On a side note, rumor has it that a large/high end chain offers a bounty to employees that report "provider-type" activity on the premises.

Just saying be safe and aware out there.
Technology is every where!!

a very big thank you to everyone! play safe!

Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) and/or The Onion Router (TOR)... everywhere and always. Get a VPN provider from outside the country (Canada?). Choose a VPN provider that does not tie usage logs to payment. VPN: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_network TOR: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Onion_Router IF you have the extra bandwidth and the support and abilities, think about participating in the TOR Project.

WiTopia,, and other "VPN" providers will for about $40 a year allow you to get an tunnel to their servers and have your ip appear anywhere they have a server. Very easy to use, and the hotel, or anyone else, will have no ability to track your internet traffic. Much faster than TOR witch was almost unusable to me. I am using it right now. Will work with iphone, android too. I recommend this highly. Also encrypt your files and have your computer log lock after a short timeout. Just google how to do it on your computer or get help. That is 95% of the game.

Of course consistent and effective screen is assumed. Without screening, nothing else matters.

Please do not use TOR for lame surfing over the regular, scary internet (i.e., the websites that start with "www"). That jeopardizes the entire onion network, and everyone who uses it for genuine privacy. There are free VPN's out there, and they are sufficient for surfing for porn, providers, etc at home and in hotels. Try "Sum Rando" for everyday, garden variety privacy needs!

Could someone explain the issues with TOR? Please try to keep it clear, simple and concise, so that I can understand it. Thanks!!

I did a very quick and dirty search for Sum Rando. It is apparently a VPN company still in beta, based in South Africa, with nodes in various countries. It says it is free while in beta. I did not see any reviews, much less one from a trusted third party, with enough transparency to properly evaluate Sum Rando. This is especially true about 1) its claims of security, encryption and its claims of not keeping usage logs, etc and 2) whether it is what it claims to be. I have no reason to believe it contains malware, or that it does not have the proper expertise to implement properly, etc. At the same time, I can not determine that it is properly done. It does make some sensible claims about what it can or can not do as a VPN. It remains whether those claims are actual or not. It does ask users to enable Java scripts, which does have some security & privacy issues of its own (can be used to log users original/actual IP addresses). Summation: It could be a useful service for some. I just could not be sure of that with a quick glance and lack of trusted third-party evaluation.

http://www.suntimes.com/technology/i...esnt-hurt.html http://theartofprivacy.com/2011/05/0...a-good-choice/ http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/net...sonal-vpn/3081

The belief that Gmail never sends your IP address in the headers is a false one. Depending on what client you are using and how you're connecting, it will pass an IP along in some cases. Here is a line from the header of an email I received tonight. Both sender and receiver were gmail. (I replaced many numbers with "x" to protect the actual IP revealed here, but anyone with a little knowledge can tell you what city it originated in):

Received: from [192.168.1.4] (cpe-xx-xxx-xx-xxx.tx.res.rr.com. [xx.xxx.xx.xxx])

Now, depending on what kind of resources and data someone has access to, it is indeed possible to get very close to a real address just from this information. That type of data is not available to most people, but it is to some. I was able to determine the phone type and cellular phone service that this particular email came from as well, which might bother some, but is relatively harmless....

Anyway, just some more info...

The lease on DHCP ip's is usually set to a VERY long interval as well so, forensically, it's equivalent to a static (w/ the big dawg ISP's)....

And as for turnign over IP's, gotta love the Patriot Act...