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A little creeped, IPs?
Yesterday, I was on AIM, and got a random IM. The guy stated his name, and started talking randomly. He mentioned the state I was in, which again I don't know this person. It started to freak me out, so I signed out.
This might be someone I know just messing around, but somehow I doubt it.
Now, online, I have a Facebook/MySpace and a general e-mail for both. And then I have a plethora of other e-mail that I use for play, signing up for forum boards and such, and none of my Instant Messenger services are hooked to the Facebook/Myspace anymore.
I recently learned about IP addresses, and again, was getting a little freaked. Now then, my question.
Can someone find your exact location with an IP easily? (I know its possible, the whole thing with police tracing e-mails blah). I doubt that, if it was fairly difficult, anyone would go and find someone they haven't even spoken to, but if it was easy.
I really am being paranoid, really paranoid, but I am also curious. Not even IP even, but computer tracking in general? And if it is, is there anything I can do to make it more difficult?
Sorry for bothering everyong with my paranoia, but I just don't want to be on another list.
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Maybe give some free advice about: Computers?
You can easily get the nearest large city from an IP address. You can't get a street address or phone number. Given additional information such as school, place of employment, name, etc. it is not impossible to find a person.
To access the Internet, you must have an IP address and this address must be transmitted with every connection you make. Using a proxy/VPN would hide it, but it's difficult to proxify every connection into and out of your computer, and it would make your connection much slower.
Finding the IP address of an individual is not necessarily easy. Plain IM won't give it to you; you'd need to start a file transfer. Sending an email won't give it to you unless you include an embedded image on a server you control. Receiving an email might give you the sender's IP, but it's not guaranteed. Only the owner of a website can see the visitors' IP addresses; other visitors can't see anything. S_C only has access to your IP because she moderates this site. You can't find someone's IP address through Myspace/Facebook without some social engineering.
I wouldn't worry about it. Few people are crazy enough to track you down IRL. And if they are, that's what the police are for.
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If they don't know your last name or telephone number, they cannot track you at all. They can prob find the town you live in with your IP address, but they would need a very complex program to find that out. And obviously there are many other people in your town besides yourself.
Don't worry about him. Just block him and ask your friends if they know of the SN.
Best wishes, love.
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I don't mean to creep you out, but if you live in Chicago, then I was able to find out your exact latitude and longitude just by googling your IP address...
That's all the information I have on this, though.
I don't know anything about computer tracking, so I couldn't tell you how to make it any safer.
This would be the perfect question for Theymos or DangerNerd because they're both computer whizzes.
Sorry that I couldn't give you much more information than that... but if you do live in Chicago, then finding your location was pretty easy for someone as computer-stupid as I am. :/
Always be cautious of websites you use and information you give out - don't ever get too personal with people you don't know, no matter how comfortable you feel talking to them!
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