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I can understand if I have an email account, but what about Google searches, how does Google or the governemnt know what data is mine? I do know this much, Google tracks search history (and cookies) using logs assigned to each IP address. So if I use a specific IP address to do all of my searches, all law enforcement has to do is request Google to hand over the logs for that IP address. The problem I see is most IP addresses are assigned dynamically, I can do a Ipcofig /release and a Ipconfig /renew and chances are I'll get a new IP address. Does the ISP really track what user account has what IP address and how long they lease (were using it) for? Not to mention if I take my laptop and go to a coffee shop or a book store, I'm issued a new wifi IP address, this address really isn't trackable by Google, since a dozen different users could be using that IP address each day.
There is your PC/laptop of course, but it's easy enough to delete you browsing history and use a secure delete program to erase the file. Can anyone explain to me how the government can really track your movements on the internet? Seems like an impossible task if the user is taking some precautions.
Most ISP's use some sort of IP Management Software (BT Diamond IP, QIP, Infoblox, Blue Cat, etc). Those solutions enable them to audit history and know when a specific user has what IP address.
When you do a query, let's say, for cnn.com you go to a DNS server and it goes up the tree to get you the right answer so that your browser knows where to go. Your queries are logged on the DNS servers. It is possible to do some digging and see what you have queried for. All of this can take a lot of time for them to track.
If you are wanting to do some stuff and sort of hide, sure you can go to a coffee house. Maybe even do your surfing on a virtual machine on your physical machine and then spoof your MAC address.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brianjb
Most ISP's use some sort of IP Management Software (BT Diamond IP, QIP, Infoblox, Blue Cat, etc). Those solutions enable them to audit history and know when a specific user has what IP address.
Nitpick ... they can tell specific customer, but not user in all cases.
Quote:
When you do a query, let's say, for cnn.com you go to a DNS server and it goes up the tree to get you the right answer so that your browser knows where to go. Your queries are logged on the DNS servers. It is possible to do some digging and see what you have queried for. All of this can take a lot of time for them to track.
If you are wanting to do some stuff and sort of hide, sure you can go to a coffee house. Maybe even do your surfing on a virtual machine on your physical machine and then spoof your MAC address.
Google has so many vectors for tracking and tying peoples' data together - IP address is only one piece of the puzzle. Google Analytics tracks usage across multiple websites no matter what your IP address is. They do the tracking for Google Analytics with a cookie that most people don't block and don't delete on a regular basis. Also if you use Youtube or Gmail your IP address can be tracked over time because they record the IP of the person who logs in and most people stay logged in most of the time for convenience. Even if you block Google Analytics cookies, the websites you visit are sent to Google by default if you use Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome because Google hosts the anti-phishing web service that checks pages before you visit them. Most people don't know to turn that feature off. There are probably other identifying markers that are built into Google's systems.
Google takes all these things people think are unrelated and ties them together in such a way that even if you disable some of the tracking methods they still have enough information to link your data to you.
Google deliberately does this. They make it very hard to not be tracked. It has been part of their business model since the beginning. Try searching "Google in q tel". But use startpage.com if you don't want The Company to know you were looking into that..
Use startpage.com and download Iron web browser--which is essentially just chrome without all the spying
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