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Question. You go to a web site that you have never visited before and read an article. You do not register, simply read the article. Is it possible for that web site to immediately "know" who your IP is?
If you mean your IP address as assigned to you by your ISP, yes. Otherwise the website would not know where to send the article that you wanted to read.
It a little like Caller ID on a telephone, or a return address on snail mail.
There are ways to "anonymize" your IP. I'll leave it to others to explain the details, if you have a need for such.
If you mean your IP address as assigned to you by your ISP, yes. Otherwise the website would not know where to send the article that you wanted to read.
It a little like Caller ID on a telephone, or a return address on snail mail.
There are ways to "anonymize" your IP. I'll leave it to others to explain the details, if you have a need for such.
I didn't mean my address but that is good to know. I mean just "know" the server. Or am I wrong? Is "IP" my address, not my server?
A friend told me a story of how she went to read an article I'd told her about. At the end, she decided to put a comment. She had barely clicked "Comment" when a message popped up saying "Your IP is a known spammer - Bye". She had thought - as had I - that you have to register for the sites to know your address or your provider. Guess not.
A little learning each day and - if I live long enough - I may learn what is going on in the new electronic age. As for hiding it, why bother? They find you one way or another. I learned that when I was paying the telephone company good money to leave me out of the phone books. Total waste of time.
Thank you. Caller ID. I'll tell my friend. By the way, "where to send the article?" We're not reading it at their web site? If you sent me an URL so I could go to a site and read something, when I click on the URL, and choose the article, it is sent back to my computer? Am I understanding rightly?
If you mean your IP address as assigned to you by your ISP, yes. Otherwise the website would not know where to send the article that you wanted to read.
It a little like Caller ID on a telephone, or a return address on snail mail.
There are ways to "anonymize" your IP. I'll leave it to others to explain the details, if you have a need for such.
P S You are right, Reed. I looked further. IP is Internet Protocol - the computer's address. So, my friend is being told she is spamming? I find that very hard to believe. Something else must be going on.
I didn't mean my address but that is good to know. I mean just "know" the server. Or am I wrong? Is "IP" my address, not my server?
A friend told me a story of how she went to read an article I'd told her about. At the end, she decided to put a comment. She had barely clicked "Comment" when a message popped up saying "Your IP is a known spammer - Bye". She had thought - as had I - that you have to register for the sites to know your address or your provider. Guess not.
Your ISP has been assigned blocks of IP's so identifying who the service provider is easy, your modem is assigned one of those IP numbers by your ISP when it's turned on. This is the address used so computers can talk to one another. Websites servers have an IP. When you click a link in the background the name(example.com) is translated to to the IP number, your IP is sent along with the request you have made. The website server can then return that web page you have requested addressed to your IP.
Typically your ISP will assign you the same IP address even if if you turn the modem off and turn it on later, that's not guaranteed and it can change but that is irrelevant for most residential customers. If you have a router any computer or device in your house will be seen as coming from this IP.
Your IP can provide some basic information about you like general location such as the city you live in. It's by no means 100% accurate, there is no personal information available to a site you are communicating with from the IP itself. It may be used in conjunction with other data available to the site to help identify you specifically.
Using IP's to block spammers is very problematic. I've seen lots of companies claiming very high success rates but the false positives are going to be huge too as your friend has found out. Suppose someone is using that IP and their computer is compromised sending out a lot of spam and it ends up on block list, they move to another ISP and your friend is assigned that IP. Now she's being blocked as spammer... Furthermore IP's can be assigned to entire buildings or even organizations, for example a college campus. You can literally be blocking thousands of people with a block on one IP address.
So they do have a reason for blocking a particular IP even it they grabbed it accidentally (in a group). They aren't just playing games. Right? As you say, it has its flaws but it's an effort to eliminate spam - and, in this day, worse things. Yes?
It used to be - or so I was told some years ago - that providers kept lists of particular ISPs from which too much spam or viruses came. All in touch with each other, they (blackballed?) the worst of these. So, if an ISP didn't make an effort to keep his service "clean", his service ended up with a bad reputation.
At the time this was being explained to me, I was directed to a web site where ISPs were listed and rated according to the amount of spam that came through their service.
What you are describing sounds like something similar only done from a different angle. Am I mis-interpreting?
So they do have a reason for blocking a particular IP even it they grabbed it accidentally (in a group). They aren't just playing games. Right?
I can't make that determination because I have no idea what service they are using or how an IP ban is determined for that site. For example there may be moderators able to ban an IP, such a person can abuse their power if they don't like your friend from previous posts. Perhaps the administrator is biased and all the moderators are one sided.
As an administrator for a site that allows comments or forums like this you have be very careful who you select as moderators if you want to maintain an even balance. Moderation is pretty difficult to do correctly and a well run site is not going to put that power into the hands of one individual other than blatant spammers.
I didn't mean my address but that is good to know. I mean just "know" the server. Or am I wrong? Is "IP" my address, not my server?
A friend told me a story of how she went to read an article I'd told her about. At the end, she decided to put a comment. She had barely clicked "Comment" when a message popped up saying "Your IP is a known spammer - Bye". She had thought - as had I - that you have to register for the sites to know your address or your provider. Guess not.
A little learning each day and - if I live long enough - I may learn what is going on in the new electronic age. As for hiding it, why bother? They find you one way or another. I learned that when I was paying the telephone company good money to leave me out of the phone books. Total waste of time.
Thank you. Caller ID. I'll tell my friend. By the way, "where to send the article?" We're not reading it at their web site? If you sent me an URL so I could go to a site and read something, when I click on the URL, and choose the article, it is sent back to my computer? Am I understanding rightly?
In addition to Coalman's excellent explanations, let me add this. Yes, the article you requested is transmitted from the website's server to your computer. You are reading a copy of it ON your computer, not on the website as such.
Re banning IPs, there was a time when my sister could not send me e-mail (from Australia to the US) because my ISP had banned her entire ISP for being the source of too much spam. I could send to her, but not she to me. That did get cleared up after awhile.
Also, most sites that do require you to "register", especially if "free", just want to get your actual e-mail address so they can then send you promotional material via e-mail.
In addition to Coalman's excellent explanations, let me add this. Yes, the article you requested is transmitted from the website's server to your computer. You are reading a copy of it ON your computer, not on the website as such.
Re banning IPs, there was a time when my sister could not send me e-mail (from Australia to the US) because my ISP had banned her entire ISP for being the source of too much spam. I could send to her, but not she to me. That did get cleared up after awhile.
Also, most sites that do require you to "register", especially if "free", just want to get your actual e-mail address so they can then send you promotional material via e-mail.
Thank you. I had that same problem with an ISP in Canada. They would not accept my address. The ISP was one of those listed on that list I mentioned earlier. I guess it's taking us a while to get totally internationalized? :-)
Funny, I never had any trouble with mail to Wales, Scotland or England. Or, now that I think of it, Australia where I have a long-time friend.
Have a good evening.
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