And the IP address of that 'gateway' [1] is used in routing tables
containing IP addresses that can be traced right back to your computer.
If an IP address could not be traced back to a machine somewhere
the Internet would not even function!
*ALL* IP addresses -- world-wide -- are assigned and managed by
IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) [2].
*ALL* IP addresses that have been entered into the routing tables
can be traced back to somebody using them. All that really matters
is the motivation and the resources allocated to do so.
Anybody that wants to believe Jim Cheshire's misunderstanding can
test his 'hiding behind a gateway' fallacy by using a computer to
download child pornography or commit some other serious crime.
I do not recommend doing so however as letting me know I was right
after all would have to be done with pencil and paper while sitting
in a jail cell.
I might add that the RIAA has been tracking those who download
music by using the IP address as documented by the Electronic Frontier
Foundation [3].
In at least one case RIAA has been able to use the IP address to
identify and prosecute a user for downloading music. Apparently
only because the ISP who had been assigned the IP addresses
chose to disclose the identity of the user whose machine was using
that particular IP address.
If those ISPs were not using dynamic IP address assignments that are
resolved behing their firewalls using the IP address to identify the user
on any machine would be a piece of cake. Thus, 'reliability' is somewhat
of a misnomer in this context. Using IP addresses has become common
in e-commerce to help determine which country the request is coming
from as IANA allocates certain IP address blocks to different nations.
Again, using the IP address for some objective is all a matter of
motivation and resources.
I think these comments should be sufficient to respond to Señor Cheshire's
hiding behind a gateway fallacy.
[1]
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/g/gateway.html
[2]
http://www.iana.org/
[3]
http://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/riaasubpoenas/
--
<%= Clinton Gallagher
A/E/C Consulting, Web Design, e-Commerce Software Development
Wauwatosa, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin USA
NET (e-mail address removed)
URL
http://www.metromilwaukee.com/clintongallagher/
In an Internet environment, you're not going to get reliable data this
way.
For example, if you were to get my IP address when I visit your site from
my
office, you're going to see that I'm coming from the West coast. In fact,
I'm sitting in Texas. The IP address you'll get will be the IP of the
gateway in our network, not my IP.
--
Jim Cheshire
Jimco
http://www.jimcoaddins.com
================================
Author of Special Edition
Using Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
5 Stars on Amazon and B&N
================================
The opinions expressed by me in the
newsgroups are my own opinions and
are in no way associated with my
employer or any other party. Jimco is
not associated in any way with any other
entity.
message
Yes, it's possible but using the returned data can require a lot
of development effort to get to any point where the returned
data can be considered reliable. ISPs for example use dynamic
IP assingments that often change. It is virtually impossible to
use that data in any meaningful way other than to determine that
the page requests came from some AOL user who has a dynamic
IP address assignment.
On the other hand, if visitors to your website come from links
in other websites using the IP of the host where that website
is hosted can be considered reliable as any website with a
domain name must be resolved to an IP address that is 'wired'
to that domain name.
If you can use ASP try this code snippet...
<%
IPAddress = Request.ServerVariables("REMOTE_ADDR")
Software = Request.ServerVariables("SERVER_SOFTWARE")
Protocol = Request.ServerVariables("SERVER_PROTOCOL")
Response.Write "Your IP Address is " & IPAddress & " and your
If we're lucky.