I sometimes need to log in from a public wi fi that blocks adult-related sites and am not sure if it's ok to try to bypass it with proxies, given TER's strict stance on ip tracking and logging. I know they will ban providers or hobbyists who log in from each other's ips, but is it ok to use multiple overseas ips? What if one of them happens to match a hobbyist's ip who was using the same server?
Thanks!



-- Modified on 5/22/2012 10:18:40 AM

I don't think they much care as long as you are not using it to write fake reviews or have more than one handle, but many techies can in fact detect a proxy. Each computer has its own IP that never changes. A proxy might give you a new IP, but some systems can see right through it while others can't or simply don't care to go any further.

I'm not computer literate enough to give you an answer, but I'm sure someone out there in TER land is.

Swim

IP addresses change, MAC addresses generally don't. For example, if I log into my laptop while traveling at a hotel, I'll have an IP address assigned by their ISP or their router/switch. If I login from home, I'll have an IP address assigned by Comcast.

However, my MAC address is associated with the network adapter (hardware layer) on my computer. This is supposed to be a unique identifier, though MAC addresses can be changed/spoofed/faked.

I hope that helps!

Hey PleasuresLife,

If anyone tells you anything differently than what I have posted here, that person doesn't have a clue as to what they are talking about. All they are doing is trying to make themselves look good when in fact it does the opposite.

Here is a summarized version of what proxy servers are in 2 main points:

--Improve Performance: Proxy servers can dramatically improve performance for groups of users. This is because it saves the results of all requests for a certain amount of time. Consider the case where both user X and user Y access the World Wide Web through a proxy server. First user X requests a certain Web page, which we'll call Page 1. Sometime later, user Y requests the same page. Instead of forwarding the request to the Web server where Page 1 resides, which can be a time-consuming operation, the proxy server simply returns the Page 1 that it already fetched for user X. Since the proxy server is often on the same network as the user, this is a much faster operation. Real proxy servers support hundreds or thousands of users. The major online services such as America Online, MSN and Yahoo, for example, employ an array of proxy servers.

--Filter Requests: Proxy servers can also be used to filter requests. For example, a company might use a proxy server to prevent its employees from accessing a specific set of Web sites.

In numerous cases, people oversell the concept of what proxy servers do.

I can tell you from my 20 years working in the networking business that all proxy servers can be detected. What happens is that if you log through that proxy server, your IP address is blocked by the proxy server, which is never seen by the website that you went to. However, if that website has a list of proxy servers that are being blocked and you happen to be logging through that proxy server that is on the list, you'll never get through.

In short, there is no such thing as 100% anonimity on the internet.

Serpius

I had an email on my personal Yahoo account from a provider who had a link to her site on that email.  I went to her site, and then clicked on the interactive TER logo on her site, and I was in.

I posted and did everything normally, and as far as I know, TER did not mind.

Also, I'm now finding that I can get onto TER from most airports whereas a few years ago I was always getting blocked.  Maybe their IT people are members here?

Thanks you guys/gals.

ISP is an Internet Service Provider like Cox, Bellsouth, etc. They just give you internet access through a service. Though your IP seems to be changing with each of these new ISP's, your stationary IP will never change regardless of what it shows up when you hit a proxy site..yea, I thought that too when I went to "hidemyip.com lol.

The IP address is your computer's personal ID number, basically like your own address for a network. This can always be traced if a person knows even a little bit about the net, or you can just google "How to trace an IP address" lol.

I am no computer geek but this much was taught in freaking freshman year of undergrad when I had to take information systems. There is really no way to be altogether invisible if you are logging into websites.



-- Modified on 5/22/2012 5:31:49 PM

Your IP address can change every time you access the internet depending on whether or not your ISP uses "static" or "dynamic" addresses. This would probably require you to kill power to your router for a period of time because of how DHCP works. Also, on a trace you only get a general location not a specific physical address. That requires a court order, and if the ISP is using "dynamic" addressing then you'll also need a specific time frame for that IP address. Your computer also has an internal IP address that remains the same but that is used by your network and that info stops at the router.

When I ran an agency I had a dial up and a cable ISP and thought it was two different IP addresses. Well, that was until a certain board busted us for writing reviews for the girls ha ha. So in a sense, some boards can get that damn internal IP as I said in the first post. Others just don't much care. I did just what you said too. Full power off before we used the dial up or the cable each time...still busted!! 2 guesses which board it was lol.



-- Modified on 5/22/2012 6:17:25 PM

DCHP will "lease" an IP address or block of addresses for a specified time period to your router, so turning it off for a few seconds might not reset your external IP address. You might need to turn it off for 8 hours or more to reset it. All this crap varies by ISP. Your computer's internal IP can't be seen by outside sources.

... it's possible your ISP used "static" addresses in which case turning the power off and on would never do any good.

1.  Your Mac address is the serial number of your computer for all practical purposes
2.  Your IP address is almost NEVER a constant, even in your own home it CAN change.

The odds of an overseas ISP having the same IP address as a hobbyist, logging into TER, and being detected are small - larger if you are staying in the same hotel  as the hobbyist, larger still if you are staying in that hotel for a long period of time (the  IP's can recycle in as few as 24 hours).

However as someone who travels internationally extensively, I can tell you that first, TER is aware of "roving" members and doesn't give a crap.  Second, I've yet to be blocked from TER as an "adult" site on any public wi-fi, from Singapore to Moscow to Malaysia to Argentina.  Unless you're a hobbyist trying to post a review from a providers "legacy" IP address, TER isn't really going to care.

Lastly as to the "internal" Mac address - recognize the obvious.  Different computers have different mac addresses.  Use a $200 laptop when you roam and your regular pc at home.

I don't mess with Apple except for Itunes, and I still hate their customer service so I would not know much about a Mac lol. So, are you saying that even the IPs work differently from a Mac to a PC? Never heard that before.

-- Modified on 5/23/2012 12:48:41 AM

Mac address = Media Access Control, not Macintosh.

EVERY computer (and many computing devices) have a MAC address, both PC's and Macintoshes.
(Think SIMM card for a computer).

The MAC address is always unique, by definition.

LanForce,

You are absolutely correct on the MAC definition.

It's comical to watch people who CLAIM to know a lot about computers end up hanging themselves.

Have a good one...

Serpius

for all the info. This thread has been such an education!

So I am a member of a couple of gardening forums, and once on a trip to S. America, I used a public internet cafe in some tiny little village. I wanted to post about some interesting orchids I had been seeing growing wild there. When I tried logging on, I kept getting kicked off, saying that my IP was blocked due to spam. Is there a way to circumvent that? Would all the computers at the cafe have had that same problem? I hadn't taken my laptop on the trip because I was going to be doing a lot of trekking/camping, and then I never went back there or to another cafe to try again.

Glad we have smartphones now! Do they have MAC addresses and IPs?

I said "all I knew was what I had to take in undergrad" and that was 8 years ago! I am not a computer geek like you..thanks. Hookercops made the most sense in his PM. It is even more comical watching you and your inconsistencies in every post on the GD...now that is entertainment! ALL you know about are computers...not much else, so nothing to brag about. I am secure enough within myself to admit I don't know it all, as I stated above. Check Mate.