I am not sure I understand IP addresses.
Are they a finger print that identifies you?
I use Verzion with my Mac and I thought their IP address is used and it is a buffer to ones computer.
Am I missing something?
Thanks

Yes they can identify where you are and who your is provider is. If you are not sure how things are with your isp, then I suggest a cloaking service that changes ip addresses...proxy ip addresses.

Your modem has a unique IP address that is used as the "from" address for all Internet traffic.  If you have a router, the router provides private IP addresses for your local area network, but your external IP address is still used (and visible) when you connect to the outside world.

So to answer your question, they are not a "fingerprint" in that they don't identify the individual (or even the individual computer in the local area network).  However, they do identify the node (modem) on the global Internet.

they give a general locaton of where also...is that correct?

yes, they can give a general location as well. check out the link below, and it can detect your IP, your ISP, and try to pinpoint your location.

i could also suggest the use of web proxies (google PHP proxy, web proxy, or cgi proxy). you can use paid services which can offer more efficient, faster, and safer products.

but if you're a real ninja, then you'd ssh tunnel all your web traffic (including DNS!) through an encrypted proxy. very easy if you know what you're doing.

t/c

A concerted tracking effort. Every packet you squirt has a MAC address, Which is a unique identifier associated with your network interface. This is a hard burnt I'd like a cars VIN.

...but that mac address ends at the router. and if you're properly tunneled, you'll see an encrypted packet go out, perhaps associated with a mac address, but you'll have no idea what it is or where it's going (except to the proxy).

t/c

We could talk about hacking MAC's...

Nahhhhh!

Usually only businesses have a fixed IP with a registered DNS domain and IP. In this case, the IP maps directly to a specific server.

For Joe COMCAST web surfer, his cable modem is dynamically assigned an IP from the IP list owned by  COMCAST (or your favorite ISP - Verizon, etc.). When you turn on your computer the modem dynamically assigns a bogus IP to your computer. This IP is meaningless and is the same IP as 100s of thousands of other computers. The IP assigned to the modem is good for some predetermined period of time based on the ISP.

When you surf, the modem translates the bogus address assigned to your computer, and the outside world sees your cable/DSL modem, which sort of acts like an external network interface for your computer. The problem here is that the mapping of modem IP is known by your ISP and can be traced back to your account.

Does it matter? Only if you're doing something illegal on your computer, and surfing TER and escort sites isn't illegal.

I use a virtual machine with a completely bogus MAC address that I route through a proxy server.  The packets from the router out could be traced but sicne the router is at a local coffee shop with free WiFi I don't really care if they can trace the IP back to the source.  IPs can give them a general idea where you are but each network card / device has a unique MAC address that is traceable back to that machine where the network card is installed.  The advantage of using a virtual machine is it doesn't really exist and the MAC is untraceable. Why use virtual machines?  You can configure them so that when you shut them down they discard any changes and that wipes out all the history and traces of what you have done or where you have been.  Now a really good forensics ninja could use the remenants of the temp files on the host machine to reconstuct what the virtual machine did but if you use DoD wipe and clear the files that aren't completely deleted you can feel pretty confident that it is really gone.  Be careful using DoD wipe, if you make the wrong selection you can wipe out the whole drive and there is no recovery

Geek speak is so HOT!!!!!!

Some misinformation here, albeit unintentionally.

1. MAC addresses do not pass from the Local LAN, so there is no need to disguise it.

2. DoD wipes do not make things magically disappear. Certainly there is a recovery.

Partially true.  The MAC is unique, but most certainly can be altered.

by responding to my request on the Suggestion & Policy board:

http://www.theeroticreview.com/discussion_boards/viewmsg.asp?MessageID=6016&boardID=4&page=1

This is really important information we are sharing!

well, so, here's how it would work:

le has a vendetta against one dude that they want to get for hobbying. they want to grab circumstantial evidence of him e-mailing with a known provider. they grab the provider, and get her e-mails. they find an e-mail they think is his, which has a time-stamp and a source ip in the header (because it's yahoo or hotmail (not as far as i know gmail)). they take the ip to the isp, request business records from the isp, track down the ip with timestamp (bc they're dynamic) and hunt down the modem. they crack open the modem or go down to the router and match the outgoing e-mail with a mac address, crack open local computers, and see if the macs match.

so the only point at which you have to worry about the mac address is if le has got you every prior step along the way.

worth it for hobbyists? you tell me. (worth it for illegal pornographers? yes. because that's the hunt where where this method is crafted.)

t/c

Supposed to scramble my IP address.

Haven't had anyone hack into my shit yet. That I know of.