Exactly what does the ISP number identify?  I started out with AOL on dial-up and was assigned an ISP number.  Where did that number come from, the computer or the server in my area that served my computer? I later switched to high speed cable and kept my AOL account in addition to the cable account.  Did that change my ISP number?  How about if I use a Yahoo account, Gmail, Hotmail etc on my computer, would I still have the same ISP number on each account?  I have more than one computer in my home that is connected via a wireless router. Do all the computers have the same ISP number?  I have two computers in my home in Mexico.  One computer is hooked up to a Direct TV dish like system and the other computer receives its signal via a wireless router.  I use the same AOL account on the computers in Mexico that I use on my computers in California.  Do they have the same ISP number?  Can you trace an ISP number to a particular computer or just the area where the server is located? I figure someone out there would know everything there is to know about ISP numbers.

Fisrt of all, it I think you are referring to an "IP" number.  An ISP is you Internet Service Provider.  By coincidence, you IP number will come to you based on you ISP.  

Once you connect to the Internet via you ISP, no matter what service you go to, you will be using the same IP.  So, if you log on to AOL and hit AOL, Gmail, Yahoo mail or Hotmail, you will be using the same IP number.  

Can these numbers be traced?  Yes they can.  

If you have one broadband connection with multiple computers they will all use the same IP.  However, each computer has a unique hardware address in the network adapter called a MAC address.  If somebody knows what they are doing and wants to know this information, they can trace the source to the individual computer.

This is just a high-level overhead.  Details have been left out to protect the innocent.

Your IP address can be changed. However, if the LE really wants to do it, they can still trace it. As long as you a petty criminal -- like being a hobbyist -- I guess you're fine.

I maintain several web sites and when I check the site statistics, I find visitors who have their real name assigned to there IP address. Make sure you don't do that.

There are anonymizers on the market that changes your IP address. If you want to surf the Internet with anonymity, look it up.

Static IP address is when your ISP assigns you an IP that is yours "forever", or so it's supposed to be... and I can tell some stories where this wasn't the case.  Long story short, you usually only get "static" if you plan to host your own website, email server, or other server type or hosting service.

Most of us get service which is of a dynamic IP, where your IP may stay the same for hours, days, weeks, months, you never really know unless you monitor it.  For dial up, cable, DSL type service, you'd probably not notice if/when your IP address changes.

My personal experice with my DSL is that if I power of my DSL router/modem for 10 minutes or more, I'll get a new IP address assigned.  Less than 10 minutes, I may or may not get a new IP.  I won't get into the tech details of this here.

If you're really worried of someone tracking your actions by IP, best bet is to use free wifi at a coffee shop or hotel lobby, but I think you're being overly paranoid.

That happened to a few women in the past on TER when they posted bad things about other providers while using aliases. Well, guess what? It came back to bite them in the butt. Some even got banned from TER because of it -- and because they're liars. So . . . ladies and gents, you might want to be careful what you say sometimes.

Hugs,
Ciara





-- Modified on 11/23/2008 9:25:57 PM

if you have a port open to receive http (ie you are web browsing) you can be traced, regardless if IP spoofing, unless you are working through a sophisticated router with a firewall / packet sniffer. Even then if you are a high enough priority. However the technology to do so is not in common use for criminal investigations that do not involve a federal agency. Hobbyists and providers are simply not a high enough priority to the Feds to bother with the time and trouble.

UNLESS:

you are moving large quantities of cash in and out of bank accounts as a result of transactions related to the hobby.

This may bring you to the attention of DHS, which has the a very full range of technological support at its disposal.

Most of the time, if DHS decides that you are not a target of interest with regard to possible terrorist financing, they are not going to bother to alert anyone else if they discover something of lesser interest to them.

But the way to bring the worst kind of attention to yourself in this country today is by moving a lot of cash around....

Every device on the internet has an IP Address.  It is how the data for your computer or network gets to your computer or network.  Think of it like a phone number, but it can change whenever you reconnect to the internet.

If you want to know your IP address you can go to:

http://whatismyip.com/

Which will tell you your IP address.

If you have an IP address and wish to determine on which network the IP address is in you can go to:

http://www.arin.net/index.shtml

and put the IP Address into the whois box.   Depending on the IP Address, you might even get a company name at the bottom which is the company name that has that block of IP Addresses.

A home network uses a single IP address on the internet, and then uses a device called a NAT (Network Address Translation) device to expand that single IP Address to many ip addresses in your house.   The way this basically works is that the NAT box keeps track of each device in your house, where they are connecting to, and on what port numbers those connections are opened on.   When data comes back in from the internet, it is routed to the specific computer that made the request.   This provides some protection from your PC's as data cannot be sent to a PC behind a NAT box without the PC first making a request.

For home networks (and internal networks at companies), there are three blocks of IP Addresses which will never be assigned on the public internet.  These IP address ranges are usable behind NAT boxes and firewalls.  That is the reason that if you look at your PC when it is behind a NAT box, the ip address might be 192.168.1.102, because that IP Address is a private IP address suitable for a private network.

If your computer or network makes a connection to another computer, the source IP Address is your network or computer.  That IP Address can be traced back to you very easily with any sort of fixed high speed internet since the internet provider keeps track of who has which IP Address.  With a court order, that information can be easily determined.   Even with anonymizers, it could be determined because the data still has to get back to your computer/network, so somewhere there could be a log of the request made.



-- Modified on 11/24/2008 7:50:31 AM

and that is that DHS is looking at the movement of cash in new ways, and the old assumptions about only certain minimum amounts being flagged are no longer the case. A pattern of living on cash, without a tax return that states that a cash business is involved, and a pretty fair correlation between reported income and cashflow, is attracting attention. I am not involved in the tech end of things, but an awful lot of "take" comes across my desk, and it is eye opening to see what the current financial crimes / terrorist watch parameters are. IRS / DHS and NSA (who owns the computing power) are cooperating in ways today that, while they are useful in the counter-terror business, they also threaten individual liberties with respect to the movement of cash (cash = freedom) in ways that were unheard of just a few years ago.  Perhaps I should put together a seminar for the ladies on cash management under the watchful eye of an increasingly Big Brother....

is to identify a particular computer as a location  on the internet (or other type of network) so that packets of information requested by you or sent by you do not get mixed up with those of others, but find their way to and from the various servers with which you are connecting, and your computer.