On 6/17/07, Risker risker.wp@gmail.com wrote:
Right now, as I write this, I have my choice of 5 different IPs I could
be
posting under - seems my neighbours aren't quite as current in keeping
their
LANs secure as I am. For all I know, one or more of them could be TORs
or
other open proxies. Sometimes, when my own LAN is acting up, I'll wind
up on
my alternate LAN - two doors down - without even trying. For that
matter,
most people working on LANs depend on their system admin to set up the internet connections - and would have no way of knowing that they were accessing the web through an open proxy. And of course there are the
signal
stealers - endemic here; the hotspot users; those who use publicly accessible internet connections (Internet cafes, libraries, etc); and
some
cities are already offering internet access just by sitting in the local park. My usual ISP never gives my city of residence; and if it was
traced
back, it could show up as any one of five cities - and I use one of the biggest ISPs in my country. The IP from which someone edits doesn't
tell
anything about who they are, where they are, or do anything to provide
any
kind of unique "fingerprint." I really don't see the point.
Exactly again. IPs in themselves for people with 1/4 of a technical brain are pointless. I have two at home. One I can change in about 30 seconds to a pool that I suppose runs in the thousands; I've never seen a duplicate when futzing with my router, that I know of. One takes about an hour. I have in my apartment block alone four hotspots accessible. Nearby, *nine* that I can connect to. I have three networks at the offices I usually work at. Six IPs. In my 29 floor building, that I can reach? Fourteen open hotspots. I have a 9 floor office on one side, and an 18 floor condo tower on the other. I know for a fact one runs TOR, because I've chatted with the people that did it from my building and they invited me to try it. In the neighborhood itself for that building alone? Dozens. Maybe 1/4 of all these are the main known "local" ISPs, at best. Local being Comcast, Speakeasy, etc. If someone has half a brain to change their "voice", and lives in a city--mind you, I'm not even in like Los Angeles, Chicago, or NYC--they can be anyone indefinitely and rack up a stack of admin accounts undetected with hardly any work and without touching TOR intentionally.
All you have to do is be barely carefuly. Or, you know, get AOL.
Regards, Joe http://www.joeszilagyi.com