PING or tracing the origin of a post or e-mail

It would be a WHOIS nameserver lookup. You can use this website address, choosing the last of the three choices, to find information about an IP address.

http://www.internic.net/whois.html

The IP address comes from the internet service provider. With my laptop computer, the IP address changes as I move from my home network out to a Starbucks, a library or someone else's open wi-fi router.

The PING command is used to check the health of your internet connection. So you PING yahoo.com from your own computer to see how the ping is sent and received. It looks like this:



C:\Documents and Settings\USER>ping yahoo.com

Pinging yahoo.com [206.190.60.37] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 206.190.60.37: bytes=32 time=228ms TTL=55
Reply from 206.190.60.37: bytes=32 time=144ms TTL=55
Reply from 206.190.60.37: bytes=32 time=145ms TTL=55
Reply from 206.190.60.37: bytes=32 time=145ms TTL=55

Ping statistics for 206.190.60.37:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 144ms, Maximum = 228ms, Average = 165ms

If there was a problem with my internet connection, then the screen readout would show that packets had been lost, or the PING connection would have failed entirely.

I'll let an AW mod answer, but to my knowledge, the kind of information would only be obtainable with a court order, and it would take some skill to retrieve, decode and interpret the information.

When I checked my IP address, the closest information provided was the name, address and location of my DSL provider. If the RIAA thugs were looking for me, they would have to get a court order before my DSL provider would give them the information they were looking for - specifically, trying to pinpoint the downloaders of bootleg music using a specific IP address. (Which I don't do, this is just an example).

I believe that most of the online stalking cases have involved victims who use their real name or the same user ID on more than one website, such as Facebook or MySpace, rather than a stalker using the person's IP address to track them down.

Web sites track a user / visitor who visits them and yes, IP is routinely recorded.

The problem is that IPs are possible to, well, fake, and conceal--this is done by spammers, routinely. It's not hard. Google it

There are other sorts of information that can be gathered, but the typical Web site owner doesn't have the equipment to do that, or the access they'd need.

Weebil said:

My character for Script Frenzy is moderating a chat room, and she wants to find out an IP address for someone who is posting. Does it come from the computer, or the router for the service? For instance, if the person posting is moving around, but using the same computer, would his/her 'identity' remain the same?
What would the process be called of searching for that information? I don't think Ping is right, but maybe it is.
Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

Most chatroom software automatically shows the IP addresses to the moderators.

The IP address is given to the user by the ISP, it doesn't come from the computer ... but be aware that the IP address does NOT identify anyone with any degree of certainty. Right now there are three people using the same IP address from this house, and the house's router keeps track. From a Starbucks with wireless there could be 20+ with the same IP address. From a large company, hundreds of users.

all mods have mod tools which allow very low level information. IP addy is one of them.

For instance your IP is 68.120.194.18

We just go to the "control Panel"

Also bear in mind that IP address may not give much information about the poster. You can find out who my service provider is. You will not find out who I am (my name, my address, etc) with my IP address**. For that you'll have to be an LEO with cooperation from the ISP or being a superb hacker (hacking into my ISP's database.)

There are two other issues about the identity of a poster/chatter:

a) if he's moving around (like Tsu Dho Nimh suggests), he may be on Times Square Starbucks address an hour ago, but in front of a condo building using an unsecured wireless home network half an hour ago. I once used an unsecured NYPD internet connection to surf the web (I was about a block away from a station.)

b) if you're talking about (potential) crime, nasty criminals (or kiddies) may be hijacking an innocent person's computer (or a chain of them) to do the posts. Catching these guys are tough jobs even for the FBI with experts and sophisticated equipment/software.

**ETA: Several years ago I met an IT specialist online and he told me he could back-trace a poster via his connection to a physical vicinity. I don't know if he was buffing or if such technique is possible now.