Does Email or IP Address Reveal my Physical Location? - Comments Page 1

Well in my case, my IP address (which has been static with comcast for years) seems to identify that I live in Los Altos.

I have enough stuff on the net over the years that my a Google search on my email address identifies my name. And then some searching on my name gets my address and phone number.

So while for most people, IP address wouldn't get you anything and email wouldn't find you, it's not always the case.

Yes and no.

Yes, most people use a DHCP assigned address from their ISP, which by definition is dynamic, but in reality most don't change often. I log mine from a cable ISP and mine hasn't changed for years. There are also look-ups for those IP's which in some cases just get you in the right region, but in others are surprisingly accurate.

The fact is that unless you're an internet noob/have always used an alias and have never had your name/address in a phone book there is probably enough information out there that someone resourceful can get way more information about you than most people think, not only address and phone number, but things like tax records, property information, court/legal proceeding information/records/dispositions...

Bob, When I tried the Anonymizer, the following appeared on my screen: "This domain is blocked. Oops! We have beefed up our security to make sure you have a faster and safer Internet experience. www.anonymizer.com is not allowed on this network."

EDITOR'S NOTE: Sounds like a local policy, perhaps your employer doesn't want you surfing outside the bounds they've set up?

Thanks to Snowden we already know that an officer of the law with a subpoena isn't needed by the government anymore. Oops, is government watching what I'm typing? Probably shouldn't try to fly now - they probably read this and now I'm on a no fly list.

For fun I downloaded the Pirate Bay version of firefox to see what it does.

It connects through something called the TOR network which has been in the news lately..... on about page 56.... if you read that far.

I was a bit shocked and felt quite annoyed when I discovered that according to a few mainstream journalists the network was a tool of 'sex fiends' and 'terrorists'.

I think that it's the usual propaganda from the lunatic fringe but haven't used it.

There again I do have an anonymizing thingie on the server which I've never bothered to set up either.

I've never been that worried about my IP address - all the sites that quote 'to you in' are wrong usually by 10 miles or so..... very odd.

BTW - I live in Cardiff (the Capital city of Wales) and the IP usually traces to Barry a small town 10 miles distant.... go figure?

It's a weird world!

Jon

Yet another helpful informative and relatively concise article Bob. If you keep this up I'll need to consider nominating you for an Order of Australia but um I think you've go to be an Aussie citizen to get one. Maybe one of your American fans could nominate you for a similar US honour?

As usual...very informative. Thanks for keeping us abreast of the abuse of powers that be. Absolutely nothing is secure. I think we all know that by now.

I googled my personal email address and I found my cell phone number, my home address and my business website with a business address with a business phone. One of the alternative addresses that I provided when I registered my domains and my website is my personal email address with Comcast. That is a reality that is no privacy anymore. Internet stores as Amazon and eBay even know who you are corresponding with. Perhaps they have an access to my mailbox that on their file. Is there some law and regulation to protect our privacy? Is there the way to complain on this kind open practice to spy on us?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Whoa, there! You say "Internet stores as Amazon and eBay even know who you are corresponding with. Perhaps they have access to my mailbox." Where did you hear this? Sounds completely bogus to me.

It appears people are confused between what can be learned from an IP or e-mail address and what is available on the Internet.
What Bob says about the IP and/or e-mail addresses is correct. They only lead to the ISP's service. I've seen many complaints on other sites that people can't get their actual location correct on their computers. That's because location programs use the IP address, not the physical address.
On the other hand, every time a person signs up for a newsletter, makes an online purchase, enters a contest, takes a survey, and a multitude of other online activities, he/she provides his/her name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and a lot of other personal information. That's where people-search companies, advertisers and spammers get their information on an individual; not from the IP address or e-mail domain.

Please inform me which free e-mail service will give me details of sender's IP and geo-location when I receive all of a sudden a mail from unknown sources?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Some webmail services (GMail) do not preserve the sender's IP address. Yahoo does. This may help: http://aruljohn.com/info/howtofindipaddress/

Privacy is alive and well but it protects your ISP and not its users. See, http://www.wispa.org/calea/WCS

The following is cut and pasted, "If you wonder where privacy appears in this document, here it is: 1) the ISP is not allowed to tell you that you are being snooped on (enforcing the privacy of law enforcement); 2) if multiple law enforcement agencies want to read your e-mails or listen to your VoIP calls (both are specifically covered) the ISP is required to not tell any of those law enforcement agencies about the others, and 3: there is no three. Customer privacy is never mentioned in the document."

Using the Electronic Frontier Foundation free test (https://panopticlick.eff.org/) you will likely find as I did, that your computer is uniquely identifiable from system data transmitted to every site you visit, including the particular fonts, and their order, that your browser will render. My computer was completely unique among over 3 million tested. More sites and companies are using this data, as people become more cookie-aware. So, handling IP address and cookie issues is insufficient for privacy concerns. More info in this 3 yr. old article: http://www.pcworld.com/article/192648/browser_fingerprints.html

Hi,
I am trying to locate a guy who I chat with for over one year...he does not show himself online but he sent me pictures of himself and he promises me that he will come and see me...I am frustrated and looking a way to find out more about him. he gave me email address which I could pull more pictures of Google image and he was surprised how I found his old picture...but when I sent him emails it bounced and he said he dosent know why he said...is there anyway I could figure out and find out where he lives and what he does? I know it sounds naive but I just like to find out ....please advise...

Nancy H--try Facebook to find him, but I doubt he'll have his address and profession listed. If he is clueless enough to post those on FB, I would lose interest in him very fast.

hey nancy!
I have too same story like you, some man write to me by more than half years and he never show himself just send me picture. he say that he live in nyc, and have divorse..

Facebook is evil. Avoid it at all costs.

I am afraid this is woefully out of date and rather naive. I am currently trying to stop Skype saying where I am. That is only one example of how geographical location is revealed against users will and interest. Location is pinpointed so privacy is non-existent. It is pernicious...

EDITOR'S NOTE: No, it's not out of date or naive. Nothing has changed with the nature of the Internet or IP addresses that would allow someone to determine your physical address, given your IP address. As I mentioned in the article, in SOME cases, an IP address can give a GENERAL idea of your location, but it's not reliable.

My soldier friend emailed me from Sudan but the ip shows he is sending from California. Am I being scammed?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Probably not. Sometimes service members connect to secure Internet servers here in the USA. Was there something suspicious about the message?

The best thing to do is always use a VPN that does not keep logs.

Great report! I'm a skeptic with the way social media has evolved so quickly. I like the pearls of information I'm gaining each time I read your articles. Thanks.