Does IP Address Reveal my Physical Location?
"Can someone track a user (name, home address, etc.) simply by having their email or IP address? The reason I ask is my kids play some games online, and these sites sometimes have a chat area, where the players can talk to each other while playing. Can my kids be tracked down in any way?"
Are You Invisible Online?
It's true that your IP address is no secret. It's a basic part of internet communication protocols to send your IP address whenever you connect to another site, request a web page, chat, play an online game, etc. Without your IP address, the computer on the other end wouldn't know where to send the reply.
But that doesn't mean that Evildoers can find your house if they know your IP address. Each time you go online (if you have dialup) or each time you start your computer (if you have cable or dsl) you will be assigned an IP address, randomly selected from a pool of IP's assigned to your Internet service provider (ISP).
WHOIS Your ISP
So a person MIGHT be able to get a general idea of your geographic location, based on your IP address, by doing a lookup on the WHOIS database, but that will only tell them the physical location of your ISP -- not YOUR home address.
And if you use a large regional or nationwide ISP, the IP lookup probably reveals nothing of interest. For example, if you are an AOL subscriber, your IP address lookup will show the location as Dulles, Virginia -- regardless of where you live.
When The Law Comes A Knockin'
Of course there is an exception to every rule. If Joe or Jane User calls your ISP and wants to know who was using a certain IP address last Tuesday, the ISP will tell them to go away. But if an officer of the law hands your ISP a court order to reveal that information, they must do so. Your ISP's logs will enable them to determine which customer was using a certain IP address on a certain date & time, and they must reveal that information if a court has found probable cause that a crime was committed by that person.
But for the truly paranoid (or the criminally inclined) there are ways to surf the web anonymously. The Anonymizer service will act as a proxy between you and your ISP, and they claim that your information cannot be subpoenaed because they do not store it.
What About Email Addresses?
The same concepts apply to your email address. The part that follows the "@" sign is your ISP's domain name. And given the domain name, one can determine the ISP's physical location, but nothing personally identifying about the email user without a court order.
Web-based email accounts are not truly anonymous, either. Even if you don't provide your real name when signing up, they can capture your IP address and track you through your ISP if necessary.
Other Considerations
It's much more likely that you or your children will reveal your physical location the old fashioned way -- by just blurting it out. Kids who chat or play online games should be reminded often that they should never reveal any personal information, including their last name, phone number or home address.
Oh, and if you have any spyware or viruses on your system, all bets are off. These things are designed to violate your privacy. If you need help with scanning your system for spyware, adware and other unwanted pests, see my article on free anti-virus and anti-spyware software for details on how to protect yourself from those risks.
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Posted by Bob Rankin on October 27, 2005 10:41 AM
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Article information: AskBobRankin -- Does IP Address Reveal my Physical Location? (Posted: October 27, 2005 10:41 AM)
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Copyright © 2005 - Bob Rankin - All Rights Reserved
Most recent comments on "Does IP Address Reveal my Physical Location?"
(See all 48 comments for this article.)Posted by:
Tomas
10 Jun 2009
Thanks Bob. Actually what I was worried about, perhaps needlessly so, was if they could hack into your ISP's database or whatever and find out who you are that way. Since once they have your IP, you know, they would be able to tell who your ISP is, usually.
Posted by:
Msheik
10 Jun 2009
Hi Bob. I am sure that anyone can trace the route taken by an packet send to you. All he has to do is just watch it being rerouted until it reaches your computer. If you are using a National ISP your home address is their address but never the less you foreign address that the packet will be rerouted to is your own personal IP. Can he possibly trace the routed packet from the distributer or thats as far as he can trace.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The IP belongs to the ISP, not you. Unless the ISP turns over your physical address, the trail stops there.
Posted by:
anu
15 Jun 2009
Hi,
You may trace an ip address. But i use ip-details to get an an ip location or ip latitude
Posted by:
sri
20 Jun 2009
hai,
It's nice.We can find the geolocation of an ip address by using ip-details. It's also useful for me.
Posted by:
gansito
18 Aug 2009
i hear my location can be figured out by police through an email and through chat sites. can the police figure out my location if they know my computer name and/or ip address??
Posted by:
FourEyedLady
06 Oct 2009
Bob, I decided to give "Anonymyzer" a 7 day FREE trial. A question I do have is: What does my ISP now SEE that I have installed "Anonymyzer"? Keep in mind that I had to give my Cable Modem's & Router's MAC addresses years ago when I first signed up with my ISP. Does "Anonymyzer" conceal those addresses as well as my CPU's IP? Since I am behind those devices, I DO CARE that the addresses of those DEVICES be concealed first since they lead to my node on my home LAN. Whether or not jerks see my IP address is immaterial really though that is a bonus in my case for Intranet privacy.
What does my ISP NOW SEE packet wise (MAC addresses included) once "Anonymyzer" is installed?
EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm almost certain your ISP will not see anything different, in terms of your IP and MAC addresses.
Posted by:
FourEyedLady
06 Oct 2009
Bob,
Thank you for your timely reply. ;-)
I am fining out that the ISP is the one folks have to fear the most - not just the hackers in terms of privacy, information harvesting, and tracking etc... Products like "Anonymyzer" _claim_ that once one uses their product, that one is enshrouded in anonymous safety. How can that be? If ISP's still can access everyone's IP and MAC addresses everyone is still very very vulnerable, especially if Enforcement Officials are brought into the picture & summon your information from ISPs. "Anonymyzer" only spoofs one's IP address but beyond that what does it offer really since it does NOT offer complete anonymity? HOW can one achieve complete anonymity on the Web today?
FourEyedLady
Posted by:
kartik
19 Dec 2009
Bob, how can i find out the exact physical location of my cell phone.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Search on Google for "locate a gps phone".
Posted by:
Truman
07 Feb 2010
Hello Bob. How are you doing? I was wondering, if I send an e-mail through a yahoo account just for info purposes and no crime has been committed, just an e-mail sent with a diff name other than my own, can the recepient get my IP address own their own? If so, how? If they can, what info can they get? I really appreciate your help!!
EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, if you send an email using Yahoo, the recipient can see your IP address. In the full headers, there will be something like this:
Received: from [12.345.789.901] by web123.mail.sp1.yahoo.com
The number in the brackets is the sender's IP address. But why would you care? IP addresses are public information, and that's by design. Did you read the article on which you commented?
Posted by:
ip address location
24 Feb 2010
I found a new site to check out IP Address geolocation through
http://www.ipaddressgeolocation.com