Does IP Address Reveal my Physical Location?

Good day sir bob, well in greece the ISP and generally the internet technology is about 10-20 years old in comparison with yours in usa, so dont be schocked that many greek ISP still doing it.

So its very easy for a bad hacker to find someones user name from an ip if he/she do a scan of the ip or even attack the ISP databases and so he/she can combine the ip with the specific user name and send out viruses or threatening emails to this user.

a while ago i asked a question regarding drugs online. one guy answered by saying that he tracked my ip and is going to report me to local authorities. that would be very unfortunate, considering i've been in some trouble with drugs before. what can i do to avoid all of this?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Most likely he's lying, unless he happens to know you personally. Nobody (except your ISP) can find out your personal identify given only your IP address. Visit http://www.geoiptool.com for some fun.

Hey Bob,
You mentioned the proxy server Anonymizer doesn’t retain IP logs, thus they can’t be compelled to give up their clients. For an added layer of protection, do you know of any reputable proxy servers, off shore who aren’t subject to the United States courts in the first place?

EDITOR'S NOTE: I think PeaceFire would be the best place to look for that.

i have yahoo im messenger and i also have a web cam and this girl got pissed off at me cause i would not let her see me on cam. so she told me that she was going to report my ip address to the cops... IS THAT POSSIBLE????

EDITOR'S NOTE: Of course it's possible. But it's also laughable. SILLYGIRL: Hello, police? I was chatting online and this girl wouldn't let me see her face on the webcam. POLICE: Uhhh, your point is...?

It is very easy to find out your IP addres you dont have to do that stuff just go to http://whatismyipaddress.com/ its pretty easy.

So I'm curious, about how long do most ISP's store information on customer IP addresses? (e.g. date and time IP address was used) Is it just forever or after you quit using their service?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Neither... most likely something in between. Figure on something between 18 and 36 months.

Hey Bob, I have a similar problem like the guy with the drugs, I was on youtube.com, I asked a question about drugs and this cop started arguing with me. He then threatened me saying he was going to find my IP address and try and bust me. Is this possible? I am very nervous, and yes, he is a cop for sure.

EDITOR'S NOTE: It's not possible for him to find you, unless he gets a court order. If this all happened on Youtube, it's probably not possible for him to even get your IP address. But even if you exposed your IP (via email or chat) the likelihood of anything happening to close to nil. Can you imagine what a busy judge would say if a cop petitioned him on the grounds that "some kid on youtube was talking about drugs" ?? It's absurd.

i was on youtube and some guy tracked my IP address, so it is very possible. (he even proved it) What is the worst that can happen to me or my computer?

EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm not sure what you mean by "tracked." You mean he proved that he has your IP address? That means next to nothing, and does NOT reveal your physical location, nor does it imply that anyone can hack into your computer.

Sorry to rain on all of your parades here, but i was just trolling and stumbled upon this site. If someone has your IP (which is easy to get), they CAN most definitely among other things find out who you are, where you live ect. Basically if you have a comp connected to the internet, anything put on it is up for grabs to anyone with a bit of knowledge who isn't to fussed about breaking a few laws.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Bzzzzt! Thanks for playing, but you don't get a prize. Your post contained no helpful information, and only serves the purpose of scaremongering. Case in point: ALL IP addresses assigned to AOL resolve to the physical location of a datacaenter in Virginia. So the IP tells you nothing about the location of that AOL user. Same is true for most large ISPs.

I am a member of a dating website and operate under a pseudonym as am very cautious about giving out personal info. Yesterday, I received a threatening email from a user on this site, a most unpleasant person, and it ended with my real name. How on earth could he have got this - it is not posted anywhere. I am using the latest Norton Internet Security and there are no warnings of a security breach. Any clues? Has me quite worried. Thank you in advance if you can advise.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I suppose it's possible that you communicated with someone on this site who was not really who they appeared to be. Or someone who works for the dating site may be acting in violation of your privacy. In any case, I would ignore that email - do not respond.