Info

So I thought ok... I'll read up about a certain site I've heard about to see if they can track IP addresses and most places said no only the owner can or someone with a lot of time on their hands. I have a firewall and all that crap, so I go on the site and someone tells me the name of my city in about 1 minute, someone from Germany. They tell me their name also. Like it's no issue to them... and from my understanding, this person got my IP and tracked the city name that way so I exited and I'm never going on there again. I'm kind of concerned.. looked like a couple of people just fooling around but.... what can I do to prevent anything from happening or from random people finding my IP again?

Any site you visit will see your IP address, since it's where you are visiting the site from. It's nothing that is inherently kept secret.

Some people use proxy servers to get around that as the proxy server is the one accessing the website and then it forwards the info to you.

In the end though, a good enough hacker is going to get the info if they really want it.

https://www.torproject.org/ this should provide you with at least one layer of protection.

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Also when you take pictures with a digital camera or a webcam there is a chance that your gps location and other information gets recorded into the exif data of the image taken.

There are many programs that people can use to read this exif data to find out your location and other information. So http://www.superutils.com/products/exifcleaner/ is a program that you might want to use on any images that were taken with your camera/phone/webcam before you upload them to the internet. This way your info isn't hidden inside the pictures.

Thanks for the website, I can see how this works..so if someone tried to see it they'd see a number, but yeah... lol. Nice. I don't know if I'll be going on the "other website" again...... but perhaps I could now without fear of IP issues?

I actually didn't realize that pictures could have that much info. I could see where a cellphone image might show a number or something else personal but wow...interesting. :\

If I didn't know that certain websites collect info from browsing and I'm on the phonebook websites like everybody else, it might have scared me off the net for good. LOL. That was bad enough though.. but seriously.. nothing is private anymore.

Seeing your IP address in most cases isn't a big deal either. The only people who have the ability to associate your name with an IP is your ISP since they are the ones that assign it to your account. ISPs generally cover specific regions and are granted large blocks of IP addresses by ICANN, these large blocks of addresses are publicly identified to the ISP that got them, so they can check the IP address up with an ISP and find out your region from that. Which means that the closest thing anyone can find out about you from your IP address is the city you live in. (Which is how you get those dating site advertisements that say "Meet these hot girls with huge boobs from ---" and the ad just happens to be for your city.)

Unless of course you're doing something illegal and the police subpoena your ISP to get your home address based on the IP address you got. But that is really the only situation where that would work.

I was stupid and told them my first name because I didn't realize what was happening. Nah nothing illegial lol. Just was on a regular website that I was told about where you can cam with people. Like Skype but not.

IP, dosen't give them much, like your address, just gives there your location (town or city) and sometimes your service provider. An IP address is an identification of a computer and it's location. For example, if you were to search up my IP, it'll be like this:

192.168.1.121.hfx.eastlink.ca (that's just an example).
Middle Sackville, Nova Scotia, CA (Canada)

Someone website have a code, where they can collect annonymous info, such s your web browser and Operating System like this:
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux i686; rv:13.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/13.0.1

This is my user agent string, and a lot of support forums, this will be displayed in your posts. It dosen't have any personal info, basically what that means, from my user agent string is that I'm using Mozilla Firefox version 13.0.1 on Linux: Ubuntu, which is the Operating System. The i686 is the processor architecture, which I'm have a Pentium Core i3 (64 Bit), but it dosen't say that.

As you see, it's just basic annonymous info.

If you worried about someone hacking into your computer by your IP, it's possible, but not likely. Unless they hack it remotely, they would need to be at your computer. If you're using a Linux Operating System, like me, it is very secure, which means it hard for anyone to hack your computer or for a virus to get installed, becuase of constant updates, and well structured system. It's Open Source (And free of course), making it almost impossible for people to get a virus into your computer. If someone tries to get into your computer via the IP address, you would get a mesage asking that someone is trying to access your system remotely. Even if you're using Windows, I wouldn't worry about it. It's not very likely that someone would do that, never happened to me.

Most sites only the admin or moderators can view IP's if given permission. But yeah like others have mentioned it only gives the general location and provider. It's more of a security thing. Proxies are not the best thing to use since they are mainly hubs for spammers.

Sci-Fi said:

... Proxies are not the best thing to use since they are mainly hubs for spammers.

Click to expand...

Additionally

"Once your traffic passes through a proxy server you have no privacy. Every web site you visit, every account login and password, details of downloads are all captured by the proxy server. Leaving your personal information in the hands of those managing the proxy server. In addition to capturing information passed through a proxy server, proxies can also lead to malware and other unfriendly system issues."

"When you use a proxy server, your personal information is sent to that server or website, and the owner can capture all that information if they choose to, according to William Bellisle-Pio of Pio Technologies in Auburn, Washington. In other words, any information that you put in, such as your e-mail address, passwords, banking details and credit card information may all be at risk of being stolen by the owner of whatever proxy server you are using.

Some proxy sites are actually designed specifically to cause harm to their users. Through a proxy, you may encounter websites that look like your bank website or your email provider, but they are just dummy phishing Web pages that are designed to capture your information.

Many proxy servers and proxy websites force you to deal with pop-up advertisements, and they may also attempt to install malicious software like spyware and viruses on your computer while you are browsing the Internet. Spyware and adware programs are designed to capture your personal information and browsing patterns, so beware of what may be infecting your computer."

Read more: What Are the Dangers of Using Proxy Servers? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/list_6297037_dangers-using-proxy-servers_.html#ixzz1zX33VilK

A VPN is technically a proxy, though you're generally going full blown remote connection to that one. If you have a trusted VPN it gets around the dangers of using a proxy.

Yeah, all sites can track IPs.