ever wonder?

It can be done. The Government can do it. But they have funding, manpower, expertise, and clout.

Servers are easier to track than individual pcs, as their addresses are around a lot longer and there are more packets heading to a server than to an individual pc.

My router(s) and firewall(s) - yes, I have more than one of each. All get their IP's via DHCP at startup from my ISP. I also reset them on a regular basis so they get a new IP.

All of my computers (yes, again more than one - mixture of pc's and mac's.) are only seen as one or two IP addresses to the internet.

One set of machines goes through a hardware VPN and their internet access would be hidden by yet another set og firewalls and routers, and the IP for those systems would trace back to Pittsburg.

I'm not in Pittsburg, I'm in AZ.

It would be very difficult to untagle all of that routing (since a lot of it would take place in a private network on leased lines) back to my physical location without gaining access to the mainframes my company uses.

The government could do so, they have clout and could get a court order giving them access to my companies hardware and network.

The average hacker would have problems.

I'm not worried about any hackers finding me, though if they do, then it will be my fault for not locking down something in my firewall settings.

But, I would not hesitate to prosecute any who do.

I laugh when I see GK post that $500 hacker thing. (he's posted it quite a few times, I think it supposed to be a threat that he will find us one day. I guess offering to tell him where to find us is too easy or something.)

I am a strong beleiver in hardware firewalls. Software firewalls are ok, but it means they've already reached your system for the software to deal with them.

:devil:

My opinion on the IP randomizers is that they are not worth spending any money on. This is strictly my opinion.

Consider the way an interaction on the internet usually works (simplified)

Your computer sends a request to a web page to display the information on that page. This request includes your IP address, along with some other information.

The web page creates a connection back to the IP address passed and then sends the information.

the connection is dropped.

If you want to do something else, a new request and a new connection are made.

The IP randomizer software changes the IP address for each request.

This sounds like it would defeat any attempt to track you, right?

Unfortunately, this software cannot defeat what is known as stateful packet inspection. The fact that the requests follow a pattern, and the contents of the packets (the information sent back and forth) contain information about the requests, makes it possible to track them.

Remember, the informatio has to find it's way back to your computer. if the packet can find you, so could a reasonably intelligent packet sniffer (hardware / software for examining IP packets)

Some people like the randomizers, I don't put any faith in them.

hope this made some sense.

:devil:

Rich,, that's just it. Without investing a lot of time and energy, you won't have the resources to track them down. It can be done, you should read the book the cuckoo's egg. It's just tedius and time consuming. The average guy isn't going to invest the time or effort.

But they won't stop BB from tracking you down if he wants to. He has a virtually unlimited budget, unlimited manpower, better tools, and the ability to make ISP's cooperate with him (court orders).

What is going to start happening, and I've thought about looking into developing it, is a system using an encrypted key.

When you register, you will get a key that resides on your machine. Without the key, you cannot post.

Because the key includes the encrypted username, it cannot be used by anyone else. You boot a user, you disable the key.

Then only trusted (however you want to define it) users can make posts on the board.

Issues with this method:

1)some people have multiple computers, so the key has to be somewhat portable.

2)People upgrade machines - same as point 1

3) how do you establish the trust to give them a key in the first place? <- this is the biggest of the issues. People like the privacy of the net, you can't really demand their dirvers license or their home phone, but it is getting to the point where validation is a requirement.

I mean, just look at GK admitting to causing problems using such a server. (ignoring the childish threats and all)

It's coming, whether we like it or not, all because of a few idiots that feel they are entitled to do as they please on anyones web site.

:devil: