I need your opinions.

Check this out and tell me what you think. POst your ideas to the thread in the Webmaster's forum.
http://www.bluelight.ru/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000289.html
cheers,
mona.

Please pardon my computer illiteracy, but what exactly is an IP?

Hey Bent,
An IP is your computers 'address' on the Internet. It means that you are not really anonymous as your computer can potentially be traced by this number, which is fine if you are in an Internet cafe or using it from Uni - but most people here would be logging in from work or home I would guess.

BLB
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...yes please

its your exact address on the internet. it is a series of numbers like 123.12.112.3
if your computer is always connected to the net. ie a work puter or at a uni, it will probably have one IP address for life, but if you have a dial up conection from home you usually get a random one assigned to you by your ISP. well random as far as the last lot of digits go, the other numbers belong to your ISPs puter.
at the moment only moderators can see the IP address attached to posts. this is only useful so far as things like trolling and imping go. by this i mean people posting inflammatory remarks under different nicknames or using someone elses name to post. if someone does this moderator can prove it by comparing IP addresses.
an IP address wont tell you very much. at most you can learn the name of the domain or ISP the person is posting from. it will not give any personal details about you.
the only way someone could hurt you if they knew your IP was to hack your computer. there are various methods and i wont go into them here.
but my question is would a moderator do it? personally i'd hate to think so but it is a valid concern so fair enough.

so if I'm using a dial-up connection, is there a way to physically locate where I am - ie can Telstra put a trace on this line and find where I am.
Not that I'm actually worried, but it is something I, and I'm sure many others had not considered a possibility.

absolutely, if they can establish that this particular modem on the ISP is connected to your computer, ie you IP number is the same as a particular modem, then its a simple matter of usig caller id to find your phone number and hence your physical location
but all this need warrants, the same warrants as a phone tap, which is only a worry if you are a very bad boy indeed....

If the police gained your ip address, they could simply call your isp ask who was logged into that ip address at that time and the isp could tell the police who the account holder is.
I work for an isp and if you gave me someones ip address who are connected to my isp i could have their name, address, phone, email address within minutes.
Incidentally if you have caller id switched on they don't need warrants as it is already logged and you have freely given your phone number.
[This message has been edited by DoC (edited 28 April 2000).]

hey all.Im not gonna be rude about this, just point something out.
Most people use ISP's, and ISP's have loads of modems, each with a differnet Ip Address, yes those IP's are organised into class's,
and most ISP's will purchase C class Ip adrees's, so they're Ip's are usually similar, but unless X Person has a permanent IP or is for example using internet from a perm connected/perm IP based source
its gonna change. and its very likely multiple use the same ISP.
The purpose of having say an IP visable on a message board like this is so you can track the owner of an account, if they have broken the law. Im not going to explain how though.
athough for bluelight i strongly oppose the visability of an #ip because there is supposed to be a level anomosity and all other wise we would just post our real names.
and as doc said i dont think i want the police finding out my personal business
thanks
[This message has been edited by wizpEr (edited 28 April 2000).]

Yes wizper you will be assigned a different ip BUT remember the messages are timestamped, and when you log in to your isp it is logged
* Time you connected
* IP you were assigned
* Time you logged off
* Phone number you dialled from (if caller id switched on)
So it would be very easy to track someone

I really don't like this idea.
An IP is very important personal info.
I don't trust you fucking moderators joke, but i don't know many mods well enuf to trust them with my IP. I know what people can do with just an IP, it doesn't bare thought.
It only takes one person to get pissed off at something posted, and I know there are some hot tempers out there......
Anyway, I think too much cost for too little gain.
To solve imping etc, why not ask Jase to check the IPs, it can't happen so often that he's going to be flooded with extra stuff to do.
Why was no-one asked if they were ok with this before?
I'm kinda tempted to go hack and use someone else's IP.......
I'm a good lad, but my IP is mine ya know?
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ultimately, we just want to be happy

DITTO entropope.
I would like to know why we weren't asked about this before it was implemented. I'd be happy with Jase having access to the IP's in extreme cases.
To be totally honest, I hadn't even thought about the whole cop thing because really, we're not doing anything illegal, just talking about it... but stranger things can and have happened.
I just worry about my computer, I've been hacked before and it's not nice. Just like entropope said, I'm worried that one day someone will take direct offence to something I have said, lose their temper and decide to fuck up my baby (teehee ) I know it shouldnt be like this, but seriously, some people are just weird and will actually DO stuff like that.
JB pointed out to me that moderators have an element of trust given to them...I agree, to an extent. Now before any other mods get the shits and get all offended, I don't even know all the names of the mods anymore...some of you I simply don't know. So how can I trust someone I don't know with some useful info like my phone number???
I'm not being harsh, just realistic.
I'm going to include a link back to this thread from the webmaster's forum (I did ask people to post replies there) and also from the main forum. I just want everyone to know what's going on with it all.
cheers,
mona.

Jase had changed it so that only Administrators can view the IP adresses when requested.
This means that only he and Skydancer have access to them.
mona.

coolies... great work mona!
its probably best that way...
can mods give other mods gold stars?
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.... he who makes a beast of himself, rids himself of the pain of being a man...

Wow...I just found out about this and NO SIR...I DEFINITELY DON'T LIKE IT! It sucks that moderators have this power (especially since I have been having a big argument with JB recently...um...yeah...hehehe *wipes the sweat*...JB you know I love you man...I'm sorry all right?)
I am REALLY AGAINST THIS...ANything we can do to block our IP number...switch off something in our computer that sends it out?
Jase...maybe it would be all right if you had the power to see the numbers, but you can't guarantee that the moderators you give the power to will be "good". It's a tough choice, but I'm with mona and pope on this one...TAKE AWAY THE IP POWER!!!
princehamlet

um as long as you know its all fixed now Ham thats cool, im sure your browser probably just missed the last post or two, but yeah only jase can now see IPs, which he has to really, he's admin of the whole server so he can pretty much see everything.
but this post did raise some interesting point about police procedure with ISPs. Id love to know if any ISP guys here have actually had this happen to them?

Hmm, it won't help _that_ much, but for those of you who are a little paranoid about our beloved moderators, here is a list of anonymous proxies free for use. Then when those evil administrators decide that they really want to track you down for posting off-topic and come kick your ass they can't
http://www.deny.de/proxy_list.htm
happy travels...
[This message has been edited by Elliven (edited 28 April 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Elliven (edited 28 April 2000).]

Jase: you use to run, if thats the right word, an anonymizer service out of the old bluelight server... is it impractical to do it now?