xoxo
j”
I usually keep my rants to Mary ‘DUM DUM’ Rambin, but I had to comment here.
IP addresses although useful aren’t pinpoint accurate. If you are using services like Comcast, Verizon, etc, you are essentially borrowing from a pool of IP’s that a provider’s central location has available for a customer to use temporarily. So in essence your IP, if traced, goes back to “Verizon, NYC, Midtown” xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. It doesn’t go to a person’s home address. Since it’s temporary, when you shut off your cable modem the IP goes back into the pool. If you don’t shut off your cable modem, the provider automatically recycles you onto a new IP every ten days or so. In Verizon’s case every other day in some areas.
That said, if someone wanted to be really sneaky, there are plenty of free IP spoofing applications available to mark up whatever you’re sending with a phony IP address. So while someone may be in New York, NJ, Kalamazoo Michigan, the IP address that they are providing to a web server receiving their requests will point to Bangalore, Mumbai, or Wellington. Pretty neat…
So, Julia’s use of “I’ve got your IP” is limited at best. The service provider isn’t going to tell her that customer so and so had this IP at 6:00PM on a Friday evening.
But, if Tumblr is in fact releasing IP information, that’s a serious breech of customer trust, but not illegal to do. If that sort of action from the Tumblr staff is pervasive, that would just prompt users to find another service who honors their TOS.
In short, have all the IP’s you want Julia, it doesn’t do you much good.
Another email from our gal, after her latest tantrum. It could be that she can’t read any text without her name in it. It could also be that she didn’t understand the previous posts. I suppose one could also believe that she has decided on a course of action and won’t be dissuaded by blatant tips to the contrary.
Suffice to say, she hasn’t quite comprehended the idea that the person who uploads isn’t necessarily the person who authors. Pink Lady, for you, because I care, and because you only seem to leave the country when some oblivious guy, hoping to score (who clearly doesn’t use google) pays your way, let this be my gift to you. The next few posts will take you on a tour of this great planet. Fire up your IP tracker - no passport needed, nor any veiled suggestion of sex. You’re fine - no need to put out. Let me show you the world - track the IPs of the following posts and pretend you are on a fabulous adventure on your own dime.
(via baugher)