What can an IP address tell you about someone?

Why would someone want to know their IP address?

Every time I use a web site, I am asked to give the IP address of my computer.

If I refuse, I get either a security message that the website is asking for a specific IP or nothing at all.

The websites I use, like Google and Twitter, are very insecure, and as a result I get spammed by a large number of malicious websites. If I am not careful, I may find that the IP address of the website is being sold on the internet, in order to get money from me. This will allow the website to receive money even if it has no interest in selling a product or service.

If you are the owner of a website, the only way you can detect whether an IP address has been sold is by visiting the website and seeing what happens. The owner of the website will be able to tell whether or not the IP address has been sold and will be able to react appropriately.

If the website you are visiting is safe and you are happy with the information provided, then there is no problem with giving your IP address to the website. If the website is secure, and you trust the owner, then give the website your IP address. If the website is not secure, then avoid giving your IP address. How does a website know who you are? When you visit a website, it has to send a request to the IP address of your computer. This is known as a HTTP GET request.

Every computer has an IP address and a unique MAC address, but the IP address and MAC address are two different things. Every website has a unique IP address that it is using to identify its visitors. Every website needs an IP address in order to function.

If you type "www.google.com" into your web browser, it sends an HTTP GET request to IP address 173.194.69.129. If your web browser then sends another HTTP GET request to that same IP address, it gets a response from Google.

A MAC address is a physical hardware address. It is the number that goes after the 'd' in "123456789ABCDEF" (the first 16 hexadecimal digits in IEEE 802.3) or the first sixteen hexadecimal digits in the string "00-23-ac-bd-01-23-de-ba" (in IEEE 802.3-1998).

What can an IP address tell you about someone?

It's tempting to look at an IP address and see a person's identity, but in many cases that's just a guess based on who knows what.

Here are 12 facts about IP addresses that are guaranteed to confuse you, including: IP addresses can't be re-used. One of the reasons you see IP addresses like 192.168.100.1 is that they are re-used in many cases. For example, a local device (like a router) might be assigned 192.1 because it's the best number to use for internal network devices. The second address, 192.2, might be assigned to an Internet router. On the other hand, there are no rules about how many devices can share one IP address. If you're using Google, for example, there are probably dozens of companies with their own IP address just to connect to the search engine's servers.

They are much smaller than the human brain. The IP address is a small part of the actual address that a computer or network uses. An IP address only holds four numbers (as shown in the image below). That's a lot less than the approximately 28 bits of information that make up an entire person's full name or even email address.

There are too many different types. The top level of an IP address has four numbers in it, but there are three different types of subnets that also have their own unique address. Local (or Class C) addresses are usually used for devices that are connected to the Internet. The first two numbers, which are between 0 and 255, indicate the network ID and the number of hosts connected on that subnet. The third number is between 0 and 255, and it is the broadcast address for the subnet. This is typically a 255.0 address. The last three numbers, which range from 0 to 255, are typically assigned to individual hosts on the subnet.

A Class B address is much more specific. It's usually reserved for devices that are attached to a hub or switch. These devices connect to computers on the network, so their own unique addresses are needed to differentiate between them.

Does IP address tell you what kind of device?

This is a discussion on IP address tells you what kind of device?

Within the Windows Programming forums, part of the Platform Specific Boards category; Hello. When I log in to my router it displays my IP address which is 192.168.0.

My question is . My question is that if I wanted to access a file on the server I use with an FTP program what would I put for the IP address? I tried all of them and none of them worked. I am using Win7 Ultimate x86.

Also, if the server is running a webserver, can I just use that IP address instead of putting in the IP address of the server's name? If so what should I enter for the server's IP address in the FTP program? Re: IP address tells you what kind of device? I don't know what program you are using to connect to your ftp server but I'm assuming you're using a browser. When you browse to a website, the website has a unique address for every single visitor (say www.foo.com). There is no way to "access a file" or "connect to a server" via IP address or hostname, it's a feature of the HTTP protocol.

If you are connecting to a web server, the server is assigned a unique IP address for every connection (say 80.10.4.11).